Feud: Bette and Joan (FX series)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by clashcityrocker, Mar 6, 2017.

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  1. clashcityrocker

    clashcityrocker Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Great White North
    Any fans yet? First ep was last night. Works on so many levels. Just want to start the ball rolling. Sarandon was so perfect (...the Emmy goes to...) Ryan Murphy is on a roll but it helps with such smart scripts and incredible performances. Can't wait for the remaining 7 shows!
     
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  2. Commander Lucius Emery

    Commander Lucius Emery Forum Resident

    Wasn't the feud highly exaggerated?
     
  3. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    I saw a commercial for this during the Oscars and was cracking up. Had my family DVR it back home so I can watch on our cable account online. Can't wait to get to it. Just gotta get through these pesky projects first...
     
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  4. clashcityrocker

    clashcityrocker Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Great White North
    I guess it's how you approach the material, some find the original film hilarious as camp and some buy into the thriller grotesque aspect and both are legitimate perspectives. I love the behind-the-camera stuff; I'd never have thought I'd see one of my favorites directors, Robert Aldrich, actually be a character in a TV series. To see Lange and Sarandon chew up the scenery portraying actresses chewing up the scenery makes me all giddy. Sarandon as Davis transforming into Baby Jane was so brave and powerful, it makes Hugh Jackman as Logan seem quaint. Who says woman don't get good roles after 50: Lange is in her late 60s and Sarandon is 70 (actually portraying characters in their 50s). Well they don't usually because people are too scared to believe we can appreciate or be entertained by older women. So hats off to Ryan Murphy who believes it and celebrates it. Who would've made The People Vs. OJ and think they could be successful. It's quite an accomplishment. So I'm hoping others can help spread the word. FX already renewed Feud for next season with a 10 episode season about Charles and Diana. With Murphy's track record with AHS and OJ (okay Glee was not my favorite but ya gotta start somewhere) it will be amazing. Will he ultimately jump the shark, oh yeah (Feud: Selena Gomez vs Bella Hadid the untold story coming to FX 2018 haha) but I'm not going to let that stand in my way of enjoying this series.
     
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  5. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    It's a wacky show with a lot of laughs, but there's some interesting "inside baseball" stuff here and there. I was surprised the show was as good as it was. There's also some very talented supporting actors here and there that do a great job.

    The show looks really good, and I think they bent over backwards to really make it as authentic as they could to 1962 within the limits of a TV budget (and shot on Alexa by the fine DP Nelson Cragg):



    One big mistake that I spotted so far: in one scene, they played the Jack Jones hit "Wives and Lovers," but the flaw is that this song was released in October of 1963... a year after the movie was released. The first part only talks about the 1962 production, so the song is definitely off. I think most likely somebody decided, "aaaaa, close enough," and let it go.
     
  6. Chazro

    Chazro Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Palm Bch, Fl.
    Only one episode and it's my favorite Ryan Murphy project so far! Sarandon and Lange! How can you not have high expectations? They rocked! The best part is knowing that the best is yet to come!
     
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  7. hbbfam

    hbbfam Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chandler,AZ
    It was okay, but I found myself a bit bored at times. It did have some cute moments. I am hoping that it picks up the pace a little. The acting, however, was superb.
     
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  8. Gary7704

    Gary7704 Chasing that sound….

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Really like it. Planning on watching more
     
  9. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    It was a lot of fun! Good work by Lange and Sarandon. :cool:
     
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  10. halfjapanese

    halfjapanese Gifs moider!

    Yeah, I noticed the Jack Jones song, too, but here's one that came out in 1962. :)

    Bette Davis invades the popular recording field with the release of her first single on the MGM Records label. “I’ve Written A Letter To Daddy,” for her current motion picture release. Miss Davis joins with 12-year-old Debbie Burton in the live recording. On the reverse side is a twist version of the title music, composed and arranged by DeVol.
    Boxoffice Nov62
     
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  11. halfjapanese

    halfjapanese Gifs moider!

    I hadn't watched Whatever Happened To Baby Jane in years, so we dialed it up last night. There were numerous scenes where the camera shoots over the shoulder of Jane/Bette as Blanche/Joan speaks. There are a few similar scenes where the back of "Blanche" is in the foreground as Jane speaks. I got the impression that each star was working with a stand-in.

    This is an excerpt from Crawford Vs. Davis: The Catfight of the Century
    by Helen O’Hara in the June 2008 issue of Empire

    Filming started well. The stars' dressing rooms were precisely the same size, and precisely equidistant from the soundstage. In public they were carefully courteous, but the differences between the two were always apparent. Crawford played for everyone's affection with small gifts and notes; Davis asked that she stop sending them "because I do not have time to go out and shop". (Another story has her answering with a note reading, "Other than ripping my toilet seat off and wrapping it up to send you, I can't think of any other way to answer except to tell you: GET OFF THE CRAP.") But both were utterly professional, on time and prepared for every shot.

    “Everyone believed we would kill each other," said Davis, "but we fooled them!" The interviews they granted during filming were exercises in cordiality. Crawford smilingly said that Davis received first billing because, "She comes first. She plays the title character"; each claimed that the other would win awards for her role.

