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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snarky Oracle!" data-source="post: 436167" data-attributes="member: 57984">Faye's hypocrisy-in-real-time didn't help: as the film was being released in 1981, Dunaway did magazine interviews expressing the feeling that Crawford's "spirit" was uneasy over the contents of MOMMIE DEAREST in order to seemingly distance herself from the material before audiences had even seen it, even making it seem as if she'd been reluctant to take the role.When, in fact, Faye Dunaway had actively lobbied for the part -- a part based on Christina's already infamous book which, as everyone knew, was no love letter to her adoptive-mother, Joan Crawford.And Faye continued that disingenuous 'what-me-slander?' approach to the topic of MOMMIE DEAREST's criticism of Joan in interviews for decades.Dunaway wanted to play both sides. And did. For years and years... And her own behavior on set-after-set likely had more to do with harming her own career. (Not a new observation, but Crawford was usually far more professional in the studio, with only the rare "OMG, did-I-hurt-you-darling??" incident peppered throughout her years as an actress... While Faye was all-too-often an overtly raving maniac, which today -- to her credit? -- she almost seems to concede).Also: the book version of Mommie Dearest in 1978 (I remember when it was released, a friend of mine bought a copy of it that year for her mother, a Scorpio Rising/Moon in Aquarius like Crawford, as a dig) indeed created short-term reputational damage amongst the female audience who'd grown up with Crawford movies and her highly-controlled 'Mother of the Year' image, those female audiences who were either shocked at Christina's allegations or had a pre-'80s gravely, smoke-encircled defense of Joan and her maternal right to treat her kids any-damned-way-she-wants-to.But what no one counted on were the f*ggots and their adoration for the Diva Bitch Dragon Lady archetype (i.e./e.g., the Bette/Crawford/Dunaway/AlexisCarringtons) and how slapping a child and/or killing a husband simply enhances her image as a Monster Spectaculaire, and, hence, solidifies her legend. (Just as the 60s horror movies never really hurt Davis & Crawford, although there was industry disapproval at the time).As questionable John Waters once observed, "the gay audience" doesn't relate to the trials of the little girl in MOMMIE DEAREST, but to Dunaway's Crawford because "she's rich; she's a bitch!"I mean, where would Lana Turner be post-1958 without the Johnny Stamponato killing? Just another almost-forgotten pretty face from the dusty armoire of Hollywood... No wonder Turner ignored her hairdresser pals' urging to clear her daughter, Cheryl, of the crime before Lana passed away: the "weird, creepy woman" image, though Lana was well-aware of it, was also endemic to her long-term reputation.In that way, MOMMIE DEAREST had a positive, lasting impact on the images of both Crawford and Dunaway. But it became a convenient excuse for why nobody wanted to work with the younger woman anymore -- her behavior was just too nuts.<img src="https://c8.alamy.com/comp/HD2BN7/from-left-cary-grant-joan-crawford-october-1946-HD2BN7.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5d/99/67/5d99672f31b5758f26d7444993d6e602.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 961px" /></blockquote>

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