The Women

The Women (2008)

The story centers on a group of gossipy, high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily-wedded Mary Haines finds her marriage in trouble when shop girl Crystal Allen gets her hooks into Mary's man.

Date of release
2008-09-12
TMDB
5.2 / 10 (388)
Runtime
1h 54m
Genres
Drama, Comedy
Director
Diane English

Casting

Interesting facts

The Women is a 2008 American comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Diane English. It stars an ensemble cast including Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Carrie Fisher, Cloris Leachman, Debi Mazar, Bette Midler, and Candice Bergen. The screenplay is an updated version of the 1939 film of the same name based on a 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce and follows a wealthy New York woman (Ryan) whose seemingly perfect life unravels when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, leading her and her circle of friends to reevaluate their identities.

Production

In The Women: The Legacy, a bonus feature on the DVD release of the film, Diane English discusses her 15-year struggle to bring a contemporary version of the 1939 classic film to the screen. She wanted to present a version in which the female characters were strong and self-reliant and supported and defended each other rather than resort to treachery and catty remarks to achieve their goals.

English wrote the first screenplay in 1993 during hiatus from Murphy Brown. The following year, Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan agreed to co-produce and star, with James L. Brooks as director and a supporting cast that included Blythe Danner, Marisa Tomei, Debi Mazar, and Candice Bergen. In 1996, the first table reading of the script was held at Sony Pictures.

After being turned down by every major Hollywood studio, English developed the project as an independent film and approached Victoria Pearman, the president of Jagged Films, singer Mick Jagger's production company, who agreed to produce the film for Picturehouse. Pearman offered some plot suggestions, and English put the finishing touches on the seventh and final draft of the script.

The film was shot on location in New York City and various cities in Massachusetts. As with the play and 1939 film, English was careful to make sure no men appear on screen, even in long shots and crowd scenes. The only male character in the film is Edie's baby boy, born in the final scene of the film.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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