Jessica Chastain to miss Broadway performances for awards circuit

By David Ng

Jan. 7, 2013 12 AM PT

Jessica Chastain is once again in the Hollywood awards spotlight for her performance as Maya, a determined CIA agent on the trail of Osama bin Laden in “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Her recent Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations mean that she will have to miss some performances of “The Heiress,” which is running on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Chastain plays the lead role of Catherine Sloper opposite “Downton Abbey” star Dan Stevens as her suitor, Morris Townsend.

Chastain will miss performances on Jan. 13 and 27, which are the dates for the Globes and SAG Awards, respectively. Both ceremonies are in Los Angeles. The actress is also scheduled to miss performances this Tuesday and Thursday because of promotional obligations for “Zero Dark Thirty,” which expands nationwide on Friday.

Filling in for Chastain will be understudy Mairin Lee, according to the Telecharge website.

If Chastain is nominated for an Oscar, she won’t have to worry about missing any additional performances of “The Heiress.” The limited-run revival is scheduled to close Feb. 10.

It’s not unheard of for Hollywood stars to play hooky on Broadway for film-related reasons.

Daniel Radcliffe missed three performances of the 2011 revival of “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in order to promote “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” Producers of the Broadway musical actually closed the production for those three days rather than face the ire of spurned “Harry Potter” fans.

Hurricane Sandy won’t stop ‘The Heiress’ from opening on time

‘Downton Abbey’ star Dan Stevens cast in Broadway’s ‘The Heiress’