46 Days Until "Feud"
Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 2:33PM 
first promotional shot from FEUD
The new Ryan Murphy anthology TV series' first eight-episode season, premieres on Sunday March 5th (yes exactly one week after the Oscars which seems very kind). The season looks at the legendarily bitchy Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) vs Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) wars. Two Oscar winners playing two Oscar winners. We're in!
We don't want to know too much ahead of time as that ruins so many TV shows and movies these days but it would be nice to have a leaked list of films referenced beyond Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) so we could do a little revisiting of some key titles before the premiere, though it seems likely that the series will also cover the production of Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (1964) given the character list in the credits. Jessica Lange doesn't look or feel much like Joan Crawford in face or persona which could be a problem but Sarandon might well be the perfect choice for Davis. Alfred Molina is playing the director Robert Aldrich and Kiernan Shipka will play Bette Davis daughter B.D. Hyman. Other celebrity mimicry going on will include Sarah Paulson as Oscar-winner Geraldine Page, Catherine Zeta Jones as Oscar-winner Olivia de Havilland, Kathy Bates as Joan Blondell, Judy Davis as the oft-played gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren recently played her in Trumbo and Tilda Swinton played a twinned riff on her in Hail Caesar!), and multiple non-famous actors playing various Oscar winners (Gregory Peck, Eva Marie Saint, Maximillian Schell) in single episode showcases and/or cameos... who knows.
QUICK POLL
The image above most makes you want to...
🔲 Watch Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? again for the umpteenth time
🔲 Give in to the impending T***pocalypse and regress to childhood fantasies with ice cream in hand...
🔲 Find a time machine and skip the next 45 days.
🔲 Other [please describe]
Reader Comments (21)
Makes me want to watch the RuPaul's drag race parody : "Wha' ha happen to Baby Jay Jay"
Judy Davis is winning another Emmy, yes? It just seems like a given.
And of course Ryan Murphy recognised Kiernan Shipka's brilliance.
Will UK viewers get to see it.
I feel guilt and shame. I've never seen Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
Jonn -- Neither have I, though I have seen Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte.
There's a very good book about the fued... very complete and well documented: "Bette and Joan - The Divine Feud" by Shaun Considine. I recommend it.
I just can't wrap my mind around Zeta-Jones as de Havilland, even though she is the right age. I wish she and Paulson could have switched roles. Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing Paulson in either of the two roles and replacing Z-J with Melanie Lynskey, Minnie Driver or Kelly Macdonald.
In the voice of Joey Styles: CATFIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marcos, it is a very good book. I also recommend Dark Victory, the well-referenced bio of Davis. Simply great.
JESSICA! I cannot wait to see this performance!
I think Zeta-Jones is ideal casting as de Havilland, they both have that glacial look.
It's more the personality than the features, but de Havilland never looked as glacial as her sister Joan. She's always had something round and homey; I find Zeta-Jones more angular, inside and out.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane had a certain sense of self-awareness/parody that I think this can only come out either dull or derivative...
I always though Frances Conroy sounds and looks a lot like Geraldine Page, so that'll always feel like a missed showcase opportunity, but I'm really psyched about the rest of it, especially Sarandon, and I'm always excited for whatever Sarah Paulson and Ryan Murphy do together. And yes, every time I see this picture I feel a strong urge to pop Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? in again (and again).
I have mixed feelings about it because Davis and Crawford and others were legendary and known for their own unique, screen presence. Having actors of today imitate famous actors of yesterday seems kind of cheap, and has been done a million times before in various biopics (My Week with Marilyn, Mommie Dearest, etc.). But maybe it will be entertaining TV, so whatever.
I'm so excited!
So happy for Kiernan Shipka! Looks like she took her time and got the right project, post-Mad Men.
That EW cover photo is KILLER.
Paul, ain't it. Jessica doesn't really look like Joan, but I know she can bring the JOAN if she wants! LOL
brookesboy: I am so hoping Murphy does some of his patented out-of-left-field flashbacks and gives us Jessica as Joan in Mildred Pierce and especially Queen Bee.
Paul, that would be awesome! Or Sudden Fear LOL
I didn't want to be greedy or I would have also said Female on the Beach. That title! Jeff Chandler and his man hands! Natalie "Lovey" Schaefer! Cecil Kellaway! Jan Sterling! Judith (The Tingler) Evelyn!