Most female characters in film succumb to the Devil. They are used as vessels or conduits for the Anti-Christ, lesser demons or the grandiose ideas of an occult. More often than not- they are chased, seduced or beaten into submission by satanic happenings. But some of these women do display degrees of ingenuity, agency, and …
Featuring a closely-coiffed Mia Farrow as the soft-spoken, childlike Rosemary Woodhouse, potential mother to the devil; John Cassavetes, post-Shadows, and just about to truly kick off his great directorial run; and the inimitable Ruth Gordan as a sort of Grace Zabriskie-precursor: the creepy neighbor next door, heavily made-up and eerily meddlesome, Rosemary’s Baby picks up the paranoid thread of 1965’s Repulsion. The film also anticipates the similarly – though more political – claustrophobic suspicion of Alan Pakula’s 1970’s films.
Riffing on Terek Puckett’s terrific list of director/actor collaborations, I wanted to look at some of those equally impressive leading ladies who served as muses for their directors. I strived to look for collaborations that may not have been as obviously canonical, but whose effects on cinema were no less compelling. Categorizing a film’s lead …
Rosemary’s Baby Directed by Roman Polanski Written by Ira Levin and Roman Polanski USA, 1968 Without actress Mia Farrow, Roman Polanski’s 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby perhaps isn’t the classic that we know today. Inhabiting the crucial and now infamous lead role with such sheer force and authenticity, the slender actress would become a trailblazer for disturbed female characters …
Originally Posted in Creative Loafing Tampa. Very few filmmakers are known for their casting power. Woody Allen may be one of the best. He is always great at getting Hollywood’s biggest movie stars and the latest indie up and comers into his films (and with perfect timing). He worked with Sally Hawkins and Samantha Morton right …