Pretty interesting reading all the coulda-beens in Ed Sanders' Sharon Tate biography (probably most of this is already known but it was new to me).
Other actresses considered for Rosemary: Tuesday Weld, Jane Fonda, Julie Christie, Elizabeth Hartman, Patty Duke, Goldie Hawn, Joanna Pettet.
For Guy: Redford, Nicholson (Polanski: "his slightly sinister appearance ruled him out"), Beatty, Richard Chamberlain, James Fox, Laurence Harvey.
For the Castevets: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
William Castle initially wanted to direct it in 3-D with Vincent Price.
Sharon Tate supposedly shows up in the party scene. I've seen the film 20+ times and never noticed her.
― clemenza, Friday, 29 July 2016 01:39 (eight years ago) link
Trivia: what is the elevator operator's name? It's said once.
http://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/8b/ed/c5/8bedc563d39a285a71329f1a9e76c4dd.jpg
― clemenza, Sunday, 27 August 2017 05:59 (seven years ago) link
Memo to universe: I will never stop loving this film. Stop trying to change that.
― nourish nourish your turtleheart (Eric H.), Thursday, 24 May 2018 03:41 (six years ago) link
Does this help, y/n
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9_MqhkRPr8
― I cop this squat in the name of slack (Old Lunch), Thursday, 24 May 2018 03:47 (six years ago) link
50th anniv of the premiere... a new book features set photos.
http://www.anothermag.com/design-living/10924/behind-the-scenes-of-roman-polanskis-cult-1968-thriller-rosemarys-baby
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:17 (six years ago) link
Without doubt, the crowning achievement of a 15-year online Scrabble addiction (you'll have to scan the board):
http://phildellio.tripod.com/ectopic.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 July 2018 17:00 (six years ago) link
This Is No Dream: Making Rosemary's Baby wasn't what I really expected. The text basically stops halfway through, and most of the rest of the book consists of Bob Willoughby's on-set photos. It's a coffee-table book as much as a making-of account. Many of the photos are great, though, so if you're able to get hold of a library copy like I was--I certainly wouldn't pay the $40+ it would cost you on Amazon--it's worth the time. The making-of part is pretty straightforward, with at least one great story. The script originally had a scene where Rosemary and her friend actually go to see The Fantasticks. They wrote Joan Crawford and Van Johnson, part of the production, into the scene. (Bad idea.) But when Polanski heard, or was told, something Johnson said about him--"Who's that, Pinocchio?"--he scrapped the scene.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 October 2018 01:09 (five years ago) link
Discovered the TV remake on Tubi, giving it a go...The first 90 minutes is pointless but passable (reverse that if you want), until they get to the impregnation scene--terrible.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 6 April 2021 05:07 (three years ago) link
Next to zero discussion of the sequel itt, shameful.
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 6 April 2021 12:18 (three years ago) link
I've seen it! Possibly even when it first aired.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 6 April 2021 15:15 (three years ago) link
I could be wrong, but I thought there was a subtle Rosemary's Baby allusion in The Night House (which is good most of the way, then gets a little too lofty/metaphysical near the end).
― clemenza, Wednesday, 25 August 2021 15:17 (three years ago) link
I'm reading Michael Newton's BFI book that came out a couple of years ago, which I didn't know anything about till a friend gave it to me for Christmas this year. So I'm going to throw on the Criterion DVD to bring in the new year. To 2023--the Year One!
― clemenza, Sunday, 1 January 2023 02:33 (one year ago) link
i was once chatting to a photographer very active on the same beat as me in the 80s (jazz and african music) and he spoke knowledgeably at length about the story being ENTIRELY BASED ON FACT and was in fact made as an attempt to get an important truth out into the world (possibly about the pope? this guy was something of a hippie-era conspiracy theorist and you never knew where a conversation would take you before you successfully edged away: in another he lovingly described the number of turds the queen received every week in the mail) (not sure how he knew this unless he was also posting them…)
tbf he was a nice enough guy personally and professionally an excellent photographer
― mark s, Sunday, 1 January 2023 15:47 (one year ago) link
and was in fact made as an attempt to get an important truth out into the world
All of them witches--it's a fact.
The book was okay. I read the coffee-table book mentioned above a few years ago, also Ed Sanders' Sharon Tate biography, so most of the background here I knew. The analysis was all over the place. He draws an interesting connection--never thought of it before, thought it seems obvious--between the baby and Kubrick's star-child. One new thing to me was that that's Mia Farrow herself singing the lullaby.
― clemenza, Monday, 2 January 2023 00:52 (one year ago) link