Quote of the Day

Everybody say thank you to Interview Magazine today because they got Tony nominees Mia Farrow and Cole Escola to chat with each other and you've got to go read it right now -- I promise you it's a gay movie nerd's slice of heaven. Cole's a Classic Hollywood nerd of course and they get Mia to dish all sorts of stories from her storied Hollywood past hanging with Bette Davis, George Cukor, and in the best passage of their chat an incredibly strange and hilarious series of happenings with Joan Crawford which I must share in full...

FARROW: You’re a real movie buff. Are you seeing enough big emotions in movies these days?

ESCOLA: No, I like melodrama and high stakes that maybe don’t make sense. Silent movies, I find particularly moving right now. Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid or even Joan Crawford in Dancing Daughters.

FARROW: She’s scary. And she was scary in person as well.

ESCOLA: Oh, did you meet her?

FARROW: Yes. I more than met her. I forget what movie was shooting, probably that one with Betty Davis, the scary one. 

ESCOLA: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? 

FARROW: If that was shot at Fox, then that was what they were shooting. And for whatever reason, she started sending a whole refrigerator of Pepsi Cola for my trailer ’cause I was in a TV series called Peyton Place. I don’t particularly like Pepsi Cola, but a lot of Pepsi Cola kept coming to my trailer, more than anyone would ever want. And then she came over to see me and I got a strange vibe from her. So I’m back in New York, and she knew my mother. I hung up people’s coats for my mom when they came into the house. And I hung her coat and out falls a flask of alcohol. She grabbed it like that, and she put it in her handbag. She drank quite a lot. Then she invited me to her apartment. I thought it was a party, but I arrived, and I was the only one there. 

ESCOLA: In New York? 

FARROW: Yes. I was 17, and everything was green in her apartment. It just had very low lighting. And there were no other guests, just Ms. Crawford and me. And I just wasn’t very comfortable. 

ESCOLA: Of course. 

FARROW: So I just made up a lie that I wasn’t feeling very well and I didn’t want to give her any diseases. I think I said the word “diseases” as I walked out of the room. I was scared of Ms. Crawford.

Do we think Joan was coming on to baby Mia? I've heard many a bisexual rumor about Joan before and this feels like Joan was hot for the little girl. I laughed so hard at Mia saying "I think I said the word 'diseases' as I walked out of the room" lol. What a life. 

The Poster Next Door

The poster for Pedro Almodóvar's The Room Next Door has arrived and in the grand tradition of Pedro Almodóvar Movie Posters it's a work of art that any sane person should want to hang on their wall. The obvious reference is of course Bergman's Persona, with two women's faces intermingling, but them being down at the bottom laid out like a landscape, like mountains, makes me think of the poster for Rosemary's Baby as well. I'm sure that was also thought of. Anyway I'm also including the Spanish version below just to prove that the font design on these is beautiful in any language...

Pics of the Day

There is a nice big piece on the forthcoming Rosemary's Baby prequel Apartment 7A over at Vanity Fair today with pictures and some words from director Natalie Erika James (see my previous post on the film here) -- James made a truly great horror film in 2020 with Relic so I am not as down on this as you might think, given Rosemary is my favorite film of all time. There's also the cast -- Julia Garner and m'f'ing Dianne Wiest. Wiest is indeed playing Minnie Castavet, the neighbor-from-hell role that rightly won Ruth Gordon an Oscar, while Garner is playing Terry Gionoffrio, the gal Mia Farrow met briefly in the 1968 film in the laundry room (and you can see that scene being reconstructed above, this time from Terry's perspective) before she "falls" out of a window. (How Putin-esque of her.) Anyway who knows? I will go into this with an open mind given the level of talent involved -- we only know a little bit about Terry's story so the film could have some surprises, although yes, we do know where all it's headed. Open minds, open hearts, and plenty of room for chocolate mouse. Apartment 7A hits Paramount+ September 27th; y'all hit the jump for a few more photos...

