Jessica Chastain Might Skip 2022 Oscars Red Carpet to Support Tammy Faye Makeup Team Instead

"I will absolutely be present when the makeup category is being called, and if that means I'm not doing press on the red carpet or ABC or whatever it is, then so be it," Jessica Chastain explained

Jessica Chastain has made up her mind.

While appearing on the Next Best Picture podcast earlier this week, the 44-year-old actress revealed that she would miss the red carpet at the 94th Academy Awards to support the Oscar-nominated makeup team for her film The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

"I will absolutely be present when the makeup category is being called, and if that means I'm not doing press on the red carpet or ABC or whatever it is, then so be it," Chastain said.

Her comments come after the Academy announced changes to this year's broadcast. In an effort to streamline the ceremony, the Oscars will begin one hour earlier to present eight award categories prior to the live telecast, including Best Makeup and Hairstyling, according to Entertainment Weekly.

"The most important thing for me is to honor the incredible artisans who work in our industry," Chastain explained. "So much attention is on the actors, we're like the face in some ways, because you go to a movie and you see us. A lot of people don't understand how beyond an actor a performance is. Look at this incredible makeup team, Tammy Faye goes through three decades."

Jessica Chastain as Tamara Faye Messner. Kate Green/Getty; Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Makeup artists Justin Raleigh, Linda Dowds and Stephanie Ingram dramatically transformed Chastain into the fallen televangelist. During production, the star spent several hours a day in the makeup chair while intense makeup, prosthetics and wigs were applied.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in August 2021, she speculated that the intense process likely damaged her skin.

"I think for sure I've done some permanent damage to my skin on this. Listen, I eat very pure, and I take very good care of my skin and I stay out of the sun and all that stuff," Chastain told the paper. "But it's heavy. And when you're wearing it all day, every day — the weight of it on your body, it stretches your skin out. I finally took it off, and I was like, 'I look 50 years old!' No, I'm kidding. But it's fine. It's for my art."

JB Lacroix/Wireimage

Chastain's captivating performance as Tammy Faye Bakker earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards this year, which cast her alongside Andrew Garfield as her PTL co-founder husband Jim.

The Michael Showalter–directed biopic, which Chastain produced, takes audiences through Tammy Faye's faith-filled life, and Chastain told PEOPLE she hopes that 35 years after PTL's downfall, it will help audiences "to see her value beyond her husband's salacious mistakes and crime."

"She always made it her mission that everyone understood she was grateful that they were alive," she said of the televangelist. "That's a beautiful gift to give."

The 94th Academy Awards will air live on ABC Sunday, March 27, at 8 p.m.