EXCLUSIVE: Jessica Chastain looks to be making a return to the horror genre in a big way as sources tell Deadline that the Oscar winner has signed on to star in the latest film from director Rob Savage. Atomic Monster and Blumhouse are producing in association with Spin a Black Yarn for Universal Pictures.
Succession writer Nathan Elston is penning the script, which is based on the novel titled Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman.
While details behind the film are unknown, in the Malerman novel, the story revolves around a haunting told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by an entity she calls “Other Mommy.”
Atomic Monster’s James Wan is producing, with Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Macdara Kelleher, Savage, Malerman and Ryan Lewis executive producing. Alayna Glasthal is the executive overseeing the film for Atomic Monster.
While Chastain is best known for her Oscar-nominated work in Zero Dark Thirty and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (which won her the Oscar), she’s no stranger to the horror genre. She starred in the 2013 horror hit Mama, which helped launch the career of It director Andy Muschietti. They later reunited on It: Chapter Two.
Other notable roles for Chastain include playing astronaut Melissa Lewis in The Martian, the enigmatic Murph in Interstellar and real-life figure Molly Bloom in Molly’s Game. Her credits also include the films Take Shelter, Lawless, Miss Sloane and Crimson Peak, and on TV the miniseries George & Tammy for Showtime and Scenes from a Marriage for HBO.
Her notable roles in theatre include playing Nora in Jamie Lloyd’s A Doll’s House, Catherine Sloper in The Heiress, and in Salome opposite Al Pacino.
Behind the camera, Chastain launched New York-based Freckle Films in 2016 and has since produced The 355, Eyes of Tammy Faye and George & Tammy along with the Neon film Mothers’ Instinct, the upcoming Apple Originals limited series The Savant, and Michel Franco’s upcoming film Dreams.
As for Savage, he most recently directed the Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman. The film, produced by 21 Laps for 20th Century Studios, starred Sophie Thatcher, David Dastmalchian and Chris Messina and was released in June 2023.
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Savage wrote, directed and released the feature film Host, which sports a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was considered one of the year’s best horror films. He followed that 2021’s Dashcam, which he also wrote and directed. It was produced by Blumhouse and premiered at that year at the Toronto Film Festival.
Chastain is represented by CAA and Mosaic, Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox. Savage is represented by WME, Exile Entertainment, JATWMM & Independent Talent in the UK. Elston is represented by UTA. Malerman is represented by Ryan Lewis of Spin a Black Yarn, Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency and Wayne Alexander of Alexander Lawrence Frumes & Labowitz.
