Rosemary's Baby (film)

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This article is about the 1968 horror film. For the 2014 miniseries, see Rosemary's Baby (miniseries). For other uses, see Rosemary's Baby.
Rosemary's Baby
Rosemarys baby poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRoman Polanski
Screenplay byRoman Polanski
Based onRosemary's Baby
by Ira Levin
Produced byWilliam Castle
Starring
CinematographyWilliam A. Fraker
Edited by
Music byKrzysztof Komeda
Production
company
William Castle Enterprises[1]
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • June 12, 1968 (1968-06-12)
Running time
136 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.2 million[2]
Box office$33.4 million[2]

Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, and starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Angela Dorian, Clay Tanner, and, in his feature film debut, Charles Grodin. The film follows a young, pregnant wife in Manhattan who comes to suspect that her elderly neighbors are members of a Satanic cult, and are grooming her in order to use her baby for their rituals. It is based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin.

Rosemary's Baby deals with themes related to paranoia, women's liberation, Christianity (Catholicism), and the occult.[3] The film earned almost universal acclaim from film critics and won numerous nominations and awards. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Plot[]

Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse move into the Bramford, a large Renaissance Revival apartment building in New York City. They disregard their friend Hutch's warning about the Bramford's dark past with witchcraft and murder.

Rosemary meets Terry Gionoffrio, a young recovering drug addict whom Minnie and Roman Castevet, the Woodhouses' elderly neighbors, have taken in. One night, Terry apparently jumps to her death from the Castevets' 7th-floor apartment, distressing the Castevets. Guy grows close to them, but Rosemary finds the couple annoying and meddlesome. Minnie gives Terry's pendant to Rosemary as a good luck charm, saying it contains "tannis root".

Guy is cast in a prominent play after the lead actor inexplicably goes blind. With his acting career flourishing, Guy wants him and Rosemary to have a baby. On the night that they plan to conceive, Minnie brings over individual cups of chocolate mousse for their dessert. When Rosemary complains hers has a chalky "under-taste" and does not finish it, Guy criticizes her as being ungrateful. Rosemary consumes a bit more to mollify him, then discreetly discards the rest. Soon after, she grows dizzy and passes out. In a dreamlike state, she hallucinates being raped by a demonic presence (Satan) as Guy, the Castevets, and other Bramford tenants watch. None, including Rosemary, are clothed. The next morning, Guy explains the scratches covering her body by claiming that he did not want to miss "baby night" and had sex with her while she was passed out.

Rosemary becomes pregnant, due the last week of June. The elated Castevets insist that Rosemary go to their close friend, Dr. Abraham Sapirstein, a prominent obstetrician, rather than her own physician, Dr. Hill. During her first trimester, Rosemary suffers severe abdominal pains and loses weight. By Christmastime, her gaunt appearance alarms her friends and also Hutch, who has been researching the Bramford's history. Before sharing his findings with Rosemary, he falls into a mysterious coma. Rosemary, unable to withstand the pain, insists on seeing Dr. Hill, while Guy argues against it, saying Dr. Sapirstein will be offended. As they argue, the pains suddenly stop and Rosemary feels the baby move.

Three months later, Hutch's friend, Grace Cardiff, informs Rosemary that Hutch is dead. Before dying, he briefly regained consciousness and said to give Rosemary a book on witchcraft, All of Them Witches, along with the cryptic message: "The name is an anagram". Rosemary eventually deduces that Roman Castevet is an anagram for Steven Marcato, the son of a former Bramford resident and a reputed Satanist. She suspects that the Castevets and Dr. Sapirstein belong to a Satanic coven and have sinister intentions for her baby. Guy discounts this and later throws the book away, upsetting Rosemary and making her suspicious of him.

Terrified, she goes to Dr. Hill for help. Assuming that she is delusional, he calls Dr. Sapirstein, who arrives with Guy to take her home. Rosemary locks herself into the apartment, but coven members somehow infiltrate and restrain her. Dr. Sapirstein sedates a hysterical Rosemary, who goes into labor and gives birth. When she awakens, she is told that the baby was stillborn. As Rosemary recovers, she notices her pumped breast milk appears to be saved. She stops taking her prescribed pills, becoming less groggy. After Rosemary hears an infant crying, Guy mentions that new tenants with a baby have moved into the building.

