Jessica Chastain plays Antonina Żabiński in Niki Caro’s adaptation of The Zookeeper’s Wife, based on Diane Ackerman’s book of the same title. That work is the true story of Jan and Antonina Żabiński, directors of the Warsaw Zoo who, during the war, saved 300 Jews rescued from the city’s ghetto (and many animals) from Nazi extermination. A Golden Globe winner and multiple nominee, Chastain stopped by HFPA headquarters to talk about the film, her love of all animals, “complicated” relationship with zoos and the significance of telling the story from a female perspective. Also: the proper way to cuddle a lion cub.