Episode cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Jessica Lange | ... | Joan Crawford | |
Susan Sarandon | ... | Bette Davis | |
Judy Davis | ... | Hedda Hopper (voice) | |
Jackie Hoffman | ... | Mamacita | |
Alfred Molina | ... | Robert Aldrich | |
Stanley Tucci | ... | Jack Warner (credit only) | |
Alison Wright | ... | Pauline Jameson | |
Catherine Zeta-Jones | ... | Olivia de Havilland | |
Kathy Bates | ... | Joan Blondell | |
Kiernan Shipka | ... | B.D. Merrill | |
Dominic Burgess | ... | Victor Buono | |
Matthew Glave | ... | Joseph Cotten | |
Mark L. Taylor | ... | Ray | |
Joel Kelley Dauten | ... | Adam Friedman | |
John Rubinstein | ... | George Cukor |
Joan arrives onto the set for location shooting in Baton Rouge for what is now titled Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) in relatively good spirits, having top billing for the movie over Bette, having the equally juicy role as a murderess, and feeling like both Bette but more specifically Bob respect her function within the production as all three desperately need another hit following Baby Jane and thus need to rely on each other for the movie to succeed. Joan even reiterates to Mamacita a pledge she made to herself not to drink during this production if only to be at the top of her game. Joan's good feeling slowly deteriorates as she believes, based on their actions on the set, that the majority of the crew, led by Bob and Bette, are all in some inside joke against her, especially as Bette seems always to be on the set even when she has no scenes to film, and is secretly giving Bob advice on the entire production. Joan's good feeling entirely evaporates when she learns the actions ... Written by Huggo
Feud: Bette and Joan (2017)
Episode 7: Abandoned!
Joan quickly realizes that HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE isn't going to be her movie and this is made even more clear when she learns that Bette has a producer's role on the film. Soon Joan is playing up a fake illness to hold up the production but the studio decides to fight back.
As this series moves along it's becoming quite clear that Crawford really doesn't look that good. The past three episodes have shown a very dark side to the actress and one could argue that the series is being rather brutal to her but as one of the characters says in this episode, she pretty much did it to herself. With that said, if the series was going to go this hard on her it seems like they would have been more open about some of the stuff that happened in her early childhood, which might better explain it.
With that said, the dark side of Crawford coming out gives Lange an opportunity to really act and boy does she do a remarkable job. There's no question that she's pretty much stolen the series and she continues to impress as she gets into these darker moments of the actress. She has certainly become Joan to the point where you see the character and see Crawford and not just an actress playing her.
Episode: A-