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Feud (2017) First look at Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford


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I second The Divine Feud and My Mother's Keeper. They are so much fun!

 

Let me re-watch it tonight and get back to you on the inaccuracies. The one one that comes to mind is Bette calling Joan "Lucille" backstage at The Night of the Iguana. The meeting took place, but this is the first time I've heard "Lucille" being brought into the mix (although I loved this scene! :D ). Also, I need to double check, but I thought Joan brought in her Oscar as a resume for an earlier picture and not Baby Jane.

 

Also, any insights on who Joan's beau is supposed to be from her harem of gay and straight men? Many men. Many, many men.

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I second The Divine Feud and My Mother's Keeper. They are so much fun!

 

Let me re-watch it tonight and get back to you on the inaccuracies. The one one that comes to mind is Bette calling Joan "Lucille" backstage at The Night of the Iguana. The meeting took place, but this is the first time I've heard "Lucille" being brought into the mix (although I loved this scene! :D ). Also, I need to double check, but I thought Joan brought in her Oscar as a resume for an earlier picture and not Baby Jane.

 

Also, any insights on who Joan's beau is supposed to be from her harem of gay and straight men? Many men. Many, many men.

 

I'm pleased to see that The Divine Feud has been re-released because of this series. I'll definitely get it.

 

Bette addressing Joan as Lucille may be artistic license, but I understand why they've done it, and it's effective. It wouldn't be the first time a docudrama took such a liberty: In Life With Judy Garland, Roger Edens always addressed Judy as Frances, even though nobody ever called her Frances again after she changed her name. I suppose it helps illustrate for viewers that the original human being still exists under the movie star façade.

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It was… what I expected. It's certainly a Ryan Murphy production. Sarandon got the mannerisms of Bette down pat but Lange gave an overall better performance- even though I didn't see much of Joan in it. Kathy Bates as Joan Blondell was funny ("Like That's Entertainment???"). I won't believe CZJ as OdeH until she dons the standby blue chiffon. That woman LOVES her blue chiffon!

Was Hedda Hopper really that much of a cuntaloo? I know to be a gossip columnist you had to be vicious, but she comes across as plum unpleasant (as does just about everyone). I'm always on team Bette, so I don't like how much Joan sympathizing they've done so far.

The art direction is totally neato. The tile work in the shower in Joan's master bathroom looks identical to that of my late grandmother's master bathroom- save for a difference in color.

Can we get a fact-check on whether or not Baby Jane's wig was really one that Joan wore in the 30s?

Kiernan Shipka is  :gary: as per the usual. I'm sure Mamacita will be better utilized- hopefully they throw her a Name Game-style fantasy musical number or something.

Like all the Ryan Murphy shows, this is really, really dragged down by piss-poor writing. I don't understand how he gets away with dialogue this awful. Is he getting under-the-table script work from Tommy Wiseau? 

Side Note: Last night I went to the Fathom Events/TCM screening of All About Eve. I went to the 7 PM showing. I was one of seven people in the audience (that's counting the three that came with me). Certainly a different experience from seeing Now, Voyager at The Redford in Detriot a couple of months ago.

 

FX is housing just about all the best shows on TV right now: The Americans, Louie, Fargo, It's Always Sunny, Atlanta, Baskets, etc. Why is that? They give their showrunners free reign. Take notice, networks. This is one of the many reasons you're getting beaten at your own game.

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Was Hedda Hopper really that much of a cuntaloo? I know to be a gossip columnist you had to be vicious, but she comes across as plum unpleasant (as does just about everyone.

 

 

I don't understand how he gets away with dialogue this awful. Is he getting under-the-table script work from Tommy Wiseau?

 

 

FX is housing just about all the best shows on TV right now:

Hedda was pretty bad in Trumbo. I'm starting to think she was this bad.

 

Laughed at your Tommy reference. I'm reading The Disaster Artist right now and that guy was bonkers.

 

Don't forget You're The Worst on FXX. So real and hilarious at the same time.

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Having watched it again tonight, my mother got all indignant tonight that she felt Susan Sarandon was doing a better Tallulah Bankhead impersonation than a Bette Davis. I'm too tired to explain the irony of that comment.

 

Another artistic license:  Mamacita prompting Joan on who the crew members were. Crawford made it a point to memorize this well before heading onto the set.

 

Two favourite moments I didn't fully appreciate last night: the extreme high drama (acting and music) when Bette sees the Pepsi machine on set, and how magnificent Susan is preparing and presenting the Baby Jane look.

