The first season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud, which centers on Bette Davis and Joan Crawford during (and after) making What Ever Happened to Babe Jane? concludes this Sunday on FX, April 23.
The first season of Feud follows Davis and Crawford through the creation of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” and its aftermath. But instead of ending with the dramatic 1963 Oscars— which ends with Crawford accepting the best actress trophy on behalf of Anne Bancroft — Murphy said he always planned to end the show differently. “For the last episode, I always wanted to do a 1970s episode about what happened to both those women in that decade,” he said.
After the episode screened Tuesday evening at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, Murphy, Lange, Minear, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alfred Molina and EP Alexis Martin Woodall took the stage for a Q&A.
Lange explained her read on the finale, in which Crawford attempts to keep her career alive as she ages by signing onto mediocre and low-budget projects.
“I think that’s typical of especially what happens to a women’s career at that point,” Lange said. “You’re still in there scrapping and fighting and thinking ‘This next role is going to bring it all back. This next role is going to make a difference.’”
“The real sadness,” she said, “is that it’s an illusion.”