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"Rosemary's Baby" and the Dakota
29 January 2014
3.34am
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Into the Sky with Diamonds
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Anyone ever see this movie?

Filmed around 1968 it’s about the birth of the devil. I just saw it last week and was struck by the fact that it was filmed at … the Dakota. You see the lobby over and over again.

How ironic that the devil would indeed re-visit that lobby.

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29 January 2014
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Didn’t know that.  It’s one of my top 25 movies of all time.  If the lobby is the real Dakota, then the apartments are probably actual apartments too, since director Polanski often tended to use real locations as opposed to studio sets when he could.

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29 January 2014
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Actually, MDC saw Mia Farrow pass by the day he shot John Lennon and took it as a sign.

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29 January 2014
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I watched my “Rosemary’s Baby” DVD just over a month ago, actually! Fabulous movie.

I actually remember reading a magazine article about John’s shooting (Time? Newsweek? Canada’s MacLean’s? one of those) back in early 1981, in which the writer made a point of mentioning the Dakota, “…where Roman Polanski filmed Rosemary’s Baby“, as if to suggest the place had bad vibes or whatever. (Actually in retrospect, the intended suggestion may have been that Polanski was the one with the bad vibes.) It really is a remarkably creepy-looking building – Polanski chose well. There’s some great aerial photography of the Dakota and other Manhattan architecture during the opening credit sequence.

GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty. 

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29 January 2014
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vonbontee said
I watched my “Rosemary’s Baby” DVD just over a month ago, actually! Fabulous movie.

I actually remember reading a magazine article about John’s shooting (Time? Newsweek? Canada’s MacLean’s? one of those) back in early 1981, in which the writer made a point of mentioning the Dakota, “…where Roman Polanski filmed Rosemary’s Baby“, as if to suggest the place had bad vibes or whatever. It really is a remarkably creepy-looking building – Polanski chose well. There’s some great aerial photography of the Dakota and other Manhattan architecture during the opening credit sequence.

 

Did you notice at the beginning of the movie when the old couple says a man was shot outside the lobby of the building?  Pretty creepy.

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29 January 2014
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Expert Textpert said

Did you notice at the beginning of the movie when the old couple says a man was shot outside the lobby of the building?  Pretty creepy.

Wow, I don’t know if the implications of that had ever occurred to me! Nice catch. Yeesh…

GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty. 

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29 January 2014
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Expert Textpert said

vonbontee said
I watched my “Rosemary’s Baby” DVD just over a month ago, actually! Fabulous movie.
I actually remember reading a magazine article about John’s shooting (Time? Newsweek? Canada’s MacLean’s? one of those) back in early 1981, in which the writer made a point of mentioning the Dakota, “…where Roman Polanski filmed Rosemary’s Baby“, as if to suggest the place had bad vibes or whatever. It really is a remarkably creepy-looking building – Polanski chose well. There’s some great aerial photography of the Dakota and other Manhattan architecture during the opening credit sequence.

 

Did you notice at the beginning of the movie when the old couple says a man was shot outside the lobby of the building?  Pretty creepy.

 

This is one of my favourite scary/type movies.  I love that it was filmed in the Dakota and find you really get a “feel” for the building.   I cannot remember the beginning where the old couple talks of a man being shot, Expert Texpert.  I will have to watch for that next time.

In the movie…the building had a creepy, “bad vibe” feel….it still must :(

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29 January 2014
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The Dakota is actually only used for exterior filming. None of the interior scenes, including the lobby, were filmed there. The Dakota actually is very strict about filming inside the building.

29 January 2014
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ExpertTexpert said, “Actually, MDC saw Mia Farrow pass by the day he shot John Lennon and took it as a sign.”

Very creepy. Didn’t notice the mention of a man being shot, but wasn’t really thinking of the Dakota at the beginning. Yea, love the aerial photography.

So no filming in the lobby… Wonder how good a reproduction it is. I suppose I could just walk over and check it out; I’ll say I’m bringing good wishes to Yoko from her loving fans at the BeatleBible Forum.

But wait a second, Yoko, the Beatle break-up, the devil, hmmm…

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29 January 2014
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They weren’t trying to reproduce the Dakota lobby or any other part of the interior. It was supposed to be another apartment building entirely. The building in the movie is the same building from the book – The Bramford. It just so happens that they used the Dakota as the exterior for the fictional Bramford. And, also, you would not be able to get into the lobby of the Dakota. 

29 January 2014
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Apparently the Dakota is also visible in the background in some scenes of the Maysles brothers’ documentary of the Beatles’ 1964 visit to New York.

GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty. 

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29 January 2014
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Speaking of Polanski and apartments, I was reminded of his other creepy movie, The Tenant; then I also remembered yet another creepy movie he made set in an apartment, Repulsion.

As one reviewer put it:

“After watching Polanski’s Repulsion (1965), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and now The Tenant, I can see why they call these three films Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy”. They are three psychological horror films that all take place inside the claustrophobic confines of a small apartment.

“What makes The Tenant so great you might ask? Well, let’s start by the setting. As part of Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy” this one takes place almost entirely inside of Trelkovsky’s new apartment building. We are introduced to his new home via this long tracking shot of the building were we can appreciate its architecture, its windows, the nooks and crannies that make up the entire building… in Polanski’s The Tenant this long shot of the building has a purpose. It serves as a way to introduce us to where the main character will be spending most of his time, and sets the atmosphere and tone for the entire picture… Polanski focuses on the shadows, the windows and the mysterious silhouettes that hide behind them. Awesome way to open a film, Polanski won me over right from the beginning of this film.”

This accurate review, and my own viewing of The Tenant, indicates to me that Polanski used a real apartment complex in Paris to film this movie.  I would be surprised — and disappointed — to learn that he didn’t use The Dakota, or at least a real apartment nearby, for Rosemary’s Baby.

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3 August 2015
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Not really to do with the movie, but this seems to be a good place for this post. I came across this in a book while working in the stacks this afternoon.

Dakota.jpgImage Enlarger

Caption reads: Two great Gilded Age creations in New York City: the Dakota apartment building (right) seen from Central Park.

The purple box at the top reads: The Dakota got its name because when it was first built its location – at the corner of Central Park and West 72nd Street – was so far north of the rest of the city that it might as well have been in the Dakotas. It is still around, and still elegant. One of its 20th-century tenants was Beatle John Lennon . He was killed in the building’s entranceway.

3 August 2015
3.32pm
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This thread reminds me of the lines from Chapter 27:

 

“They also shot Rosemary’s Baby here.”

Mark David Chapman: “The movie?”

“No, the baby.  Yeah, the movie!”

I'm Necko.  I'm like Ringo except I wear necklaces.

I'm also ewe2 on weekends.

Most likely to post things that make you go hmm... 2015, 2016, 2017. 

3 August 2015
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@vonbontee said
Apparently the Dakota is also visible in the background in some scenes of the Maysles brothers’ documentary of the Beatles’ 1964 visit to New York.

It is also worth noting that Albert Maysles lived in the Dakota. He famously fell out with its co-op board of directors in 2005 when he attempted to sell his apartment to Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas but they were rejected by the board as “not being the right type of people”. He expressed his disappointment at the way the building was changing, telling The New York Times:

What’s so shocking is that the building is losing its touch with interesting people. More and more, they’re moving away from creative people and going toward people who just have the money.

In the period proceeding Maysles going public with his complaint about the board, Billy Joel, Carly Simon and Gene Simmons had all had their applications to buy apartments turned down as they were “not the right sort of people”. Now, Gene Simmons maybe you can see a point, but Billy Joel and Carly Simon?

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