The Stepford Wives
Short description
The Stepford Wives follows Joanna Eberhart, a photographer who moves with her husband and children from New York City to the quiet Connecticut suburb of Stepford. She finds the town pleasant at first, but the local wives are unsettlingly uniform in their devotion to housework and their husbands, and their conversation is oddly empty. Joanna befriends another recent arrival, Bobbie Markowe, who shares her misgivings, and the two begin looking into what the men of Stepford are doing. The film is a horror, mystery, science-fiction and thriller piece adapted from Ira Levin's novel, and it keeps its answer to the town's secret out of sight.
Bryan Forbes directed, working from a screenplay by William Goldman, with Edgar J. Scherick producing. It was Forbes's fourth film as director, arriving between Deadfall and The Slipper and the Rose. Katharine Ross plays Joanna, Paula Prentiss plays Bobbie, and Nanette Newman, Judith Baldwin, Peter Masterson and Tina Louise are among the twenty-seven credited cast members.
Released in February 1975, the film took in about 9 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 6.3 rating from 38 critics' reviews, while on TMDB it stands at 6.7 from 384 votes, so critics and audiences are close in their assessment. A separate 2004 remake was directed by Frank Oz.
What's left behind the scenes
- During filming, Catherine Ross became such good friends with Paula Prentice that she couldn't convincingly act out the scene in which she stabs her. It ended with Brian Forbes having to shave his own arm and stand in for the actress in that episode.
- Initially, screenwriter William Goldman wrote an ending to the story that was more definitive and unambiguous than the finale of Ira Levin's novel (1972), but director Brian Forbes felt that this contradicted the feminist motifs present in the film and rewrote the ending. This circumstance angered Goldman so much that he stopped speaking to Forbes altogether.
- In early 1974, Brian De Palma was offered the opportunity to direct this film following the unexpected success of his horror movie 'Sisters' (1972). However, screenwriter William Goldman (1931-2018) refused to work with De Palma, leading to the offer being withdrawn; instead, De Palma directed the drama 'Obsession' (1976).
- It was originally intended that since the men would be killing their own wives and replacing them with robots, the latter should be exclusively sex appeal personified. This concept was abandoned when director Brian Forbes cast his wife, Nanette Newman, in the role; she was over 40 and was simply an attractive brunette, rather than a sex bomb.
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by Ira Levin.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
