Jessica Chastain On Creating the Terrifying 'Other Mommy' in New Horror Film: 'I found this unblinking smile'
Jessica Chastain reveals how she created her character in horror film, Other Mommy, set to release on October 9.
Published on Sep 22, 2026 | 04:43 PM IST | 3K
PC: Universal Pictures
Jessica Chastain is all set to embrace a deeply unsettling character in Other Mommy, the upcoming horror film based on Josh Malerman’s bestselling novel. The story follows Bela, a young girl whose life takes a terrifying turn when a sinister entity resembling her mother enters her home and begins forming a bond with her.
Jessica Chastain’s chilling transformation
While preparing to play both Bela’s mother and the mysterious Other Mommy, Chastain focused on the disturbing reality behind the entity’s appearance. “In prep, I started thinking about the reality of Other Mommy,” Jessica Chastain says. “It is trying to appear warm and gentle to Bela, but I imagined it might be painful for this entity to hold the shape of something it is not.”
The face that terrified a child
Chastain developed an eerie expression to capture that contradiction. “I found this unblinking smile in the mirror, and then the tears started coming, which created this strange contrast between what Other Mommy is presenting and what is underneath.” The effect was so frightening that it reportedly left an immediate impression. “At one point, a child came into the trailer,” Chastain says. “I made the face and he immediately screamed. Rob said, ‘That is Other Mommy.’”
A sinister reflection of motherhood
Chastain further shaped the character around Bela’s deepest emotional desires. “From there, every physical choice came from what it might feel like for this entity to present itself as everything Bela wishes her mother could be.” That idea lies at the heart of the film’s psychological horror, blurring the line between something supernatural and something painfully familiar.
Why Other Mommy is so unsettling
“What makes Other Mommy so terrifying is the idea of a parent being replaced by something sinister,” Chastain says. “There is also this question of whether Bela is seeing Other Mommy or a darker side of Mommy, and the fact that she cannot always tell is unsettling.”
About Other Mommy
Directed by Rob Savage, Other Mommy comes from James Wan and Blumhouse Atomic Monster and is set to arrive in Indian cinemas on October 9, 2026, distributed by Universal Pictures India and Warner Bros. Discovery. The cast includes Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed and Karen Allen, with Clark playing Bela at the center of the terrifying story.
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