All of Them Will Be Witches

Well file this under "potentially intriguing slash possibly horrifying, we shall see" -- and yes, I've got an entire filing cabinet full of things that fall under that banner -- we might be getting a Rosemary's Baby prequel? Now that information alone is the "possibly horrifying" part, because nobody should try messing about with Rosemary's Baby. It's a perfect movie -- heck it's literally my favorite movie. People have basically remade Rosemary's Baby a thousand times now -- once officially, to terrible results, and a million other times with vague spins on the material. There's also a nutso TV movie sequel called Look What happened To Rosemary's Baby that is fun insomuch as it's terrible and Ruth Gordon reprises her role.

Anyway setting that aside the rumor gets interesting when you look beyond the initial shock of it because of who's attached to the thing right now -- it will star Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest and it will be directed by Natalie Erika James, the director of 2020's phenomenal horror flick Relic (that one starred Emily Mortimer and I reviewed it right here). Oh and the story will be about the character of "Terry d'Onofrio" (played by Victoria Vetri in Polanski's film), who's the young woman who lives with the Castavets and ends up "jumping" out their window toward the start of that film, after befriending newcomer Rosemary (Mia Farrow) in the laundry room.

Thing is nothing has been stated about any of this officially -- the movie on IMDb is called Apartment 7A and no plot has been released. Bloody Disgusting just says they "have it on good authority" ... and then some incredible sleuth went and noticed that a bunch of the character names on IMDb are characters from Rosemary's Baby, lol. Like how actor Kevin McNally from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is listed as playing "Roman Castavet" and relative newcomers named Amy Leeson and Scott Hume are playing "Rosemary Woodhouse" and "Guy Woodhouse" for example. 

So point being if those character names are indeed authentic to the film then I can't imagine that BD is reaching here, saying this will be involved with Rosemary's Baby. And perhaps we should be open-minded! Natalie Erika James turned out one hell of a film with Relic, and Garner is one of the most exciting actresses coming up. And does this mean that national treasure Dianne Wiest is playing Minnie? Or maybe she's playing the old woman who owned the apartment before Rosemary & Guy move in, the one who grew all the "tannis" herbs? Either way I dare to say...

13 Needles of Halloween #5

There's really not much of anything in terms of physical violence in Rosemary's Baby -- we do see Terry Gionoffrio's bloodied dead body on the sidewalk after she's leapt out of the Bramford building, but that's after the fact -- it's all emotional and psychological. Maybe that's why the scene where the coven closes in on Rosemary, holds her down on the bed as she flails and shrieks, and inject her with a sedative, does continue to hit so viscerally until this day. It's the only scene where we see Rosemary physically attacked -- such things are hinted at during the demonic rape sequence of course, but the witches were decent enough to feed Rosemary that doped-up chocolate mouse there so that sequence remains hazy, unlike this. Add onto it Rosemary's obvious frailty, so stick-thin with that gigantic pregnant belly heaving to and fro as she convulses, add on Mia Farrow's enormously effective performance, and well this scene stands out to my eye as the scariest single moment in the entire film. 

Good Morning, World

When Mare of Easttown ended on Sunday night -- and as an aside I'd love to hear what y'all thought of that show! I loved it, while acknowledging that plot-wise it sometimes leaned too hard on conventions, but I didn't really care because the performances were all so deeply moving -- I decided to finally start watching the 2013 run of Broadchurch, a British small-town whodunit starring Olivia Colman (and our new favorite big-eared gay-boy Jonathan Bailey, seen in these gifs) that I saw a lot of people compare Mare to. Well I started it on Monday (it's on Netflix)  and... I already have just one episode left? Which is to say it's scratching my itch and then some. 

