Jessica Chastain recounts searching for ‘calmness’ after Will Smith Oscar smack

Jessica Chastain recalled the moment she had to give a winning speech at the 94th annual Academy Awards right after the infamous Will Smith slap.

The actor, who won the Best Actress accolade for her performance in Eyes of Tammy Faye, says she had to search for "calmness" after Smith hit Chris Rock on stage.

"Well…," Chastain said while recalling the night to Porter, "it was a weird night."

"I walked into a very charged energy in that room," the 45-year-old star added. "And I was trying to figure out…how to just breathe and create a calmness."

Chastain further revealed why she chose to address intolerance and discrimination during her speech, "I knew I wanted to touch on that because, with everything that was going on, it was clear that we were moving into an area in our politics of intolerance and discrimination.”

"I didn't know everything I was going to say and there were moments where I started to get emotional so I pulled it back," Chastain added. "But I had an idea of what I wanted to use that global platform to create if I got up there."

She went on to talk about the evening after the award ceremony, "So many people after were coming up to me and they could see how genuinely surprised I was. … I'm used to just putting my head down."

For the unversed, Smith slapped Rock during the prestigious event for joking about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia which later created a huge controversy.