I know I've been gone for a while (please don't hate me), in addition to moving offices I am knee deep in moving homes, so the past two weeks have been chaos. I felt like I had to post something though, and luckily enough NBC decided to share something totally news worthy!
Their miniseries based on Ira Levin's novel, Rosemary's Baby, has received it's release date so mark your calendars for mid May as the 2 part, 4 hour miniseries will air on Sunday, May 11th (and according to Bloody-Disgusting, again on May 15th). This gives us exactly one month from today to begin our build of excitement. I suppose that this is as good a time as ever to cross the novel off my To-Read list. I think I'll also give the film another viewing, I think it'd be fun to compare all three when the miniseries debuts. I loved doing that with Stephen King's The Shining, which I'm actually a fan of compared to the backlash that most fans gave the miniseries.
The miniseries stars Zoe Saldana in the titular role, along with Carole Bouquet, Jason Isaacs and Christina Cole.
“It centers on Rosemary Woodhouse (Zoe Saldana), a young wife and
would-be mother who, with her husband Guy (Patrick J. Adams), moves into
a Paris apartment that has a dark past. After finally getting pregnant,
she becomes increasingly suspicious that both her husband and their
mysterious neighbors have ulterior motives about the future of her
child.”
A couple weeks ago, NBC rolled out the first promo for their 4 hour miniseries based on Ira Levin's novel, Rosemary's Baby, if you can even calling that. It was a 3 second shot of a baby carriage with the grating sounds of a baby screaming in the background. More annoying than entertaining.
Well today we get an actual promo with real footage! It's not much, but it's something and to be completely honest I felt a bit ripped off with that first promo, especially if that's what NBC decided to deliver for their "miniseries event". You can watch it here, but save your energy for the new one below as it's miles above and beyond the first.
I do love the idea of the miniseries though. Obviously the horror-on-television well is beginning to dry up, as we're moving on to pre-existing properties to fill the small screen (i.e. Scream, Teen Wolf), but I'm all about it if it's going to be approached in the terms of a miniseries. It worked beautifully (in my humble, and not widely accepted, opinion) for Stephen King's The Shining, as it gave the audience an opportunity to see more of the rich and multi-layered backstory presented in the book that was never shown in Kubrick's telling of the Torrance family story. Plus, it helps maintain the integrity of the original story as opposed to updating, changing and chopping in hopes of securing another season.
Anyway, in getting back to Rosemary's Baby, the new take on the classic horror story “centers on Rosemary Woodhouse (Zoe Saldana), a young wife and
would-be mother who, with her husband Guy (Patrick J. Adams), moves into
a Paris apartment that has a dark past. After finally getting pregnant,
she becomes increasingly suspicious that both her husband and their
mysterious neighbors have ulterior motives about the future of her
child.”
Well this is both exciting and unexpected as I never would have thought we'd be seeing things so early BUT Entertainment Weekly got their hands on a first look at Zoe Saldana as Rosemary Woodhouse in the televised adaptation of Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby. I think it looks AWESOME.
The second photo, especially, seems to hint that the show will be utilizing cinematography of the late 60's which I think is very exciting. The way that shot is set up screams horror of yesteryear, and I'm all about that. It worked beautifully for The House of the Devil, but they would have to commit 100% for it to work. Regardless, I'm getting way ahead of myself, we'll have to wait to see more!
The four hour mini-series that is being produced by Lionsgate TV for NBC is starring Zoe Saldana as Rosemary, and co-stars Patrick J. Adams, Jason Isaac and Carol Bouquet.
Rosemary and her husband, Guy, move into a Paris apartment that has a
darkly storied past. After finally getting pregnant, she becomes
increasingly suspicious that both Guy and their mysterious neighbors
have ulterior motives about the future of her child.
Casting for the NBC mini-series based on Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby is well underway, and we have our Mrs. Castevet! The role of the doting deceiver, Margaut Castevet (Minnie Castavet in Roman Polanski's 1968 adaptation), is being played by former Bond girl, Carole Bouquet. Margaut Castevet is a wealthy Parisian socialite, and neighbor to Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse (Zoe Saldana and Patrick J. Adams, respectively), who takes an uncanny liking to Rosemary and aids her with her unexpected pregnancy. Christina Cole (Hex, Doghouse) will play Rosemary's young girlfriend, a character who was not in the original.
I have to say, I love the pairing of Carole Bouquet with Jason Isaacs who will be playing her husband, Roman Castevet, in the mini-series. If his work in the Harry Potter franchise says anything, it's that he does creepy very well.
This adaptation centers “on Rosemary Woodhouse (Zoe Saldana), a young wife and
would-be mother who, with her husband Guy (Patrick J. Adams), moves into
a Paris apartment that has a dark past. After finally getting pregnant,
she becomes increasingly suspicious that both her husband and their
mysterious neighbors have ulterior motives about the future of her
child.”
Folks, we live in the era of horror television. Some may consider it a blessing, others a curse, but it's where we're at, and NBC is continuing the trend with a miniseries based on the Satanic classic Rosemary's Baby.
Miniseries can sometimes work out great, depending on the source material, they can even work out better than the original. Although I there is no way that this miniseries can touch the impact that Roman Polanski's original film had, it gave me a bit more hope knowing that it would not be stretched into a full length series.
Based on Ira Levin's novel of the same name, the four-hour miniseries will be written by Scott Abbott and James Wong and produced by Lionsgate Television.
Quinn Taylor, Executive Vice President, Movies, Miniseries and International Co-Productions at NBC Entertainment had this to say of the project: “Ira Levin’s mesmerizing book was a groundbreaking reflection on how effective and influential a psychological thriller could be. We’re looking forward to adapting his incredible work and bringing those indelible characters to a new generation of viewers.”
Rosemary's Baby tells the story of a young couple who move into a lush New York City apartment only to realize that they're doting neighbors may have other intentions in mind when they seem a little too eager to help with the young wife's pregnancy. The original film starred Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes.