I'll hold off on casting a final judgement until I've finished the first run of episodes -- and I've heard the second season isn't nearly as good? -- but if I thought Olivia Colman was incapable of delivering a performance that rang anything but astonishingly, painfully true in every single movement and facial expression (and I did think that) I only think it doubly so far. This is going to sound frightfully like Roman Castavet describing Guy Woodhouse's performance in Rosemary's Baby, I know that going in, but she does this... not an "involuntary reach" exactly, as Roman puts it, but in the scene where the boy's body is discovered on the beach in the first episode and the mother comes down and freaks out, Colman presses her hands on her forehead in one of the most genuine expressions of overwhelming dismay I have ever seen an actor put on-screen. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that precise movement before? And watching her do it I was like, "That is what I do in those moments." She's just so goddamned good you guys. We did her right, giving her an Oscar. Also...

Has anybody seen BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, the 2008 series about Simon Doonan's childhood starring Olivia Colman as his mum? I can't fathom I didn't know about this until right now, which makes me worry about its quality... but OH MY GOD THIS PHOTO pic.twitter.com/asTtv0V3dc

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) June 2, 2021

... did y'all know that? Why didn't I know that? I have got to find that show, Anyway back to Broadchurch I was locked in from there on and have flown through it over the past couple of nights and will presumably finish it tonight. If I've got fans in the house please share your love, although I do ask y'all refrain from spoilers since like I said, one episode left. For now here's more of our big-eared gay-boy Jonathan Bailey flashing some meaty bum, after the jump...

My Favorite Horror Movies! Of Ever!

It's the day I've been waiting for slash dreading -- over at Final Girl my beloved pal Stacie Ponder has shared with everyone my Top 20 Favorite Horror Movies list! Actually my list is actually 21 because I changed my mind after sending it and she gave me the bonus. On that note I say "dreading" because there's nothing more difficult in all this world than narrowing down this sort of thing, and my list could have been one thousand titles long. You make all sorts of qualifications in this sort of whittling down process -- you want to represent yourself, as a whole person, so entries that feel redundant get excised in an effort at a larger vision, if that makes sense? 

Anyway click on over, see my 21 picks with a few rambling thoughts about each one tossed in for good bad measure, and make sure you keep checking Final Girl all month long as Stacie's annual "Shocktober" celebration keeps churning out the quality content. And make sure you're listening to Stacie's podcast Gaylords of Darkness (with the wonderful Anthony Hudson) too! It is literally -- I'm not even exaggerating -- the only podcast I listen to. I'm not a podcast person. But Gaylords got me through quarantine and I'm now a hardcore addict to their weekly fix.

13 Cakes of Halloween #1

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I'll take any excuse to talk about Ruth Gordon eating cake in Rosemary's Baby, and this time I've built an entire (ridiculous) series around it! In past years for Halloween I've devoted lists to Telephones and to Snakes, to Virgins and to Whores. So why not Cake? Let them eat it, you know. 

This (ridiculous) series' inspiration was actually another movie which we'll get to later on, but I had to start here with the single greatest eating performance ever given. Nobody but nobody can chew, cake and or scenery, quite like Ruth Gordon. I talked a little bit about how important on-screen eating can be in my tribute to Mia Goth at The Film Experience the other day -- Ruth here flouts the rules I set and goes way over the top, masticating like a maniac, but how would any other choice make sense for the woman we know love and fear called Minnie Castavet? It wouldn't, she knew it, and she chewed her way straight into my heart.

Keep your sweet teeth tuned for more Horror Cakes 

every single day between now and Halloween!

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Good Morning, World

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When Rosemary's Baby turned 50 back in June I told all of you witches about the forthcoming book called This is No Dream: Making Rosemary's Baby -- well the book's out now, I am flipping through my copy right now, and oh my god it's lovely! It's stuffed to the satanic gills with the set photography of Bob Willoughby, much of it that I've never published before, and knowing what a spazz I am about this movie that should be very exciting indeed. A must own, methinks! Go pick up yours right over here or risk Saint Minnie's wrath...
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The Queen

A post shared by Jason Adams (@jasonaadams) on Jul 31, 2018 at 6:19pm PDT

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Giving the Devil Its Due (Date)

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I want you to click on the above image and really take in the perfection of that shot from Rosemary's Baby - I was skipping around the film last night in order to grab some images of "Monumental Horror Images" to send my friend Sean who was doing a Twitter thread about that idea and when I started really basking in that shot for a minute I became obsessed. 

