Other Mommy Star Jessica Chastain Likes the Challenge of Playing Two Roles
The Academy Award-winning actress explains how to nail her horror smile and her ethos when working with kids.
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With roles in Mama and Crimson Peak, Jessica Chastain is no stranger to horror. This time, she takes on the genre in Other Mommy with a dual role as Ursula, mother to seven-year-old Bella (Arabella Olivia Clark), and her supernatural doppelganger “Other Mommy” who wishes to be let into Bella’s heart and take over her life.
“This is also important for me with working with kids, where she wouldn’t be traumatized,” Chastain tells Seen on the Screen host Jacqueline Coley. “We had a lot of ways to shoot the scary stuff where she wouldn’t even be on set, and that also allowed me to be as creepy as everyone needed me to be.”
Chastain, a frequent on-screen mother, further explains her process working with children: “There was a scene in [The Eyes of] Tammy Faye where I’m holding a newborn and — this mother was very kind and generous, and the baby was weeks old — I had to break down in the middle of the scene. I said, ‘I don’t want to hold the baby when I’m breaking down.’ So, we paused and took the baby out of the room and I held a doll and did it, because I think children need to be protected, and I just want to make sure that when you tell a story, you don’t need to have any collateral damage in terms of the human experience.”
For audiences at home equally unnerved and impressed at Chastain’s creepy smile in Other Mommy, Chastain also breaks down how she does her trademark grin. First, be as nice as you can without showing your teeth. Second, don’t blink: “You want the person to know that you’re really seeing them.”
Watch the full episode above to see Chastain discuss her previous heroines, the influence of her Julliard training, and finding empathy for every character—even monsters.
Other Mommy is in theaters now. Buy tickets now on Fandango.
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Seen on the Screen is a Universal Entertainment and Fandango podcast series hosted by Jacqueline Coley, Awards Editor at Rotten Tomatoes.
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