The NBC two-part mini-series “Rosemary’s Baby” is a modern-day take on Roman Polanki’s 1968 Oscar-winning film adaptation of the novel by Ira Levin which Rosemary Woodhouse was then played by Mia Farrow. In this version Rosemary Woodhouse is played by Zoe Saldana.
Zoe Saldana’s character, Rosemary Woodhouse whose perfect life is made seemingly more perfect when her husband (Patrick J. Adams) suddenly strikes it rich and she becomes pregnant.
But the pregnancy starts taking a turn for the supernatural, as a doctor tells Rosemary that “There are some things in this ultrasound that I’ve never seen before.” Rosemary starts to doubt the origins of the child she’s carrying inside of her and everyone around her, going so far as to say, “There are witches in my building,”
“You were chosen to be his mom,” says a mysterious benefactor to a pregnant Zoe Saldana, “By who?” she asks.
In this updated version, directed by the feature filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, works as well as it does. This “Rosemary’s Baby” calls itself a “reimagined” version, and many of the details have been changed, most notably Rosemary herself.
Mia Farrow was sweet, meek and trusting in the original role: a young wife from Omaha without a job or even a hobby besides decorating the new apartment. Here, Ms. Saldana plays a dancer who for many years supported her husband while he worked on a novel. Rosemary agrees to go to Paris partly to get over a recent miscarriage and try again.
“Rosemary’s Baby” bends to current fashions, and, accordingly, is more straightforward and much gorier than the original film. But partly because the story has been so altered, it still has mystery and suspense.
While on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon the 35-year-old “Star Trek” actress talked about the production company she started with her sister called “Cinestar Productions.” Their first project was “Rosemary’s Baby,” in which she also stars.
“When they approached me to do the part, they actually said if you want to produce you guys can jump along. It was great, even though we were one of the last producers to get on board, they really allowed us to incorporate a lot of our ideas.”
Rosemary’s Baby Two-part Mini-series premiered this Sunday, Mother’s Day, how appropriate!
Catch the second installment this Thursday night on at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time on NBC.
