Pilot 

Cast aside by Hollywood, screen legends Joan Crawford and Bette Davis battle each other when they sign up for What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?

Director:

Ryan Murphy

Writers:

Ryan Murphy (created by), Jaffe Cohen (created by)

Stars:

Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Judy Davis

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Jessica Lange	...	Joan Crawford
Susan Sarandon	...	Bette Davis
Judy Davis	...	Hedda Hopper
Jackie Hoffman	...	Mamacita
Alfred Molina	...	Robert Aldrich
Stanley Tucci	...	Jack Warner
Alison Wright	...	Pauline Jameson
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Olivia de Havilland
Kathy Bates	...	Joan Blondell
Kiernan Shipka	...	B.D. Merrill
Mark Valley	...	Gary Merrill
Reed Diamond	...	Peter
Ken Lerner	...	Marty
Joel Kelley Dauten	...	Adam Friedman
Raleigh Adams	...	Second Reporter

Storyline

In two separate interviews in the late 1970s, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Blondell, in part, place the filming of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and the difficult relationship between its two stars, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, before, during and after filming into some context. Joan and Bette are known as two of the most powerful actresses of their time. Bette in particular is known for her fearlessness on screen, while Joan was more protective of the image she projected both in her acting and personal life. It's 1961. Past middle age which is a difficult age for actresses to get substantial leading roles, both Joan and Bette are past what would be considered their acting prime, with Marilyn Monroe the Hollywood "it" girl of the day. Joan's latest husband, Pepsi executive Alfred Steele, has just passed away. Although Pepsi no longer pays Joan, she is still flogging the brand to appear relevant. Although her absence from acting was partly to focus on her life with Al, it ...

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Plot Keywords:

joan blondell character | cliff robertson character | margaret leighton character | marilyn monroe character | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 March 2017 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Palace Theater, 630 S Broadway, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Plan B Entertainment, Ryan Murphy Productions, Fox 21 Television Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

57 min

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hedda Hopper makes reference to Joan Crawford's "custom Billy Haines furniture." Billy Haines was a silent film star who became a Hollywood interior decorator after he was routed out of the film business for refusing to give up his relationship with his male lover.

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Goofs

The 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible shows a front California license plate with a registration sticker on it. In 1962, as now, California plates do not display a registration sticker on the front plate, only the rear.

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Quotes

Broadway Stage Manager: There's a lady here to see you.
Bette Davis: Who is it?
Broadway Stage Manager: Joan Crawford.
Bette Davis: You're fucking kidding me.

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Connections

References The Twilight Zone (1959)

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Soundtracks

Catch a Falling Star
(uncredited)
Written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss
Performed by Perry Como
[The song is heard in Jack Warner's office]

User Reviews

Realizing You Need Each Other

Feud: Bette and Joan (2017)

Episode 1: Pilot

Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) realizes that there aren't any good roles coming to her so her agent recommends she look for her own project. This leads her to discovering the book What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. Joan realizes this could be the help her career needs but she's going to have to accept the fact that the only way to sell it is by getting her rival Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) on board.

I actually went back and watched WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? before I started this series. I was a little shocked that they decided to tell the story of Crawford and Davis since, well, so many actors and actresses from previous decades just aren't remembered by anyone other than film buffs like myself.

This first episode at least got the series off to a good start. I'm not going to call this episode great because it seems like it was made to try and inform people of who Davis and Crawford were. As a film buff, I'm well aware of them so there really wasn't anything ground- breaking here story-wise. It did do a great job at building up your interest for what is obviously going to follow.

Both Sarandon and Lange have fit into their roles quite nicely so it's going to be interesting to see where these two legendary actresses go while playing legendary actresses. It seems the series gets a chuckle out of some F-bombs being dropped as well as even more profanity, which seems to be becoming the norm on FX.

Episode: B+