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I could post about 20 more from ROSEMARY'S BABY which is chockablock pic.twitter.com/unjatzIfeP

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) June 14, 2018

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There are eleven people in that frame up top (not including the devil baby in that crib) and they're all looking in different directions and experiencing that moment in different ways and yet our eye is relaxed and curious as it drifts about that stage. And at the same time everything points straight towards that black bassinet. All the shadows, all the lines. Wham.

Anyway as we noted earlier this week the film, my favorite, just turned 50 and over at The Film Experience the celebration's gotten that precise - three of us have split the movie into thirds and are live-blogging the experience of watching it. Last night the first third went up (see that here) and tonight comes my third - click over here to read my take on the middle portion of the movie, from Devil Impregnation to Good Ol' Boy Hutch's Funeral. It's an interesting patch of the movie  I'm glad I got to tackle, with several key sequences that you might be tempted to glance past at first but which are vital to the film's still awesome power.

Plus I get to rhapsodize about John Cassavetes a bunch.

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Little Andy or Jenny Turn 50 Today

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Rosemary's Baby was birthed on June 12th 1968,

 making our favorite antichrist 50 years old today.

Fifty! Fifty years old!

The film was an enormous success right out of the gate, tapping into an anxiety about modern womanhood and city living that I don't think they could even entirely see about themselves at the time - makes you wonder how people will look back on the shenanigans of Hereditary with its family curse in 50 years. (And yes people will be looking back on the shenanigans of Hereditary in 50 years.)

No matter how they looked at it at the time we look at it constantly now - Rosemary stands alongside Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist as one of the most influential horror films of all time, and while I'm loathe to say it's even "more than that" - because being horror is enough, dammit! - Rosemary's reach really does extend beyond just its "tentpole of the genre" status because of all the innovations Roman Polanski baked into the thing. The innovative camera-work and framing...

... rewrote the way movies are shot, period. It's a perfect film, it's my favorite film, i've watched it more times than any other and yet I still find things I've never noticed before - I re-watched it over this past weekend and I was stuck for the first time by the dream sequence that Rosemary has while she's asleep in Dr. Hill's office waiting to be taken to the hospital (or so she thinks) where she dreams of her family, her parents and sisters and brothers, all doting on her newborn, and it's the saddest freaking thing I have ever seen.

How have I always tuned out during this moment? It's brief and you're usually focused on what's about to happen - Dr. Hill's betrayal and the deep trauma that immediately follows. But the horror's made all the sharper by this sweet imaginary interlude. Poor Rosemary.

Another thing I didn't know - Time Magazine has a piece today on how the name of the infamous apartment building where all the horror unfolds was named after a famous figure in horror - click on over to read that. (thx Mac) My point is I still have so much to learn about this film even after all this time - I'm really looking forward to the forthcoming book called This Is No Dream: Making Rosemary's Baby that's out in July which will surely have even more wonders to share on this never not fascinating film. 

What are your favorite things about Rosemary?

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Great Moments in Movie Shelves #125

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"It's where the Trench Sisters conducted their little dietary 

experiments and Keith Kennedy held his parties. 

Adrian Marcato lived there. So did Pearl Ames.

... The Trench Sisters were two proper Victorian ladies. 

They cooked and ate several young children, including a niece.

... They called it The Black Bramford. In '59 a dead infant 

was found wrapped in newspaper in the basement."

Oh Hutch, how do I love thee. Poor Hutch, cursed Hutch - not allowed onto the Kennedy Yacht of Rosemary's Dreams ("TYPHOON!") and murdered off-screen by a glove. What a world. Hutch is introduced in this scene (he is Rosemary and Guy's former landlord and friend) surrounded by his books, and books follow him around the whole film long...

"Tannis... I must look it up in the Encyclopedia."

Oh Hutch! Your books are gonna get you killed, you dumb dumb. Sure enough Hutch looks it up and tries to warn Rosemary...

