75. Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. The cast features Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Angela Dorian, Clay Tanner, and, in his feature film debut, Charles Grodin. The film chronicles the story of a pregnant woman who suspects that an evil cult wants to take her baby for use in their rituals.

Rosemary's Baby deals with themes related to paranoia, women's liberation, Christianity (Catholicism), and the occult.[3] The film earned almost universal acclaim from film critics and won numerous nominations and awards. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Script

In Rosemary's Baby: A Retrospective, a featurette on the DVD release of the film, screenwriter/director Roman Polanski, Paramount Pictures executive Robert Evans, and production designer Richard Sylbert reminisce at length about the production. Evans recalled William Castle brought him the galley proofs of the book and asked him to purchase the film rights even before Random House published the book. The studio head recognized the commercial potential of the project and agreed with the stipulation that Castle, who had a reputation for low-budget horror films, could produce but not direct the film adaptation. He makes a cameo appearance as the man at the phone booth waiting for Mia Farrow to finish her call.

Evans admired Polanski's European films and hoped he could convince him to make his American debut with Rosemary's Baby. He knew the director was a ski buff who was anxious to make a film with the sport as its basis, so he sent him the script for Downhill Racer along with the galleys for Rosemary. Polanski read the latter book non-stop through the night and called Evans the following morning to tell him he thought Rosemary was the more interesting project, and would like the opportunity to write as well as direct it.

The script was modeled very closely on the original novel and incorporated large sections of the novel's dialogue and details. Nearly every line of dialogue was taken from the novel's text. Author Ira Levin claimed that during a scene in which Guy mentions wanting to buy a particular shirt advertised in The New Yorker, Polanski was unable to find the specific issue with the shirt advertised and phoned Levin for help. Levin, who had assumed while writing that any given issue of The New Yorker would contain an ad for men's shirts, admitted that he had made it up.

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 Hutch
• 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
• D'Urville Martin as Diego
• Marianne Gordon as Rosemary's Girlfriend
• Wendy Wagner as Rosemary's Girlfriend
• Fritzi Jane Courtney as woman at party

Academy Awards

• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Ruth Gordon, winner)
• Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (nominee)

Golden Globe Awards

• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture (Gordon, winner)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama (Farrow, nominee)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay (nominee)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (nominee)

Other awards

• BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Mia Farrow, nominee)
• Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (nominee)
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Drama (nominee)
• David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress (Mia Farrow, winner)
• David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Director (winner)
• Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay (nominee)
• French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Award for Best Foreign Film (winner)
• Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (Sidney Blackmer, winner)
• Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (Gordon, winner)