Rosemary's Baby Overview:

Rosemary's Baby (1968) was a Drama - Horror Film directed by Roman Polanski and produced by William Castle and Dona Holloway.

The film was based on the novel of the same name written by Ira Levin published in 1967.

SYNOPSIS

This terrifying film redefines and updates Gothic horror for the modern (and more explicit) age. Cassavetes and Farrow move into a huge, creepy - and suspiciously affordable - apartment. They're taken under the wing of elderly neighbors Blackmer and Gordon, and good things start to happen in Cassavetes's marginal acting career. When the couple decides to have a child, Gordon takes over Farrow's care, and a strange dream that Farrow has of mating with a hideous beast begins to seem possible. Farrow's suspicions are treated as paranoid delusions, until they take shape in the form of her baby, the spawn of Satan. Polanski creates a truly frightening world from Ira Levin's sensational novel in which no one is who they seem and the dreaded underworld exists side by side with everyday life.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Rosemary's Baby was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2014.

Academy Awards 1968 --- Ceremony Number 41 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActressRuth GordonWon
Best WritingRoman PolanskiNominated
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BlogHub Articles:

Rosemary’s Baby (1)

By Alexander Diminiano on Nov 26, 2012 From Cinemaniac Reviews

Bottom Line: A sly surprise. Directed by: Roman Polanski Rosemary Woodhouse: Mia Farrow Guy Woodhouse: John Cassavetes Also Starring: D’Urville Martin, Elisha Cook, Emmaline Henry, Hanna Landy, Hope Summers, Philip Leeds, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer It’s true only the good die young. A ... Read full article


ROSEMARY'S BABY...Roman Polanski's Horror Classic

By The Lady Eve on Oct 28, 2010 From Lady Eve's Reel Life

A landmark film of the horror genre, Rosemary's Baby (1968) also marked Roman Polanski's directorial debut in the US. The film, a runaway hit on release, was the prototype that inspired the onslaught of big-budget "A" horror films that followed: The Exorcist, The Omen, etc. In the tradition of Hitc... Read full article


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Quotes from

Edward "Hutch" Hutchins: Pregnant women are supposed to gain, not lose weight!


Rosemary Woodhouse: You... you had me while I was out?
Guy Woodhouse: It was kinda fun in a necrophile sort of way


Guy Woodhouse: [on Rosemary's decision to switch doctors] You know what Dr. Hill is? He's a Charlie Nobody, that's who he is!
Rosemary Woodhouse: I'm tired of hearing about how great Dr. Sapirstein is!
Guy Woodhouse: Well, I won't let you do it Ro.
Rosemary Woodhouse: Why not?
Guy Woodhouse: Well, because... because it wouldn't be fair to Sapirstein.
Rosemary Woodhouse: Not fair to Sap... - what do you mean? What about what's fair to me?


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Facts about

Casting for this film presented its own problems: Polanski at first saw Rosemary as an "All-American Girl" and sought Tuesday Weld for the lead, but she passed on the role. Jane Fonda was then approached, but turned down the offer so she could make Barbarella in Europe with then- husband Roger Vadim. According to his memoirs, Polanski for a while had the idea of having his future wife Sharon Tate on the part of Rosemary, yet he desisted, thinking it would have been unethical. Other actresses considered for the part were Julie Christie, Elizabeth Hartman and Joanna Pettet. Robert Evans suggested Mia Farrow based on her TV work and her media appeal (at the time she was Mrs. Frank Sinatra). Both men wanted Robert Redford for the role of Guy Woodhouse, but negotiations broke down when Paramount's lawyers blundered by serving the actor with a subpoena over a contractual dispute regarding his pulling out of
A scene was shot, but not used, of the characters attending an off-Broadway play. Mia Farrow's and Emmaline Henry's attend a performance of "The Fantasticks" and meet Joan Crawford and Van Johnson as themselves. Along with several other insignificant scenes, this was deleted to reduce the film's running time.
Tony Curtis: voice on phone of the actor who is struck blind by a witch's curse so that Rosemary's husband can get an acting job.
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Best Supporting Actress Oscar 1968






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National Film Registry

Rosemary's Baby

Released 1968
Inducted 2014
(Sound)




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Also directed by Roman Polanski




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