Christina Crawford wrote a book about growing up as the daughter of movie star Joan Crawford, which became a hit movie starring Faye Dunaway in 1981. Mommie Dearest won six Razzie awards. The scandalous film depicted Joan Crawford as a nightmare parent, while behind the scenes, Faye Dunaway was a nightmare while playing a nightmare.
4. THE CREW STRUGGLED TO WORK WITH FAYE DUNAWAY.
One of the most frequently reported rumors from the set of Mommie Dearest was that Faye Dunaway was a bit of a nightmare. “People despised Faye,” Rutanya Alda, who played Joan’s assistant Carol Ann, told the Bay Area Reporter. “Joan got her way in a ladylike way. Faye was despised because she was so rude to people. Everyone was on pins and needles when she worked, and everyone relaxed when she didn’t. I wish Faye had learned from Joan.”
6. DUNAWAY GOT PHYSICAL WITH RUTANYA ALDA ON SET.
In an interview with Gay City News, Rutanya Alda recounted her uncomfortable experience with Dunaway. “When [Jocelyn Brando, who played the journalist] saw me go down after Faye hit me, she said, ‘I can’t afford to be injured, [I] just spent six months in the hospital,’” Alda recalled. “Initially, Frank wanted both me and Jocelyn to pull her off Diana [Scarwid, who played Christina], but she saw Faye was out of control and said, ‘No way.’ We did maybe 10 takes and Frank had to deal with it because Faye wasn’t gonna change what she was doing. I got knocked down maybe twice—she hit me hard in the chest.”
Of course, there was more to the making of the movie than Faye Dunaway. Read a list of tidbits that went into the making of Mommie Dearest at mental_ floss.