Zoe Saldaña's Forgotten 2014 Miniseries Was An Adaptation Of A Terrifying Horror Novel

Zoe Saldaña knows how to pick interesting movies and TV shows. Whether she's hanging with the ragtag Guardians of the Galaxy in Marvel's cosmos or uncovering the war on terror in the thrilling "Special Ops: Lioness," boring doesn't seem to be possible when she's around. One of her most fascinating and forgotten projects was the 2014 miniseries "Rosemary's Baby," based on Ira Levin's 1967 horror book of the same name.

The film community knows all about the 1968 movie adaptation of "Rosemary's Baby," directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse. It's widely regarded as a horror movie that's practically flawless. In 2014, filmmaker Agnieszka Holland directed a two-part miniseries that aired on NBC. In this modernized version, Saldaña plays Rosemary, while "Suits" actor Patrick J. Adams portrays Rosemary's husband, Guy. The story sees Rosemary and Guy move to Paris after a miscarriage, hoping to start over. Everything changes when they meet Roman (Jason Isaacs) and Margaux Castevet (Carole Bouquet), who take an unhealthy level of interest in Rosemary and Guy's lives.

One of the biggest changes that the "Rosemary's Baby" miniseries makes to the original story is by flipping the setting from New York to Paris. While it might seem controversial to fans of the original book and 1968 movie, it proves to be a masterstroke in heightening the tension. It makes it far more believable that the Rosemary and Guy are susceptible to falling prey to the Castevets' insidiousness in a new city.

While 1968's "Rosemary's Baby" is considered a near-perfect horror movie, according to Metacritic, the same can't be said about the 2014 miniseries adaptation starring Zoe Saldaña. The fact that hardly anyone talks about it to this day is testament to how poorly it was received on arrival.

Reviewer Brian Tallerico from RogertEbert.com criticized the miniseries' approach, writing, "The very core of Levin's book and Polanski's film has been gutted, taking a story about common fears — the apartment next door, the husband you don't really know, the baby set to change your life — and making it into a cut-rate Satanic cult piece." The viewers weren't convinced either, as "Rosemary's Baby" holds only a 33% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with many echoing Tallerico's sentiment that the movie is infinitely better.

It also didn't help that the miniseries turned out to be a ratings disappointment for NBC too, confirming the age-old wisdom that when it rains, it pours. Well, at least it doesn't hold the dishonor of being the horror remake that Reddit calls the absolute worst, so there's that kindness for everyone involved.