Jessica Chastain says the unsettling smile in Other Mommy hurt to produce. Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the actress explained that the expression came from imagining a creature straining to keep a human skin in place, and that the strain was physical.
Chastain plays two roles in the Universal Pictures horror film: a mother, Ursula, and the entity that haunts her family by wearing her skin. The premise, which IGN likens to Coraline, went viral earlier this year when the trailer showed the entity’s dead-eyed face and wide, tense grin.
How she built the smile
Kimmel told Chastain the expression was scary “for reasons I can’t explain”, looking sad and terrifying at once. She offered to teach him, then walked through her thinking. “I thought about this entity holding on to the skin of a person, and maybe that’s the painful thing, like maybe you’re holding a box for a long time that’s very heavy,” she said. The body has to hold that tension, she added, and the creature still has to smile “because you need a child to think you’re safe and approachable.”
She then demonstrated the smile and cried on cue before snapping back into chat-show mode. “I am a trained actress,” she joked. “I really felt the pain in my body, and that’s why, sometimes, you can see in the neck in the pictures.” Her rule for the smile: don’t show your teeth.
In an interview with Collider, Chastain said the look doesn’t start with the face. It comes from the character: a being holding on to a skin finds that tiring, and wants to seem appealing to a child while not knowing how to be emotional with one. She also pointed to not blinking as something inhuman. Co-star Jay Duplass told Collider the production considered adding digital or makeup effects, but dropped the idea once Chastain’s own take proved the scariest option.
Early reactions
Other Mommy opened in US cinemas on 9 October, directed by Rob Savage. Early reactions from people who saw it beforehand are harsh, according to IGN, with viewers on social media calling it “more silly than it is scary”, “truly dreadful” and “masterfully cringe”. Those are social posts rather than formal reviews, so the critical verdict is still forming.
Is Other Mommy out in the UAE?
We haven’t confirmed UAE dates yet. Check local cinema listings for showtimes before you plan a trip.
Who plays Other Mommy?
Jessica Chastain plays both Ursula, the mother, and the entity that takes her form.
