Jessica Chastain has shared a light-hearted text exchange with Jeremy Strong after her new film outperformed his at the weekend box office. Chastain posted the messages on her Instagram Story after Other Mommy opened to $45.2 million worldwide, while Strong’s The Social Reckoning has taken $9 million globally in total. The pair turned the result into a joke that fans were quick to share. The gap is large: the opening for Other Mommy alone is roughly five times the total taken so far by Strong’s film.
The two actors have been friends for decades and have worked together on Zero Dark Thirty and Molly’s Game. That long history was clear in the tone of the messages. Strong opened the exchange by sending Chastain an article whose headline declared that Other Mommy had beaten The Social Reckoning. The story was illustrated with images of both actors in character, side by side. Chastain shared screenshots of the conversation rather than describing it, letting the messages speak for themselves.
Strong followed the link with a middle-finger emoji and a kissing emoji, a combination that captured the mix of rivalry and affection between them. Chastain replied: “These pics are hysterical.” Strong agreed that it was very funny. She then told him that he looked very sad in his photograph, and he responded that she looked insane in hers, keeping the joke going. The back-and-forth read like a conversation between old friends rather than rivals.
The exchange quickly spread across social media, where fans welcomed a rare glimpse of the friendship away from red carpets and interviews. It also turned a straightforward box office result into a talking point for both films. The pair have supported each other publicly before. In 2021, Chastain defended Strong after a much-discussed New Yorker profile of the actor, at a time when his intense working methods were drawing criticism. Those messages showed how comfortable the two remain with each other’s sense of humour.
On the figures alone, Other Mommy has made the stronger start of the two films. Neither actor has suggested the competition caused any tension. If anything, the screenshots suggest the friends are enjoying the coincidence of releasing films in the same weekend, and that Strong was happy to concede the round with good humour. Fans will be hoping for more of the same if the pair work together again.
