Rosemary's Baby Posters / Wallpapers (1968)
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, Patsy Kelly, 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.
Though set in New York City, the majority of principal photography of Rosemary's Baby took place in Los Angeles throughout late 1967. It was released in June 1968 by Paramount Pictures, and was a box-office success, grossing over $30 million in the United States. The film received numerous accolades, including multiple Golden Globe Award nominations and two Academy Award nominations. Ruth Gordon won both the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Golden Globe in the same category.
Rosemary's Baby deals with themes related to paranoia, women's liberation, Christianity (Catholicism), and the occult. 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 United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Film Cast
Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse
John Cassavetes as Guy Woodhouse
Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet
Sidney Blackmer as Steven Marcato / Roman Castevet
Maurice Evans as Hutch
Ralph Bellamy as Dr. Abraham Sapirstein
Charles Grodin as Dr. Hill
Patsy Kelly as Laura-Louise McBirney
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
D'Urville Martin as Diego
Tony Curtis as Donald Baumgart
Marianne Gordon as Rosemary's Girlfriend
Wendy Wagner as Rosemary's Girlfriend
Filming
Principal photography for Rosemary's Baby began on August 21, 1967, in New York City, where location shooting commenced. When Farrow was reluctant to film a scene that depicted a dazed and preoccupied Rosemary wandering into the middle of Fifth Avenue 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.
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. Some additional location shooting took place in Playa del Rey in October 1967. 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. 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. The shoot suffered significant scheduling problems as a result, and ultimately went $400,000 over budget. In November 1967, it was reported that the shoot was over three weeks behind schedule.
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. 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. Filming was completed on December 20, 1967, in Los Angeles.
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. The composition "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.
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.
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.
In 2016, the film was unofficially remade in Turkey under the title Alamet-i-Kiyamet.
The short "Her Only Living Son" from the 2017 horror anthology film XX serves as an unofficial sequel to the story.
In popular culture
The film inspired the English band Deep Purple to write the song "Why Didn't Rosemary?" for their third album in 1969, after the band had watched the movie while touring the US in 1968. The song's lyrics pose the question, "Why didn't Rosemary ever take the pill?"
The movie was parodied in the 1996 Halloween episode of Roseanne, "Satan, Darling".
