Jessica Chastain has described the moment that she heard Kathryn Bigelow had been overlooked for Best Actress at the Oscar as 'a dart in my heart'.
Zero Dark Thirty has been a huge success on the award's circuit so far this year with the film, the director, and Chastain all picking up a series of gongs.
But Chastain admits that her Best Actress Oscar nomination was tinged with sadness because Bigelow had been overlooked for her work.
Speaking to Digital Spy the actress said: "We made this movie in multiple locations with over 100 actors, a massive crew, sometimes we were filming under very intense, very difficult circumstances and she never broke a sweat,"
"She is a captain in every sense of the word. She is a great filmmaker, and it was a bittersweet moment to receive my Oscar nomination because to hear that she wasn't nominated was like a dart in my heart.
"My performance is so much because of Kathryn Bigelow."
It is two nominations in a row for Chastain after she picked up a nod for Best Supporting Actress for The Help - losing out to co-star Octavia Spencer.
And she faces some tough competition this time around as well as Jennifer Lawrence, Emmanuelle Riva, Naomi Watts and Quvenzhané Wallis are also in the running.
But there is no rest for Chastain as she is back on the big screen this week with her new horror movie Mama, which is produced by Guillermo Del Toro.
The Oscar winners will be revealed 24th February.
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