When you set out to remake an iconic horror film, you have a long, hard road ahead. Even if it’s an adaptation of an original novel, the remake will still be compared with the previous film, and very often found wanting. I’m afraid that this will be the case for the NBC miniseries adaptation of Rosemary’s Baby, as I suspect that it will suffer greatly in comparison to the original horror film from director Roman Polanski.
The first trailer for the miniseries hit today and it features Zoe Saldana as the titular Rosemary. A young wife and eventual mother, Rosemary moves into a Parisian apartment with her husband Guy (Patrick J. Adams). But the apartment has a dark past, the neighbors are not quite so friendly as they seem, and a devilish plot is afoot involving Rosemary and her unborn child.
Despite moving the action from the film’s New York City location to Paris, the miniseries of Rosemary’s Baby appears to keep very close to the plot of the original film and Ira Levin’s novel. Even in this early trailer, there are already nods to the Polanski’s version – including Saldana sporting the famous pixie-cut that Mia Farrow made so famous – and overall, it looks like a cardboard copy of a much greater work. Much could be made of some of the new elements, including the interesting racial undercurrent of casting Saldana as Rosemary, but right now the trailer only makes the miniseries look overdramatized and not, I fear, terribly scary.
But perhaps it’s unfair to judge Rosemary’s Baby so early. Maybe the trailer isn’t representing the miniseries as well as it could. After all, it has a full four hours (split into two parts) to make the case for itself, which means that it will be able to drag out some of the suspense and horror. Still, if the trailer is anything to go by, I might have to pass on this one.
Rosemary’s Baby will premiere on NBC on Sunday May 11.
