Jessica Chastain wishes people would stop sticking her with the 'strong women' label, because other than it being incredibly patronising, it implies that most women are weak or not equal with men.
In a stream of posts to Twitter last night, the actress and champion for equality in Hollywood argued that a male actor is never known for playing strong men, because it's 'assumed all men are'.
Chastain also pointed out that she simply takes on roles that are 'well written' and portray women as people with their own agency, rather than being two-dimensional or merely reacting to the men around them.
So far in her career, Chastain has played well-written parts such as an ambitious CIA intelligence analyst in Zero Dark Thirty, and ruthless political lobbyist in Miss Sloane - but if Matt Damon or Leonardo DiCaprio had taken on similar roles, it's unlikely they'd be described as playing 'strong men'.
Meanwhile, Chastain recently spoke out to confirm that she no longer takes on a role in a movie unless she is made aware of how much her male co-stars are being paid.
She explained that in order to keep on pushing for pay equality in the TV and film industry, she isn't willing to do the same work for a lower salary.
'I'm not taking jobs anymore where I'm getting paid a quarter of what the male co-star is being paid,' she told Variety. 'I'm not allowing that in my life.'
Chastain added that it was about changing attitudes, and not for monetary reasons, saying: 'I don't care about how much I get paid; I'm in an industry where we're overcompensated for the work we do.
'But I don't want to be on a set where I'm doing the same work as someone else and they're getting five times what I'm getting.'
Standing ovation for Chastain, anyone?
Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