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It was… what I expected. It's certainly a Ryan Murphy production. Sarandon got the mannerisms of Bette down pat but Lange gave an overall better performance- even though I didn't see much of Joan in it. Kathy Bates as Joan Blondell was funny ("Like That's Entertainment???"). I won't believe CZJ as OdeH until she dons the standby blue chiffon. That woman LOVES her blue chiffon!

Was Hedda Hopper really that much of a cuntaloo? I know to be a gossip columnist you had to be vicious, but she comes across as plum unpleasant (as does just about everyone). I'm always on team Bette, so I don't like how much Joan sympathizing they've done so far.

The art direction is totally neato. The tile work in the shower in Joan's master bathroom looks identical to that of my late grandmother's master bathroom- save for a difference in color.

Can we get a fact-check on whether or not Baby Jane's wig was really one that Joan wore in the 30s?

Kiernan Shipka is  :gary: as per the usual. I'm sure Mamacita will be better utilized- hopefully they throw her a Name Game-style fantasy musical number or something.

Like all the Ryan Murphy shows, this is really, really dragged down by piss-poor writing. I don't understand how he gets away with dialogue this awful. Is he getting under-the-table script work from Tommy Wiseau? 

Side Note: Last night I went to the Fathom Events/TCM screening of All About Eve. I went to the 7 PM showing. I was one of seven people in the audience (that's counting the three that came with me). Certainly a different experience from seeing Now, Voyager at The Redford in Detriot a couple of months ago.

 

FX is housing just about all the best shows on TV right now: The Americans, Louie, Fargo, It's Always Sunny, Atlanta, Baskets, etc. Why is that? They give their showrunners free reign. Take notice, networks. This is one of the many reasons you're getting beaten at your own game.

Interesting comment about the writing. I'll have to rewatch it but I think I know what you're referring to. Maybe as this was the initial outing, they had to be a bit more heavy-handed on working exposition into the dialogue to set everything up. Perhaps that'll level-off once they get into the swing of things.

 

According to one review, future episodes utilize Davis better, and this reviewer claims the show knows what to do with her more than Crawford as it progresses.

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Having watched it again tonight, my mother got all indignant tonight that she felt Susan Sarandon was doing a better Tallulah Bankhead impersonation than a Bette Davis. I'm too tired to explain the irony of that comment.

 

Another artistic license: Mamacita prompting Joan on who the crew members were. Crawford made it a point to memorize this well before heading onto the set.

 

Two favourite moments I didn't fully appreciate last night: the extreme high drama (acting and music) when Bette sees the Pepsi machine on set, and how magnificent Susan is preparing and presenting the Baby Jane look.

Didn't Davis install a Coca-Cola machine in retaliation to Crawford's Pepsi plugging?

 

I also have a vague memory of seeing her do a Sprite commercial on-set.

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Didn't Davis install a Coca-Cola machine in retaliation to Crawford's Pepsi plugging?

 

 

After Joan bowed out of Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte due to "sickness" ("sickness of working with Bette"), Davis had the on-set Pepsi dispenser replaced with a Coke machine, with which she, OdeH and the director posed for publicity shots.

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First review of the television series event of the season:

 

http://ew.com/tv/2017/02/14/feud-ew-review/

 

1960  "Davis, 54 and Crawford, 57"??  Joan had just stopped her grave spinning over "Mommie Dearest" and now you're saying she was born in 1903?

Goes to show how our perception of age has changed.   54 year old Davis is being played by a 70 year old.  And 57 (?) year old Crawford by someone who's 68.  

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1960 "Davis, 54 and Crawford, 57"?? Joan had just stopped her grave spinning over "Mommie Dearest" and now you're saying she was born in 1903?

Goes to show how our perception of age has changed. 54 year old Davis is being played by a 70 year old. And 57 (?) year old Crawford by someone who's 68.

I was thinking the same thing- it shows progress! Glenn Close is currently back on Broadway in Sunset and she's around 70- when Gloria Swanson played washed up, faded, has-been Norma Desmond, she was 50!
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Suggestion for future season:

 

Feud: Lucille and Joan(s)

 

Starring France's Fisher, Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates.

 

 

YES! This time, the narrator can be Vanda instead of OdH and JB when she apparently had to go and get Crawford out of her dressing room.

 

"Joan Crawford: Small woman, enormous head."

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70, hell even 80 doesn't "look" like it did 20, 30 years ago!!  :blink:

 

Soooo many examples to cite but I'll stick to a couple of my favorites, all of whom are "still going strong": Shirley Jones, who could easily pass for 20 - 25 years younger, is turning 83 later this month, Sally Field just turned 70, Bette Midler --about to take on Broadway!! -- turned 71 last December, etc. etc. etc.....and to me, none of these ladies "looks" (or acts, for that matter) their respective ages.

 

There may be hope for us all!! :lucythrill:

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