It was the infamous camp party film that was blamed for derailing Faye Dunaway’s stellar career… but now the Academy Awards have finally chosen to celebrate it, 42 years later.
Oscars bosses have raised eyebrows by sharing an 83rd birthday tribute to the star using only clips from her infamous 1981 film Mommie Dearest.
Fans of the actress have even accused the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of taunting Dunaway over her choice for the over-the-top Joan Crawford biopic, which she is known to dislike and not allow interviewers to mention .
One wrote underneath: ‘She will be so sorry for this, thank you.’
Oscars bosses raised eyebrows with a birthday tribute to Faye Dunaway featuring clips from her 1981 film Mommie Dearest – which was snubbed for awards by Academy bosses and which the 83-year-old actress is known to hate . Dunaway is seen in one of the Joan Crawford biopic’s many memorable scenes, in which she berates adopted daughter Christina for using wire hangers.
Also included in the tribute was this scene, beloved by camp fans everywhere, in which Dunaway’s Crawford bellows “Tina, bring me the axe!” to her adopted daughter as she cut down a tree in anger after being fired from MGM
Dunaway won an Oscar in 1977 for her role as a ratings-obsessed TV executive in Network – but no clips from that film were used in the controversial birthday tribute
Commenters on the tribute post were quick to flag the unusual choice of film
Another said: ‘So epic that the academy posted this on her birthday…best gift ever.
A third said: ‘This movie ruined her career and she likes the movie so much lol.’
And a fourth wrote: ‘I have a feeling whoever uploaded this will receive a very unpleasant voicemail.’
That was a reference to a furious voice message Dunaway left for a journalist who once asked her too many questions about Mommie Dearest, instead of her other films.
The Oscar tribute included all of the film’s most memorable scenes, including this infamous confrontation between Joan Crawford and the bosses of Pepsi, on whose board she sat.
Dunaway (left) played the role of Joan alongside Mara Hobel (right), who played Christina Crawford, dividing critics and leaving audiences howling with laughter
The film was inspired by a memoir written by Joan Crawford’s adopted daughter Christina, pictured in 2019, who accused her mother of abusing her.
The Oscars Instagram tribute features many of the film’s best clips, including Dunaway singing “No wire hangers!” shouts. before punching adopted daughter Christina, played by Mara Hobel, after finding the offending items in a closet.
Also present and correct was the moment when Dunaway screams “Tina, bring me the axe” as a crazed Joan destroys her rose garden after being told she is “box office poison” and ousted by the MGM Studios boss.
Dunaway’s Joan was also seen yelling at members of Pepsi’s board, “Don’t f**k me guys, this isn’t my first time at the rodeo,” as the members tried to unseat her.
Mommie Dearest was based on a tell-all book that Joan’s adopted daughter Christina published a year after her mother’s death in 1977, in which she accused the Hollywood icon of being an abusive mother.
The decision to celebrate Mommie Dearest is strange, considering the Academy completely snubbed the film for nominations after its release in 1981.
It ended at the Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst films, with Dunaway being named worst actress there.
Christina and Joan are pictured together. Mother and daughter are said to have had a troubled relationship, with Joan disinheriting her daughter after her death from cancer in 1977
Dunaway won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as a ratings-obsessed TV executive in 1976’s Network, but no footage from that film was used.
She was also nominated for best actress for Bonnie and Clyde in 1968 and Chinatown in 1975 – but clips from those films were mysteriously missing as well.
Dunaway played the role in Mommie Dearest, likely believing the poignant subject matter would earn her a fourth Oscar nomination.
The big-budget film featured beautiful sets and amazing costumes by legendary designer Irene Sharaff, who also worked on the original West Side Story, Meet Me in St Louis, Cleopatra and An American in Paris.
Dunaway also received applause for her incredible physical transformation, using makeup and muscle contortions on her face to achieve an uncanny resemblance to Crawford.
But her high hopes were shattered after the film’s release, with audiences erupting in laughter at the turbo-charged, campy scenes.
The film quickly became a cult hit and remains extremely popular in the gay community.
Reviewers were divided over Dunaway’s performance – with both the New York Times and the New Yorker praising her portrayal of Crawford.
However, Variety’s review was scathing, with the critic saying, ‘Dunaway doesn’t chew scenery. Dunaway starts neatly on each corner of the set in each scene and swallows it whole, costars and all.”
The actress is said to have been deeply shaken by the Mommie Dearest debacle and moved to England with photographer husband Terry Richardson and their son Liam for much of the 1980s.
The couple separated in 1987 and Dunaway returned to the US.
Dunaway’s career never again reached the heady heights of her blockbusters of the 1960s and 1970s, although Mommie Dearest has since been reevaluated by many critics who have praised the film and the actress’s astonishing performance.
She did discuss the film in a 1995 episode of Inside the Actors Studio, saying, “It was never directorially modulated, I’m sorry to say it became camp.”
In 2008 a Guardian The interviewer said he was banned from mentioning Mommie Dearest during an interview with Dunaway.
Dunaway is depicted in one of her most famous roles, as the infamous bank robber Bonnie Parker in the 1967 hit Bonnie and Clyde
Dunaway is pictured at the 2017 Oscars – where she and Warren Beatty mistakenly named La La Land the Best Picture winner, instead of Moonlight
She later ended the conversation in anger after he questioned her about claims she hurled a cup of urine over director Roman Polanski during the filming of Chinatown.
And in 2016, the actor told People that she blamed the film for damaging her career.
She said: ‘I think it took my career in a direction where people would inevitably get the wrong impression of me.’
Dunaway also claimed that her ferocious portrayal of Crawford tainted the public’s perception of her.
The actress has been accused of being difficult and was fired from a Broadway play in 2019 after allegedly creating a “hostile” and “dangerous” work environment.
Dunaway had another major brush with Oscars fame – when she and Bonnie and Clyde co-star Warren Beatty incorrectly announced that La La Land had won Best Picture in 2017, instead of deserving winner Moonlight.
But unlike Joan and Christina Crawford’s fraught relationship, Dunaway’s son Liam is definitely one of her fans.
On Saturday, he shared the Mommie Dearest Academy tribute clip on his Instagram page, writing: @theacademy showing some love.”