Note how Rosemary's surrounded, literally draped, in books as she fields the call from Hutch here - knowledge is knocking! Press your ear up to it, woman! Anyway as sure as he tries before he can deliver the terrifying news of Tannis Past he's as chewed up as that Trench Sisters niece was. Poor, dead Hutch. When Rosemary goes to his funeral she meets his friend Grace, who has a gift for her...

"What is it?"

"A book."

"The name is an anagram."

Even in death Hutch keeps trying to save the day through literature. This leads to one of my favorite visual jokes in the film - when Guy comes home to find Rosemary freaking out about the witchy theories that Hutch has planted in her head from his grave, Guy takes the book away from her and puts it out of her reach...

... but did you ever notice what books he puts it on top of?

It's the two Kinsey books! Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female! That deserves a great big (you might even say pregnant) LOL -- wouldn't you agree, Hutch?

For a separate appreciation of the

 bookshelves of Rosemary's Baby click here!

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Little Andy or Jenny is Middle-aged Now

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It's the 49th anniversary of my favorite movie Rosemary's Baby today, and so we're using this week's "Beauty vs Beast" over at The Film Experience to mark the occasion - click on over and vote!

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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Rosemary's Baby (1968) 

Mrs. Gilmore: We're your friends, Rosemary. 

There's nothing to be scared about. 

Honest and truly there isn't! 

The actress Hope Summers was born on this day in the year 1896. Before playing one of those nosy neighbors of the Woodhouses (here "nosy" translates to "Satan worshiping rapists") Summers was probably best known for playing... a nosy neighbor of Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry and good friend slash rival to one Aunt Bea.

If I had to hazard a guess I'd guess that a rather high percentage of Summers' 100 plus credits on IMDb were of the "nosy neighbor" sort - she just had that look, right? That long neck was just built for peering through windows. Anyway putting a resident of Mayberry down in the Bramford alongside Minnie & Roman was just another stroke of Roman Polanski's deranged genius in the making of my favorite movie.

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Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Homicidal (1961)

Karl: Is there any way to tell?
Dr. Jonas: Huh? Tell what, Karl?
Karl: Well. If a person's homicidal?
Dr. Jonas: ... No... That's what makes them
so dangerous. They can change from being your
friend into your murderer in a second's time!!! 

The great writer slash producer slash director slash showman William Castle (who just got the John Waters treament on Feud a couple weeks ago) was born on this day in the year 1914. If you've never seen the 2007 documentary Spine Tingler about him I definitely recommend it; and if you've never gotten to see his 1959 film The Tingler with the theater seats wired up to shock you at choice moments I recommend that even moreso. 

I've actually never seen Homicidal, the movie quoted here, but I love this quote too much. (And how great is the DVD's Hitchcock rip-off cover too?) And normally I'd ask here what movie of his is your favorite, but the only correct answer is his 1969 producer credit on Rosemary's Baby, obviously, so nevermind that. Have any of you read Castle's autobiography Step Right Up: I'm Gonna Scare the Pants Off America? I haven't yet but I gotta fix that - I have a feeling he had some stories to tell!

Gatsby Is Great, Gatsby Is Good

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While we'll always be Team Joel Egderton's Riding Pants in Baz Luhrman's Great Gatsby movie, today on the occasion of the 92nd anniversary of the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald's book we're asking you to choose something less roundly beloved -- between two of the actresses who've had the difficult  task of portraying Daisy Buchanan on film. Head over to The Film Experience to vote! I actually don't think either of them give perfect turns in the role but I don't really know how you turn that impossible symbol of a person into something believable on a movie screen.

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Tannis, Everyone

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The time has come, you might say the year is one, for the toughest edition of "Beauty vs Beast" I will ever give you -- I am forcing you to choose between Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby, y'all. And I personally refuse to endorse one over the other. I refuse it! You can rape me with the devil all you want, I will not pick. It's up to you people. Head over to The Film Experience to vote.