    But their competitive spirit could not be suppressed for long. Davis, who tended to speak fast on screen, was frustrated by Crawford's languid line-readings. Crawford, determined to maintain movie-star glamour, wore padded bras despite the fact that her character is starving, which Davis despised.

    "Miss Crawford is a fool," despaired Davis. "A good actress looks the part. Blanche was a cripple, a recluse, and Miss Crawford made her look as if she had just stepped out of Elizabeth Arden's beauty salon."

    As filming progressed, the cracks began to widen. Both called the director nightly to complain about the other.
    - Crawford: "Did you see what that bitch did to me today?"
    - Davis: "What did that bitch call you about?"

    The slights, real and imagined, continued to mount. Davis tried to draw her rival out, to provoke her into confrontation, but to little avail - Crawford would not allow such a lapse in her dignity. "You could never lay a glove on Joan," said Bob Sherman, who worked as dialogue director on the film. "She came from MGM and Louis B. Mayer. When she didn't like someone, she would go to Uncle Louis and say, 'Cut his balls off, or I'm going to be unhappy.' And he would do her dirty work." Davis grew increasingly open in her dislike, screaming abuse at Sherman outside Crawford's trailer, but directing most of her invective at "that phony ****" - who could clearly hear the tirade.

    By the time they did a photo shoot together halfway through filming, the situation was such that not a word was exchanged. A sense of morbid fascination grew among the cast and crew as the day approached for a violent scene between Jane and Blanche, in which Jane would kick and pummel her sister. Crawford, concerned that Davis would do her real injury, wanted a double. But a stand-in couldn't do everything, and after watching Davis ferociously kicking a mannequin, Crawford had to film the close-up. Davis clipped her head, Crawford screamed and filming stopped. "I barely touched her," said Davis, unapologetic. Others claimed that she left Crawford in need of stitches. [In watching this again last night, it appears that a kick to the mannequin was the first shot in the sequence.]

    But Crawford had her revenge. The following Friday was a difficult scene where Jane lifts Blanche from her bed, drags her across the room and out into the hall in a long, uninterrupted shot. "There is a way of making it easy on the actor who is doing the carrying," says director Aldrich. "But Crawford wanted Bette to suffer every inch of the way." It's even said that Crawford wore a special, lead-lined weightlifter's belt, and she certainly sabotaged at least one take by stopping to cough halfway through. Davis did the shot, but as soon as she was out of camera range she dropped Crawford and screamed in agony with a sprained back. Crawford got to her feet and strolled back to her dressing room.

    When the film was released to critical acclaim, strong box office and five Oscar nominations, it was clear this was a winning formula, and both actresses enjoyed something of a comeback. "Sure, she stole some of my big scenes," said a satisfied Crawford, "but the funny thing is, she stole them because she looked like a parody of herself, and I still looked something like a star."
     
  12. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Susan Sarandon is 70?
    Wow, she looks amazing.
    Haven't seen the show yet. Looking forward to it.
     
  13. milankey

    milankey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, Ohio, USA
    what is the target audience for this? wouldn't you have to be very elderly to have any memory of either actress?
     
  14. halfjapanese

    halfjapanese Gifs moider!

    Yes I am. No you wouldn't! :biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:
     
  15. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    No exploding slow-motion time-travelling monster alien robot superheroes for adults, sorry. Oh, wait, maybe there are...
     
  16. johnod

    johnod Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I thought it wasn't bad, and will watch again.
    However I find myself waiting for Davis' voice and not hearing it.
     
  17. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    We really enjoyed the first episode and look forward to watching more.
     
  18. bartels76

    bartels76 Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    CT
    Mommie Dearest is a camp classic so fans of that and Ryan Murphy fans like myself.
     
  19. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    I thought it stayed on the right side of camp -- of course you're not going to make a movie about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis without getting into campy territory ("Tell him its an honor to prune Miss Crawford's bush") but they didn't turn the whole thing into smirking irony (like Murphy's horrible Scream Queens show), or worse, end up with unintentional camp like Mommie Dearest (which is awesome in its own way but we don't need another one).
     
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  20. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    I finally watched the pilot. Was captivated through the whole thing. Can't wait to see the rest of the season and more of the actual filming of the movie.
     
  21. halfjapanese

    halfjapanese Gifs moider!

    In tonight's episode, I don't know whether the teaming of Crawford and Davis to force the sacking of the young actress who was cast to play the next door neighbor is accurate. Regardless, the role was played by an actress closer in age to the two stars. Davis insisted that this neighbor have a daughter and Bette's own 15-year-old daughter played (badly, very badly) this role in the movie.
     
  22. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    It's a wacky show. I think if you go into it assuming it's gonna be a dark comedy about Hollywood in the early 1960s, you won't be disappointed.
     
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  23. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Great episode tonight, lots of zinger lines and a coca-cola cooler at the studio! I'd like to re-watch the whole thing again from the top sometime after the final episode.
     
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  24. cathandler

    cathandler Senior Member

    Location:
    maine
  25. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Bonus points to Bette for not lip-synching! :righton:
     
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