Believing her baby is alive, Rosemary discovers a hidden door leading into Minnie and Roman's apartment. The Castevets, Guy, Dr. Sapirstein and other coven members are gathered around a bassinet draped in black with an upside down cross hanging over it. Peering inside, Rosemary is horrified and demands to know what is wrong with her baby's eyes. Roman proclaims that the child is Adrian, Satan's son. He urges Rosemary to mother her child, promising her that she won't have to join the coven. When Guy attempts to calm her, saying that they will be rewarded and can conceive their own child, she spits in his face. After hearing the infant's cries, however, Rosemary gives in to her maternal instincts and gently rocks the cradle.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

In Rosemary's Baby: A Retrospective, a featurette on the DVD release of the film, screenwriter/director Roman Polanski, Paramount Pictures executive Robert Evans, and production designer Richard Sylbert reminisce at length about the production. Evans recalled William Castle brought him the galley proofs of the book and asked him to purchase the film rights even before Random House published the book. The studio head recognized the commercial potential of the project and agreed with the stipulation that Castle, who had a reputation for low-budget horror films, could produce but not direct the film adaptation. He makes a cameo appearance as the man at the phone booth waiting for Mia Farrow to finish her call.

Evans admired Polanski's European films and hoped he could convince him to make his American debut with Rosemary's Baby.[4] He knew the director was a ski buff who was anxious to make a film with the sport as its basis, so he sent him the script for Downhill Racer along with the galleys for Rosemary's Baby.[5] Polanski read the latter book non-stop through the night and called Evans the following morning to tell him he thought Rosemary's Baby was the more interesting project, and would like the opportunity to write as well as direct it.[6] After negotiations, Paramount agreed to hire Polanski for the project, with a tentative budget of $1.9 million, $150,000 of which would go to Polanski.[6]

Polanski completed the 272-page screenplay for the film in approximately three weeks.[6] Polanski closely modeled it on the original novel and incorporated large sections of the novel's dialogue and details, with much of it being lifted directly from the source text.[7]

Casting[]

Mia Farrow received widespread praise for her performance as Rosemary Woodhouse

Casting for Rosemary's Baby began in the summer of 1967 in Los Angeles, California.[8] Polanski originally envisioned Rosemary as a robust, full-figured, girl-next-door type, and wanted Tuesday Weld or his own fiancée Sharon Tate to play the role.[8] Additionally, Patty Duke and Goldie Hawn were considered for the part.[8]

Since the book had not yet reached bestseller status, Evans was unsure the title alone would guarantee an audience for the film, and he believed that a bigger name was needed for the lead. Mia Farrow, with a supporting role in Guns at Batasi (1964) and the yet-unreleased A Dandy in Aspic (1968) as her only feature film credits, had an unproven box office track record; however, she had gained wider notice with her role as Allison MacKenzie in the popular television series Peyton Place, and her unexpected marriage to noted singer Frank Sinatra.[9] Despite her waif-like appearance, Polanski agreed to cast her.[9] Her acceptance incensed Sinatra, who had demanded she forgo her career when they wed.[10]

Robert Redford was the first choice for the role of Guy Woodhouse, but he turned it down.[11] Jack Nicholson was considered briefly before Polanski suggested John Cassavetes, whom he had met in London.[11] In casting the film's secondary actors, Polanski drew sketches of what he imagined the characters would look like, which were then used by Paramount casting directors to match with potential actors.[12] In the roles of Roman and Minnie Castevet, Polanski cast stage actors Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon, respectively.[12] Ralph Bellamy, also primarily a stage actor, was cast in the role of Dr. Abraham Sapirstein.[12]

Polanski wanted to cast Hollywood old-timers as the coven members but did not know any by name. He drew sketches of how he envisioned each character, and these helped the casting director fill the roles. In every instance, the actor cast strongly resembled Polanski's drawing. They included Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, Elisha Cook, Jr., Phil Leeds and Hope Summers.[citation needed]

When Rosemary calls Donald Baumgart, the actor who goes blind and is replaced by Guy, the voice heard on the phone is actor Tony Curtis. Farrow, who had not been told who would be reading Baumgart's lines, recognized his voice but could not place it. The slight confusion she displays throughout the call was exactly what Polanski hoped to capture by not revealing Curtis' identity in advance.[citation needed]

Filming[]

The Dakota served as a stand-in for exterior shots of the fictional Bramford Building

Principal photography for Rosemary's Baby began on August 21, 1967 in New York City, where location shooting commenced.[1] When Farrow was reluctant to film a scene that depicted a dazed and preoccupied Rosemary wandering into the middle of a Manhattan street into oncoming traffic, Polanski pointed to her pregnancy padding and reassured her, "no one's going to hit a pregnant woman". The scene was successfully shot with Farrow walking into real traffic and Polanski following, operating the hand-held camera since he was the only one willing to do it.[13]

By September 1967, the shoot had relocated to California's Paramount Studios in Hollywood, where interior sets of the Bramford apartments had been constructed on soundstages.[1] Some additional location shooting took place in Playa del Rey in October 1967.[1] Farrow recalled that the dream sequence in which her character is attending a dinner party on a yacht was filmed on a vessel near Santa Catalina Island.[14] Though Paramount had initially agreed to spend $1.9 million to make the film, the shoot was overextended due to Polanski's meticulous attention to detail, which resulted in him completing up to fifty takes of single shots.[15] The shoot suffered significant scheduling problems as a result, and ultimately went $400,000 over budget.[16] In November 1967, it was reported that the shoot was over three weeks behind schedule.[1]

