Director Rob Savage describes the titular supernatural entity in his upcoming film, Other Mommy, as being a concept that shouldn't be seen by the viewers in its entirety. The film features Jessica Chastain in dual roles as a mother of a young girl Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark), and the entity that haunts her.
Through a press statement, the director said, "Whenever she appears, or whenever her presence is felt, you learn something new about what she can do, how she can manipulate Bela, and how she can manipulate the audience. The goal was to make sure viewers never felt they had seen the entirety of her."
Producer James Wan commented that the shapeshifting nature of the entity allowed the makers, unlimited freedom in forming the character. "That gave us a lot of leverage to try different things, and it allowed Rob to create looks and approaches that you haven't quite seen before," said Wan. Savage added, "The sweetness of Other Mommy is almost too sweet, but underneath it, you feel something coiled and furious. As she becomes more monstrous, that control starts to slip and the thing underneath begins to come through."
Savage also wishes for the audience to remember Other Mommy as an iconic character of horror. "Something in the tradition of Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, and there are not many of those in modern horror cinema."
Savage has previously directed films like Host and The Boogeyman. The cast of the film also includes Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman, Karen Allen, Arian Moayed, Sean Kaufman, Adam Silver and Alec Secareanu. It is an adaptation of Josh Malerman's novel of the same name. Other Mommy is set to open in theatres on October 9.
