'Feud: Bette and Joan' Debuts March 5 On FX With Jessica Lange & Susan Sarandon
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Town & Country dives into one of Hollywood's long-simmering rivalries, brought to life in the FX series 'Feud: Bette and Joan', premiering March 5. (Find your channel here.) Susan Sarandon plays Bette Davis, with Jessica Lange in the role Joan Crawford.
Neither Bette Davis or Joan Crawford ever publicly admitted to their hardly ladylike rivalry.
Crawford dismissed gossip about their feud in a 1947 magazine article entitled "Can Women Trust Each Other?" by saying, "Why should there be a feud? I believe there is a place for every actress in this wonderful business. Certainly Bette and I don't fear each other."
It's tempting to dismiss the mind-boggling sexism of that magazine title— especially in today's Hollywood where women do seem to increasingly stand together. But when one Google's the title, it's unclear just how real the changes are.
Why Don't Women Trust Each Other Anymore? Institute for Feminine Leadership
Should You Trust Other Women? Huffington Post
The Broken Link: Women Trusting Women Psychology Today
T&C writes that Crawford made a significant effort to build bridges with Davis on the set of 'Baby Jane', the only movie the two legends ever made together. Crawford brought her small gifts until Davis sent her a note to please desist -- "I do not have time to go out and shop." Robert Aldrich, director of 'Baby Jane' said about the duo: "They were like two Sherman tanks, despising each other."
In payback for the years of being snubbed and sneered at, Crawford, who discreetly laced her perpetual glasses of Pepsi with vodka, may have decided the time had come for payback. A scene called for Baby Jane to carry her sister Blanche, bound and gagged, out of her bed. After Davis carried the slender Crawford out of bed, she screamed, "My back! My back!" The story goes that Crawford had strapped a special weightlifter's belt lined with lead beneath her costume. As Davis sobbed, in agony, Crawford returned to her dressing room, a tiny smile on her face.
In the 90-second trailer spot, Catherine Zeta-Jones's Olivia de Havilland recounts the tale of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's unrivaled rivalry, lamenting, "For over half a century they hated each other—and we loved them for it." The 90-second spot introduces 'Baby Jane' director Alfred Molina's Robert Aldrich, a jarringly dramatic Stanley Tucci as Warner Bros. president Jack L. Warner --"You want me to work with her again? Are you crazy?! Never!" -- and Judy Davis as the notorious actress and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. Kathy Bates joins the cast as actress Joan Blondell.