The shoot was further disrupted when, midway through filming, Farrow's husband, Frank Sinatra, served her divorce papers via a corporate lawyer in front of the cast and crew.[15] In an effort to salvage her relationship, Farrow asked Evans to release her from her contract, but he persuaded her to remain with the project after showing her an hour-long rough cut and assuring her she would receive an Academy Award nomination for her performance.[17] Filming was completed on December 20, 1967 in Los Angeles.[1]

Music[]

The lullaby played over the intro is the song "Sleep Safe and Warm." It was composed by Krzysztof Komeda and sung by Mia Farrow.[18] The song "Für Elise" is also frequently used as background music throughout the film. The original film soundtrack was released in 1968 via Dot Records. Waxwork Records released the soundtrack from the original master tapes in 2014 which included Krzysztof Komeda's original work.[19]

Release[]

Critical response[]

In contemporary reviews, Renata Adler wrote in The New York Times that "The movie—although it is pleasant—doesn't seem to work on any of its dark or powerful terms. I think this is because it is almost too extremely plausible. The quality of the young people's lives seems the quality of lives that one knows, even to the point of finding old people next door to avoid and lean on. One gets very annoyed that they don't catch on sooner."[20]

Variety said, "Several exhilarating milestones are achieved in Rosemary's Baby, an excellent film version of Ira Levin's diabolical chiller novel. Writer-director Roman Polanski has triumphed in his first US-made pic. The film holds attention without explicit violence or gore... Farrow's performance is outstanding."[21]

The Monthly Film Bulletin said that "After the miscalculations of Cul de Sac and Dance of the Vampires", Polanski had "returned to the rich vein of Repulsion".[22] The review noted that "Polanski shows an increasing ability to evoke menace and sheer terror in familiar routines (cooking and telephoning, particularly)," and Polanski has shown "his transformation of a cleverly calculated thriller into a serious work of art."[23]

Today, the film is widely regarded as a classic; it has an approval rating of 96% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 8.80/10. The site's critics' consensus describes it as "A frightening tale of Satanism and pregnancy that is even more disturbing than it sounds thanks to convincing and committed performances by Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon."[24] Metacritic reports a weighted average score of 96 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[25]

Accolades[]

Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress Ruth Gordon Won
Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium Roman Polanski Nominated
British Academy Film Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Mia Farrow Nominated
David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Director Roman Polanski Won
Best Foreign Actress Mia Farrow Won[a]
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Roman Polanski Nominated
Edgar Allan Poe Awards Best Motion Picture Nominated
Fotogramas de Plata Best Foreign Movie Performer Mia Farrow Won
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Best Foreign Film Roman Polanski Won
Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Mia Farrow Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Ruth Gordon Won
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Roman Polanski Nominated
Best Original Score – Motion Picture Krzysztof Komeda Nominated
Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation Roman Polanski (director/screenplay) and Ira Levin (original novel) Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Supporting Actor Sidney Blackmer Won
Best Supporting Actress Ruth Gordon Won
Laurel Awards Top Drama Nominated
Top Female Dramatic Performance Mia Farrow Nominated
Top Female Supporting Performance Ruth Gordon Nominated
National Film Preservation Board National Film Registry Inducted
Online Film & Television Association Awards Hall of Fame – Motion Picture Won
Photoplay Awards Gold Medal Won
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Written American Drama Roman Polanski Nominated

Home media[]

The Rosemary's Baby DVD, released in 2000 by Paramount Home Video, contains a 23-minute documentary film, Mia and Roman, directed by Shahrokh Hatami, which was shot during the making of the film. The title refers to Mia Farrow and Roman Polanski. The film features footage of Roman Polanski directing the film's cast on set. Hatami was an Iranian photographer who befriended Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate.[26] Mia and Roman was screened originally as a promo film at Hollywood's Lytton Center,[27] and later included as a featurette on the Rosemary's Baby DVD. It is described as a "trippy on-set featurette"[28] and "an odd little bit of cheese."[29]

On October 30, 2012, The Criterion Collection released the film for the first time on Blu-ray.[30]

Legacy[]

Following the film's premiere, a string of other films focusing on Satan worshippers and black magic were produced, including The Brotherhood of Satan, Mark of the Devil, Black Noon, and The Blood on Satan's Claw.

