Jessica Biel surprised by her own movie hiatus

Jessica Biel never imagined taking such a long break from the film industry.

Jessica Biel was shocked by the length of her movie hiatus.

The 44-year-old actress has ended a nine-year acting hiatus by starring in Matchbox the Movie, the new action-comedy film, and Jessica admits that she never imagined taking such a long break from the industry.

Jessica – who has Silas, 11, and Phineas, six, with husband Justin Timberlake – told People: “That’s weird to me.

“I didn’t even know it was a return … I feel like I’ve been constantly creative, but technically it’s been on television. I’m not actually in film. So it’s just, it was really interesting when someone said that to me. It kind of blew my mind.”

Jessica filmed a number of high-speed performance driving scenes for Matchbox the Movie, and she relished the challenge of learning a new skill for the project.

The actress – who last starred in Shock and Awe, the 2017 drama – said: “I did a ton of performance driving which actually required a lot more strength than I thought.

“Just the ability to like turn a car 180 degrees, stop it on a mark, you know, you’re hitting a clutch, you’re popping your pedals, you’re like doing a million things at once and it takes a lot of strength.”

Jessica explained that she felt well-prepared to shoot the physical scenes for the movie.

The actress said: “I have an 11-year-old and a six-year-old now, and I kind of feel like myself again after 11 years, which sounds crazy. I really felt like I could trust myself to have the physical capabilities to do something like this again. And it was, it just was perfect timing and felt like an opportunity that also my kids would be proud of.”

Jessica previously explained what convinced her to end her self-imposed hiatus.

The film star told People: “I have spent some years raising some small men folk.

“But I felt like number one, the script was amazing. It was so fun. I want to work with [director] Sam Hargrave, I really wanted to work with John Cena and our amazing cast, and be a part of something that encompasses all these different genres: action, comedy, friendship, a little romance.”