Christina says she was once starved for days when she refused to eat an undercooked steak that was still bloody, all in a bid for her mother to further control her.Ħ. Crawford was prone to what Christina called “night raids,” in which she would wake the children up drunk and make them clean messes they hadn’t necessarily made for hours on end.ĥ. Crawford then made Christina wear the dress for a week in order to humiliate her.Ĥ. Christina had a favorite dress until she provoked her mother into shredding it. In a scene that’s become synonymous with the film, she is said to have dragged her daughter by the hair yelling, “No wire hangers, no wire hangers!” while beating her with one until her “ears rang.”ģ. Crawford hated wire hangers, and reportedly once woke up her daughter in the middle of the night for using them. But after Crawford’s third marriage fell apart she renamed the children.Ģ. and Phillip Terry Jr., (after his adoptive father). When Crawford first adopted Christina and Christopher, they were named Joan Jr. With four writers (Frank Yablans, Frank Perry, Tracy Hotchner, and Robert Gotchell), you would think that there would be some decent dialogue somewhere in the script. Speaking of weird lines, the dialogue in this film is unbearably clunky and awkward. But, anybody watching the film can see that she over-acted and repeatedly delivered lines weirdly.

This obviously displeased Dunaway, as she felt that this role was it.

It was no longer marketed as a serious drama but, instead, marketed much like Rocky Horror Picture Show. And this is what ultimately led to Paramount remarketing the film upon its release. So, what we end up seeing is Dunaway overacting the shit out of Joan Crawford. Unfortunately, director Frank Perry didn’t have enough experience on when to tell actors to “reel in” their performance. It’s very clear that she felt that the role of Joan Crawford would earn her an Academy Award. Mommie Dearest stars Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, a role that she would go down in cult film history for. The film was directed by Frank Perry, a man who definitely did not have enough experience with actors to helm this film. Mommie Dearest is a biographical drama based on the memoir of the same name written by Christina Crawford about her mother, the famed screen legend, Joan Crawford, and the troubling relationship that the mother and daughter pair had.

Crawford mommie dearest