Apartment 7A hit Paramount+ last week—read io9’s review here—and if you’re a die-hard fan of Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s babywould you have seen the scene in the middle of Natalie Erika James’ prequel that it seems setting up a moment of overlap between the two films. Until… it doesn’t happen. In a new interview, James explained the behind-the-scenes reasons why that happened.
If only you were frugal Apartment 7A On your October movie list:
Location at Apartment 7A it starts as a mirror image of the scene Rosemary’s baby. When Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Terry (Victoria Vetri e Rosemary’s baby; Julia Garner entered Apartment 7A) sharing a great conversation in the laundry room. Rosemary and her husband have recently moved, and she is delighted to meet another lady who lives in Bramford. Terry explains that he was helped out of a bad situation by an elderly couple Roman and Minnie Castevet—Rosemary’s new neighbors—and they gave him a place to stay because they are the kindest people ever.
Rosemary and her new friend agree to do their laundry together again because the basement is scary as hell. Sadly, however, their next meeting is also their last: Rosemary and Guy just walk by when Terry falls to his death in the Castevets’ apartment.
In Apartment 7AHowever, the laundromat comes early in the movie for Rosemary to be in Bramford; former employer, Mrs. Gardenia, still lives in Rosemary’s apartment. (In James’s film, we learn more about that plant-loving lady, and the sinister reason for her departure from the building.) Also, the conversation doesn’t happen; Terry sees a blonde woman with pigtails (Rosemary before her famous pixie cut) washing him, but they don’t meet.
At the end of the Apartment 7ATerry still experiences his own death in the same way, and Rosemary and Guy are again horrified witnesses—but he is totally unaware of them.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, James discussed the delicate line he had to walk, drawing inspiration first from Ira Levin’s novel, but also, of course, from Polanski’s film.
“One of the things that is being looked at is to make sure that there is division between them [Apartment 7A] and the creators of the film are not involved in this,” James told traders. “So we had these discussions before we restarted the script. We also tried to reference Ira Levin’s original book as much as we could and use that as the source material. But, at the same time, because the original film is so iconic, it’s kind of an inevitable comparison.”
As for that specific scene, “I was always aware of the fact that there were already a lot of similarities to the first film, and we were making these really conscious decisions about using Bramford and keeping certain design elements very consistent,” James said. . “But I really avoided wanting to show Rosemary’s face or any kind of communication. It seemed, strangely, a step too far to simply replicate Mia Farrow, although Minnie and Roman were reimagined in their own way.”
He agreed with THR’s question that the incident happened much earlier in the movie for the woman portrayed as Rosemary. Originally, the director said, the laundry room visit was expected to take place later in the film, meaning the timelines would line up more precisely—but editing was chosen to resolve it. “So you are right about not continuing with Mrs. Gardenia still available. In the editing process, there are always things that have to be changed to tell the story well, so, unfortunately, that was one of the sacrifices.”
See the scene and think about the edited version: Apartment 7A now streaming on Paramount+.
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