Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon have spent a lot of time in Nashville.
While filming the upcoming Showtime miniseries George & Tammy, the acclaimed actors loved visiting the Ryman. And they spent time at plenty of other notable locations from the lives of country music icons George Jones and Tammy Wynette, who they portray in the series. But when asked about their favorite places in town, their eyes light up when discussing a bar near the Ryman that they frequented after long days of filming back in the spring — they just can’t recall the name.
“There’s a restaurant across the street, I forgot what it’s called, but there was a really nice bartender named Forrest,” Chastain tells the Scene.
“He was a nice kid,” says Shannon. “I wonder what he’s up to.”
The less glamorous spots were the ones that stuck with Chastain and Shannon. “Well, I love the cemetery with George and Tammy,” Chastain says, referencing Woodlawn Memorial in Berry Hill, where a number of other country music stars are buried as well — including Porter Wagoner and Marty Robbins. “I know that sounds weird to say.”
“That’s a really beautiful cemetery,” adds Shannon. “We spent a lot of time there when we were recording the songs for the show.”
The Scene is speaking to the duo during a recent press junket at Noelle, a downtown hotel just a couple of blocks from the Ryman.
“It’s so wild to come back to this hotel, because we were here before we even started shooting,” says Shannon. “And now to be here after it’s all said and done and just realize everything that’s happened in the meanwhile, it’s pretty trippy looking out the window at that football stadium like I used to — I used to stare out this window. I feel like I’m in the same room that I was in. It’s so strange.”
To prepare, the duo worked with vocal coach to the stars Ron Browning, who’s helped guide such luminaries as Wynonna Judd, Amy Grant, Alison Krauss and Jamey Johnson, among others. (Browning also occasionally plays at Char Nashville, a steakhouse and jazz room in Green Hills.) But even with Browning’s “hardcore training” regimen, singing Jones and Wynette’s famous songs was a daunting task.
“Well, it was pretty easy — I didn’t really have to work on it too much, I just kinda walked in and started doing it,” Shannon jokes. “No, it was a lot of work. We spent months and months practicing with the local legend Ron Browning, the vocal coach. And when we perform a song on the show, we’re singing a cappella in front of a bunch of strangers. So I don’t know if that sounds like something you would enjoy doing, but we did that on the regular. So we had to be tough cookies.”
“Tough and drunk,” Chastain adds.
“I’m tough, she’s drunk,” says Shannon.
Even so, both actors have musical experience. Shannon is the longtime frontman of folk band Corporal, and Chastain worked with Nashville superproducer Dave Cobb to record a number of Tammy Faye Messner’s songs for her performance in 2021’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye — a role that earned her an Oscar.
“We had earpieces that played with music, and [Nashville engineer and mixer] Rachael Moore was on set with us, so she was in charge of all the recordings on set,” says Chastain. “So we’d hear a little bit of the music, and the extras could hear the beat, so they can move, and then the music would drop out and we’d only hear it in our ears, and we’d have to sing it in the mic. So it’s like singing ‘Stand by Your Man’ in front of a bunch of people, and they just hear my cold vocal without music. It felt incredibly exposing.”
Shannon and Chastain — as well as fellow George & Tammy cast member Katy Mixon — first worked together on Jeff Nichols’ 2011 apocalyptic psychological thriller Take Shelter.
“I would go watch him and his band play in Brooklyn,” says Chastain of Shannon. “We would send each other silly pictures every once in a while, or run into each other at festivals, and have always been looking for another project for us to do. And when I signed on I didn’t really know about Tammy and George, but the more I started learning about George … I just felt I didn’t understand another person who could do it.”
All six episodes of the series were directed by John Hillcoat, who also directed Chastain in the 2012 crime drama Lawless.
“He really has such an incredible visual sense, and when you watch the show, it’s shot so beautifully,” Chastain says. “And also, [series creator Abe Sylvia] had been working on it for over a decade. And so to have John’s visual sense and Abe’s emotional intelligence, it was such a great combination.”
And yes, they did shoot Jones’ infamous lawnmower incident.
“Well, we put our own special twist on it,” Shannon says. “I’ll just say chipmunk. That’s all I’m gonna say.”
“That means nothing,” Chastain follows. “Literally. That’s not a thing.”
George & Tammy will air every Sunday night from Dec. 4 through Jan. 8 on Showtime.
