Rosemary's Baby (movie)

**Starring** | Mia Farrow,
John Cassavetes,
Ruth Gordon,
Sidney Blackmer,
Maurice Evans,
Ralph Bellamy,
Angela Dorian,
Patsy Kelly,
Charles Grodin

***Rosemary's Baby*** is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin. The cast includes Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Ralph Bellamy, Maurice Evans, Sidney Blackmer, Patsy Kelly, and Charles Grodin (in his first film appearance). It was produced by William Castle. Farrow plays a pregnant woman who fears that her husband may have made a pact with their eccentric neighbours, believing he may have promised them the child to be used as a human sacrifice in their occult rituals in exchange for success in his acting career. This was Polanski's first entirely American feature film.

## Synopsis

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an apartment in an opulent but gothic building in Manhattan, the Bramford, based on the real-life "Dakota" building. Their friend, Edward "Hutch" Hutchins, attempts to dissuade them from doing so: the building has an unsavoury history. They discover that their neighbours are an overly garrulous elderly couple, Roman and Minnie Castevet. Guy begins to spend a great deal of time with them. Strange things begin to happen: Terry, a young woman Rosemary meets in the laundry room, who works for the Castevets, commits suicide; Rosemary has strange dreams and hears strange noises; and Guy becomes remote and distant. Then Rosemary falls pregnant and begins to suspect that her neighbours have special plans for her child.

## Cast

* Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse
* John Cassavetes as Guy Woodhouse
* Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet
* Sidney Blackmer as Roman Castevet / Steven Marcato
* Maurice Evans as Edward "Hutch" Hutchins
* Ralph Bellamy as Dr. Abraham Sapirstein
* Charles Grodin as Dr. Hill
* Patsy Kelly as Laura-Louise
* Angela Dorian as Terry Gionoffrio
* Elisha Cook as Mr. Nicklas
* Emmaline Henry as Elise Dunstan
* Hanna Landy as Grace Cardiff
* Philip Leeds as Dr. Shand
* Hope Summers as Mrs. Gilmore
* Robert Osterloh as Mr. Fountain
* Charlotte Boerner as Mrs. Fountain (uncredited)
* Almira Sessions as Mrs. Sabatini (uncredited)￼
* Tony Curtis as Donald Baumgart (voice; uncredited)
* Walter Baldwin as Mr. Wees (uncredited)
* Patricia O'Neal as Mrs. Wees (uncredited)
* Sebastian Brook as Argyron Stavropoulos (uncredited)
* Marianne Gordon as Joan Jellico
* Walter Castle as Man standing outside phone booth Rosemary uses to call Dr. Hill￼ (uncredited)
* Clay Tanner as the Devil (uncredited)
* D'Urville Martin as Bramford elevator operator
* Joan Crawford as herself (scene cut)
* Van Johnson as himself (scene cut)

## Sequel and remake

In the 1976 television film *Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby*, Oscar winners 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.

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

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.

## Trivia

* Mia Farrow
* The Movie
* Cameo

* According to Mia Farrow, the scenes where Rosemary walks in front of traffic were spontaneous and genuine. Roman Polanski is reported to have told her that "nobody will hit a pregnant woman."
* Mia Farrow actually ate raw liver for a scene in the movie.
* Mia Farrow does the vocals on the title-sequence lullaby.
* A scene was shot, but not used, of the characters attending an off-Broadway play. Mia Farrow and Emmaline Henry 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.
* When Rosemary lays down on the couch just before Minnie and her friend interrupt her, she's reading "Yes I Can" by Sammy Davis Jr. Davis was a member of the "Rat Pack" that included Frank Sinatra, who was married to Farrow at the time.
* Mia Farrow went on to play the nanny to "devil child" Damien in Omen (2006), the remake of Omen (1976) of almost 40 years before. The film was released to coincide with the date 06/06/06 in order to spark interest and gain publicity.