The scene in which Rosemary is raped by Satan was ranked No. 23 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[31] In 2010, The Guardian ranked the film the second-greatest horror film of all time.[32] In 2014, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[33]

Sequels and remakes[]

In the 1976 television film Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby, Patty Duke starred as Rosemary Woodhouse and Ruth Gordon reprised her role of Minnie Castevet. The film introduced an adult Andrew/Adrian attempting to earn his place as the Antichrist. It was disliked as a sequel by critics and viewers, and its reputation deteriorated over the years. The film is unrelated to the novel's sequel, Son of Rosemary.[34]

A remake of Rosemary's Baby was briefly considered in 2008. The intended producers were Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller.[35] The remake fell through later that same year.[36]

In January 2014, NBC made a four-hour Rosemary's Baby miniseries with Zoe Saldana as Rosemary. The miniseries was filmed in Paris under the direction of Agnieszka Holland.[37]

In 2016, the film was unofficially remade in Turkey under the title Alamet-i-Kiyamet.[38]

The short "Her Only Living Son" from the 2017 horror anthology film XX serves as an unofficial sequel to the story.[39]

In popular culture[]

The movie was parodied in the 1996 Halloween episode of Roseanne,"Satan, Darling".

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl.

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Rosemary's Baby". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Rosemary's Baby, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on September 10, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  3. ^ Ward, Sarah (2016). "All of them witches: Individuality, conformity and the occult on screen". Screen Education (83): 34–41. Archived from the original on 2021-06-05. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  4. ^ Sandford 2009, pp. 109–110.
  5. ^ Sandford 2009, p. 109.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Sandford 2009, p. 110.
  7. ^ Vlastelica, Ryan (November 3, 2016). "In adapting Rosemary's Baby, Polanski traded ambiguity for dreadfully inevitable horror". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on May 1, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c Sandford 2009, p. 111.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Sandford 2009, pp. 111–115.
  10. ^ Sandford 2009, p. 114.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Sandford 2009, p. 112.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c Sandford 2009, p. 113.
  13. ^ Stafford, Jeff. "Rosemary's Baby". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on September 13, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
  14. ^ Remembering Rosemary's Baby 2012, 29:00.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Sandford 2009, p. 115.
  16. ^ Sandford 2009, pp. 114–115.
  17. ^ Sandford 2009, pp. 115–116.
  18. ^ "Rosemary's Baby: The Devil Was Not Only in the Details". Culture.pl. Archived from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  19. ^ Turek, Ryan (December 5, 2013). "Exclusive Look at Waxworks Records' Rosemary's Baby Vinyl, Art By Jay Shaw!". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  20. ^ Adler, Renata (June 13, 1968). "The Screen: 'Rosemary's Baby,' a Story of Fantasy and Horror; John Cassavetes Stars With Mia Farrow". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  21. ^ "Rosemary's Baby". Variety. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  22. ^ Christie 1969, p. 95.
  23. ^ Christie 1969, p. 96.
  24. ^ "Rosemary's Baby (1968)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  25. ^ "Rosemary's Baby". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  26. ^ "Shahrokh Hatami". Archived from the original on 2018-09-24. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
  27. ^ "Checking Rumors on a 'Wild Bunch'". Los Angeles Times. July 9, 1968. p. E11.
  28. ^ Harris, Mark (October 27, 2000). "DVD Review: Rosemary's Baby: Collector's Edition". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  29. ^ "Polanski balances terror, humor the director adds deceit upon deceit in Rosemary's Baby until we finally find the truth". Orlando Sentinel. October 20, 2000. p. 42.
  30. ^ "Rosemary's Baby Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2015.
  31. ^ "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments". Bravo. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007.
  32. ^ Billson, Anne (October 22, 2010). "Rosemary's Baby: No 2 best horror film of all time". Archived from the original on August 24, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  33. ^ Cannady, Sheryl (December 17, 2014). "Cinematic Treasures Named to National Film Registry" (News release). Library of Congress. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  34. ^ Mankiewicz, Ben. "Look What's Happened To Rosemary's Baby (1976)". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  35. ^ "Rosemary's Baby Remake Confirmed". Cinema blend. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
  36. ^ Rosemary's Baby Remake Scrapped, IMDb, 22 December 2008, archived from the original on 17 May 2018, retrieved 30 June 2018.
  37. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (8 January 2014). "Zoe Saldana To Topline NBC Miniseries 'Rosemary's Baby'". Deadline. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  38. ^ "Alamet-i-Kiyamet". Filmaffinity. April 17, 2021. Archived from the original on April 17, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2021..
  39. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2020-05-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Sources[]

  • Christie, Ian Leslie (1969). "Rosemary's Baby". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 36 no. 420. London: British Film Institute. ISSN 0027-0407.
  • Remembering Rosemary's Baby (Documentary short). The Criterion Collection. 2012.
  • Sandford, Christopher (2009). Polanski: A Biography. New York City, New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-23-061176-4.

External links[]

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