Jessica Chastain Reveals the Unsettling Process Behind Creating “Other Mommy’s” Most Terrifying Face

Some horror performances start with makeup. Jessica Chastain’s started with a mirror and an idea about pain hiding behind a smile. Ahead of the October 9 release of “Other Mommy,” based on Josh Malerman’s bestselling novel, the actress opened up about crafting one of the most unsettling entities of her career.

The film follows Bela, a young girl whose world turns terrifying when a sinister presence resembling her mother enters her home — and Chastain plays both the real mother and the chilling “Other Mommy” trying to pass as her.

Jessica Chastain: Overview

Building Terror From an Emotional Contradiction

Chastain approached Other Mommy not as a simple monster, but as an entity straining to hold a shape it doesn’t naturally fit. She imagined that mimicking warmth and gentleness toward Bela might actually be physically painful for the creature — a contradiction she wanted etched into its face.

The Expression That Terrified a Child On Set

While experimenting in the mirror, Chastain discovered what she called “this unblinking smile,” paired with tears that created a jarring mismatch between surface calm and internal distress. The effect was so effective that when a child wandered into her trailer and saw the expression, he reportedly screamed on the spot — prompting director Rob Savage to confirm it as the character’s defining look.

A Horror Rooted in Emotional Truth

Every physical choice, Chastain explained, stemmed from imagining what it would feel like for the entity to embody everything Bela secretly wishes her real mother could be — grounding the film’s scares in something deeply psychological rather than purely supernatural. The ambiguity over whether Bela is seeing an outside entity or a darker version of her own mother is central to what makes the story so disturbing.

The Cast and Release Details

Alongside Chastain, Other Mommy stars Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark as Bela, Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed, and Karen Allen. The film hits Indian theatres on October 9, 2026.

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