* Rosemary's baby, Andy/Adrian, was born in June 1966 (6/66).
* Before filming the scene of Rosemary calling Donald Baumgart (the actor in the story who mysteriously goes blind), Mia Farrow did not know who would be speaking the lines. It was Tony Curtis, and in the scene Farrow shows slight confusion, finding the voice familiar but not able to place it. This confusion was exactly the effect director Roman Polanski hoped to capture by having Curtis read the lines.
* Polanski's pregnant wife actress Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969 by the followers of Charles Manson, who titled their death spree "Helter Skelter" after the 1968 song by The Beatles, one of whose members, John Lennon, would one day live (and in 1980 be murdered) in the Manhattan apartment building called The Dakota -- on which the Bramford was modelled. Curiously enough, Lennon had written "Dear Prudence" for Mia's sister, Prudence Farrow, after the pair had spent some time with The Beatles in India at a Transcendental Meditation seminar hosted by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (February 1968).
* Ira Levin felt that this film is "the single most faithful adaptation of a novel ever to come out of Hollywood." William Castle speculated the reasons for this were because it was the first time Roman Polanski had ever adapted another writer's work, unaware he had the freedom to improvise on the book.
* According to John Parker's recent biography of Jack Nicholson, Robert Evans suggested Nicholson to Roman Polanski but, after their meeting, the director stated that "for all his talent, his slightly sinister appearance ruled him out".
* This film, along with Repulsion (1965) and The Tenant (1976), forms a loose trilogy by Roman Polanski about the horrors of apartment/city dwelling.
* Rosemary (Mia Farrow) says to Terry Gionoffrio (Angela Dorian), "I thought you were Victoria Vetri, the actress," to which Terry responds, "Everyone says that, but I don't see the resemblance." Victoria Vetri is Angela Dorian's real name.
* William Castle acquired the movie rights to the novel. Robert Evans of Paramount agreed to green-light the project if Castle did not direct. This was due to Castle's reputation as a director of low-budget horror films. He was, however, allowed to make a prominent cameo appearance.
* Many scenes are shot in one continuous unbroken take or with minimal cuts in an unnoticeable way, such as the opening scene where Rosemary and Guy first tour their apartment (two cuts), the laundry room scene (only one cut), the "let's have a baby" scene, the New Year's Eve party, Rosemary's and Guy's argument after their party, Rosemary's getting the unfortunate phone call about Hutch, the final scene at Dr. Sapirstein's office where she tells him of Adrian Marcato, Rosemary's phone call with Baumgart, and the famous phone booth scene.
* This was Roman Polanski's very first adaptation, and it is very faithful to the novel. Pieces of dialog, color schemes and clothes are taken verbatim.
* The script called for Rosemary (Mia Farrow) to explain to Guy (John Cassavetes), that she'd "been to Vidal Sassoon" for her dramatic new haircut. Thus, Vidal Sassoon was in fact flown to the set to arrange Farrow's hair into the now iconic pixie cut she sports during the second half of the film. For the first part, she wears a blonde wig designed by famed stylist Sydney Guilaroff.
* There is a heatedly disputed rumor that Sharon Tate appears unbilled at the party Rosemary gives for her "young" friends.
* There is a popular rumor that Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey gave technical advice and portrayed Satan in the impregnation scene. This is false - LaVey had no involvement with the film.
* Roman Polanski was so faithful to the novel that he asked Ira Levin the date of the issue of the New Yorker in which Guy Woodhouse sees a shirt he wants. Levin confessed that he had made up the detail.
* The phone booth scene was shot in one continuous, unbroken take.
* The movie's poster was as #21 of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by Premiere.
* "Entertainment Weekly" voted this the tenth scariest film of all time.
* This was Roman Polanski's first American film. His first American film was going to beGli spericolati (1969), but Robert Evans of Paramount decided that "Rosemary's Baby" would be more suited to Polanski.
* In a scene where Rosemary is getting her blood drawn, Rosemary tells the doctor that she just saw the long-running off-Broadway musical "The Fantasticks." In that play, the parental figures arrange a "rape" of the ingénue (meaning, in this case, "abduction," from the Latin "rapere", rather than sexual assault), by a dark devilish character (named El Gallo), so a young man can save her, hoping that the young girl fall in love with the young man and marry him.
* The film is almost an exact adaptation of the novel on which it's based. Most of the material left out during adaptation was done so for time, but the vast majority of all events and characters in the film play out the same way and in the same order as they do in the book.
* There was a popular belief that Alfred Hitchcock was originally offered the chance to direct this movie. This has been deemed false. The director was never approached.
* Oscar-nominated editor Sam O'Steen would later direct the sequel, Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby (1976).
* The book Hutch leaves for Rosemary has a passage referring to Tanis root, the substance in her necklace. The full paragraph reads, "In their rituals they often use the fungus called Devil's Pepper. This is a spongy matter derived from swampy regions having a strong pungent odor. Devil's Pepper is considered to have special powers. It has been used in rituals and worn on charms."
* When Rosemary receives the book "All of Them Witches," she is told that 'the name is an anagram.' At first she tries to rearrange the letters of the book's title, but then realizes that the clue referred to a name within the book. However, the title actually is an anagram for "Hell a Cometh Swift".
* Final film of special effects creator Farciot Edouart.
* The Dakota Building (1 West 72nd Street) on Manhattan's Upper West Side was renamed The Bramford for the film. However, the inspiration for the original novel was the Alwyn Court apartments (180 West 58th Street) where author Ira Levin had once lived.
* The devil costume that Anton LaVey was falsely rumored to have worn in the impregnation scene was later re-used in the film Asylum of Satan (1972). A small woman had difficulty fitting into the tiny suit.
* The book that Rosemary reads in the cab is the Book of Ceremonial Magic, by A.E. Waite, Chapter IV: The Rituals Of Black Magic: Section 4: The Grimoire of Honorius. The italic section has been entered into the natural flow of the text; the previous paragraph has been shortened to make space for it.
* In the novel, Minnie Castevet is described as having a strong Midwestern accent. Ruth Gordon's portrayal of Mrs. Castevet in the movie has her usual New England/New York amalgam.
* Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
* Producer William Castle wanted to display a grotesque demon baby at the end of the film when Mia Farrow looks at her child but Roman Polanski (and the other producers) vetoed the idea in lieu of a more ambiguous scene.
* In the novel it explains that the raw meat Rosemary eats after the New Years Eve party is a chicken's heart. In the olden days, chickens and hens were used to aid witch hunters and were believed to be symbols of God and light. So, because of the unholy child inside her, this explains why the chicken's heart was the only raw meat that made Rosemary sick.
* In the novel, the coven gets wise (through Guy) that Rosemary has found out about Roman's father because of Rosemary's sudden coolness. Minnie confronts Rosemary about it, uttering pretend condemnations of Adrian Marcato, saying, "I could kill that crazy old man if he wasn't dead already; he's been the bane of poor Roman's existence!" and further claims that's the reason for the Castevets' persistent traveling because they can't stay in one place for too long without people finding out.

- Tony Curtis:  voice on phone of the actor who is struck blind by the witches as their end of the bargain with Guy Woodhouse, Rosemary's husband, to impel his acting career forward. Farrow was not told beforehand who the actor on the other end of the line would be.

- This film features a cast member from the television series "Bewitched" (1964), Maurice Evans, and a cast member from the television series "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965), Emmaline Henry. Both programs featured protagonists (a good witch and a lovestruck genie) who frequently cast "magic spells".

- William Castle: played the man standing ominously outside the phone booth Rosemary uses to call Dr. Hill.