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Joan Crawford said it best herself: “Nobody can imitate me … because I’ve only been drawn on myself only.”
That hasn’t stopped Hollywood from trying. Faye Dunaway reduced Joan’s persona to a maddened, camp caricature of a demonized woman in Mommie Dearest, bolstered with exaggerations and falsehoods that were even more ridiculous than the expose itself. Ironic, as Joan once lauded Faye and her acting — ironic that Faye Dunaway would, unfortunately, mar Joan’s image in one film. A brilliant fifty year career forgotten thanks to two hours of horribly scripted melodrama.
It’s been nearly 40 years since Ms. Crawford’s death now, and 36 since Mommie Dearest hit the big screen. With the birth of Ryan Murphy’s new series on FX, Feud, Joan Crawford has once again been thrust into the spotlight — and once again, fails to be imitated.
Before I go any further, let me preface this by saying I am a devoted Joan fan and went into this series knowing quite a bit (perhaps too much) about Ms. Crawford’s personal life, upbringing, and later years. It’s hard to view Feud through a different or unbiased lens coming from my angle — I was hopeful, but doubtful from the start, as Murphy’s casting choices already raised some red flags for me.
We’ll start with the good: Jackie Hoffman as Mamacita, Judy Davis as Hedda Hopper, Stanley Tucci as Jack Warner, and Dominic Burgess as Victor Buono. All four of these actors: pretty spot on (save for the fact that Hedda was in fact a lot older and not quite as pretty as Davis’ portrayal made her out to be). Susan Sarandon is a dead ringer for Bette Davis appearance wise, but failed to put more body into her portrayal, leaving for a weak and often ineffective performance. I’ll touch more upon this later.
Jessica Lange, a Murphy staple, was cast as Joan — and as much as I enjoy Jessica and respect her talent as an actress, I was immediately put off. I felt like his casting of Lange was awfully biased and really, more or less, a grand favor that reads as “Hey, I have this juicy dramatic role, I like you, why don’t you have it and try for an emmy?” While there were times I was able to see Bette in Susan, there was not a single time I saw Joan in Jessica — not even in the series’ gripping finale (which I had my qualms with as well).
First of all, there is absolutely no resemblance between the two women, and the bad wigs and makeup doesn’t help much either. Jessica is 5 inches taller than Joan ever was and has a stockier build — visually, she’s no Joan Crawford and her acting also fails to make up for that. In Lange’s Crawford, we see an often stiff, awkward, and boozing ex-star who has fallen from grace. This is a stark contrast to how the real Crawford was (and especially in the early 60s, at the apex of her Pepsi-Cola career). Joan Crawford held herself with poise and aplomb. She was confident, sensual, and elegant. She might have been an alcoholic, but she was by no means a recluse — in fact, she was jetting all over the country to promote Pepsi. The scenes shown in several episodes of Feud where Lange is in bed, sobbing, are such a far cry from the real Crawford.
Let’s talk voice and mannerisms (and my biggest gripe, the flashbacks!) I appreciate what Murphy is trying to do by using Lange as Joan for continuity purposes, but god, the flashbacks were just so terrible (especially the ones from the early 40s!) There is no way you can get a near 70 year old woman to accurately portray a 30-something year old woman. I personally feel that they should have shown original film stills, but again, this is all strictly my own opinion — I understand then that it would also be awkward, as Crawford and Lange have almost no resemblance.
Mannerisms: Lange has this weird tick of jutting her neck out like a turkey and holding her head up in an unrealistic fashion. She tries too hard to be haughty and refined, instead coming off as forced and ridiculous. Her voice, for the most part, sounds nothing like Joan’s. Again, all I see and hear is Jessica Lange, not Joan Crawford. Hard to really get into the show when you have a steel wall preventing you from doing so.
Let me get to the good in Lange’s performance: for what it’s worth, as a whole, she did help save and redeem Crawford’s image. When she played out any scenes that showed Crawford as weak, vulnerable or just flatout upset, she mastered them with amazing displays of emotion. These moments, without question, were her strongest and the closest to Joan she ever got. And the fact that she spoke of Joan so highly in interviews warmed my heart, too.
Back to Murphy for a moment: he makes it painfully obvious that he’s a Davis fan from the start. Davis is often portrayed in a much more sympathetic light, while Crawford is the tyrannical, unmanageable monster up until the series’ end (where she’s finally somewhat redeemed). And the whole idea of Bette calling Joan “Lucille” or “Crawfish” — absolutely would not have happened. For one, Bette was a professional, as was Joan — and two, Bette never knew Joan well enough to do so.
There’s also the concern that half this series and supposed “feud” is fictitious, and was solely contrived by the press for publicity reasons. The biggest gripe Davis and Crawford had was regarding the 1963 Oscars. Additionally, Joan never “campaigned” against Bette — while it is true she accepted for Bancroft and called around, she never went further out of her way to be purposefully vindictive. Also, Joan is often shown as being rude to her fans (something that would have NEVER happened — Joan lived for her fans).
Length wise, I felt this show was too long and too padded by unnecessary or irrelevant content (see: all the scenes regarding Bob Aldrich, the fictional Pauline, and Olivia deHavilland/Joan Blondell). I could have easily done without all that. By the time the finale rolls around, one’s almost grateful for closure.
I understand I am a harsh critic, and I understand the sole purpose of this show is mainly for entertainment reasons. This is no documentary on Bette and Joan, and I am aware of that. I guess perhaps I’m just disappointed because I feel that the depths and complexities of both women were watered down to one or two specific traits. In a way, Murphy caricatured them on his own. I appreciate what he’s trying to do by shedding light on Hollywood, aging, and sexism, but I also feel that this would have been at least ten times better if it had been written, produced, and directed by all women.
That’s about all I have to say for now. I apologize that this is desultory, not better worded, and all over the place. It’s 9:30 in the morning and I wrote this more as a cathartic piece because I feel like I’m one of the few people in the OH fandom who isn’t digging Feud. Toodles! xo
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