Wicked Stepmother (1989)
Trivia
Despite getting top billing, Bette Davis only appears in the film for roughly 11 minutes.
In the scene where Jenny talks to Steve about how much she misses her mother, we see two pictures of Jenny's deceased mother in her room. Both pictures are of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis ' on-and-off screen rival.
According to actress Colleen Camp, when Bette Davis walked off production several days into shooting, filmmakers reportedly considered recasting role with either Lucille Ball or Bea Arthur, before deciding on bizarre rewrite in which Davis' cat morphs into seductress played by Barbara Carrera.
According to Bette Davis, she was so disgusted by the script that she demanded it be rewritten, and left when the filmmakers refused. The script was then reshaped to explain her absence. Larry Cohen says Davis had to leave for New York for medical reasons and that she later claimed she left because of the script because she was worried she wouldn't be able to get another job if people thought she was in too bad health.
Bette Davis died eight months after the film was released.
A week into principal photography, Bette Davis took a leave of absence for a dental appointment...and never came back. Larry Cohen perceived her exit as a result of her never fully appreciating his directing style.
Despite the disjointed end results of the movie caused by Bette Davis suddenly leaving early into the shoot, producer/writer/director Larry Cohen was not only able to sell the finished movie to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio, he actually managed to make a profit in the process.
Lucille Ball almost replaced Bette Davis, but her own illness led her to back out. She would in fact predecease Bette Davis by several months.
The picture was nominated for Worst Picture at the Hastings Bad Cinema Society's 12th Stinkers Bad Movie Awards in 1989.
Actor/female impersonator Michael Greer reportedly dubbed in some of Bette Davis' dialog when she left production.
