22 September,2026 03:38 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Jessica Chastain in Other Mommy. Pic via special arrangement
Jessica Chastain is set to give audiences a chilling new reason to fear familiar faces with Other Mommy, where the Oscar-winning actor takes on not one but two roles. Chastain plays Bela's mother as well as the sinister entity that takes on her appearance, creating a disturbing duality at the heart of the upcoming horror film.
Directed by Rob Savage, Other Mommy is based on Josh Malerman's bestselling novel. The film follows Bela, a young girl who encounters a mysterious presence in her home that looks remarkably like her mother. What initially appears comforting soon takes a sinister turn as Bela realises that the entity may be hunting her.
For Chastain, making the mysterious presence frightening was not simply about changing her appearance. The actor imagined what it would physically feel like for an entity to take the form of someone it was not.
"In prep, I started thinking about the reality of Other Mommy," Chastain said, explaining that she imagined the entity attempting to appear warm and gentle to Bela while struggling to maintain that disguise.
One of the key details she discovered was an unnerving, unblinking smile. "I found this unblinking smile in the mirror, and then the tears started coming," she revealed. The combination created an unsettling contrast between the warmth Other Mommy tries to project and the darkness beneath it.
The reaction to Chastain's transformation apparently confirmed that she had found the right approach. Recalling a moment during production, she said a child entered her trailer while she was making the face and immediately screamed. Director Rob Savage responded, "That is Other Mommy."
Chastain continued to build the character around the idea of an entity presenting itself as everything Bela wants her mother to be. That made the performance particularly disturbing because the character's menace exists beneath an appearance that should feel familiar and safe.
"What makes Other Mommy so terrifying is the idea of a parent being replaced by something sinister," Chastain said. She also pointed to the uncertainty surrounding Bela's perception, questioning whether the girl is actually seeing Other Mommy or a darker side of her own mother.
Jay Duplass plays Bela's father, Daddo, while Arabella Olivia Clark stars as Bela. Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed and Karen Allen also feature in the supporting cast. Other Mommy is set to hit Indian cinemas on October 9, 2026, with Chastain's transformation at the centre of the film's unsettling horror.
