I get possessive when playing a character: Jessica Chastain

Los Angeles: Actress Jessica Chastain gets "very possessive" about the characters she plays and likes to understand their psychology. The 40-year-old star, who plays the lead role of Antonina in "The Zookeeper's Wife" directed by Niki Caro, said during the filming they never went over the board with the reactions her character gives. "I get very possessive when playing a character; I want to access their secrets and fears. Niki would work with me to elevate a scene and try things out but we would never go for something that was not real for Antonina, that she would not have done or been.

"There was a lot in the script to work with, and one thing I noticed was that she never really questions her husband in the beginning of the film. She's quite submissive. But as events progress, she is able to be equal with humans, as she is with animals. She becomes stronger," Chastain said in a statement. The actress said Antonia's compassion attracted her towards the role which she believes gave her a great scope to perform. "Here was an incredible arc for an actress to play. I wanted to portray Antonina because I love the compassion she exemplified and the heroism in that compassion.

I also responded to the character trait in the script of how she read energy in people and also in animals. She had to be wary yet confident," she said. The movie had a lot of animals involved and for Chastain working with them was "therapeutic". "Animals are very therapeutic. By caring for them on the set, I wasn't wallowing in my own exhaustion!" she said. Also starring Johan Heldenbergh, "The Zookeeper's Wife" will hit the theatres on April 14.