Friendship, loyalty, and the effects of infidelity are subjects examined in this new take on The Women. A big-name all-female cast led by writer/director Diane English (making her feature film directorial debut) bring to life this updated, revamped remake of the classic 1939 George Cukor film adapted from Clare Boothe Luce's play.
English fought an uphill battle to bring The Women back to the screen as Hollywood just isn't big on female-driven films. But after almost two decades of work, English and her cast, which includes Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debi Mazar, and Cloris Leachman, are hoping to prove studio execs wrong by showing women can drive business at the box office.
The Women Press Conference
Diane, can you talk about taking on this project and seeing it through?
Diane English: "It took actually almost 14 years and one of the reasons it took as long as it did is because it's an all-female cast. The nature of the movie industry now is that it caters to young men under 25. They go to movies multiple times and buy all the stuff, and so that's a major part of the deal. We've always believed if you give women something of themselves onscreen that's meaningful, they will come and they'll come in big numbers. And I think the box office of several movies this summer has bourn that out and we'll have a nice, healthy box office, too."
Why do people cheat? And Meg, when your mother onscreen says to ignore the infidelity, it's not the 1940s. How do you think things have changed? Is infidelity more accepted now?
Debi Mazar: "Why do people cheat is your first question? They don't have much sex. Women stop having sex with their husbands after children, possibly. There are many reasons."
Cloris Leachman: "Or before."
Meg Ryan: "Why do women cheat? Why do men cheat? Someone else has to take this. As compared to in the '40s? I think what Diane was trying to say is there may be a generational difference in how women cope with male infidelity. Literally, as much as it's individual, it's generational."
Diane English: "And we have Prozac now."
Debi Mazar: "I think women used to have to shut their mouths and a lot of men were gay and had to have a wife because it made them look good. Today, no one accepts infidelity. And if they do, they have an open relationship. That didn't exist in the 1940s across Middle America. People are more open today, but certainly no one deals with infidelity well. Period."
Cloris Leachman: "My mother said it takes the pressure off at home. You can't blame them, the poor guys. Girls are after them all the time. What are they supposed to make them feel, bad? It's only one life. If you're going to do it, you have to justify it. They just have one life, it's their life. Let them have an experience."
For Annette and Eva, what did you want to wrap your claws around going into it?
Eva Mendes: "Diane and I talked about bringing some fun to Crystal Allen. We didn't want to vamp her out and make her this evil woman with an arched eyebrow. We wanted to realize that she was actually just very desperate. She's not a bad person. She's just desperate. Her time's running out. She wants a piece of the pie. She's not a husband stealer like, 'I'm gonna get you!' She's more like, 'Look Mary Haines, you've had your fun. You've had money all your life. You have your kid with this guy. You have your house. Let me have a piece of the pie. After a few years, you'll get him back. Let me get my piece of the pie.' Because the acting thing wasn't working out and, you know, it's more like we came at it that way and I had more fun playing her."
Diane English: "You have to have fun. She couldn't be a one-note character. It was easy to go one note with her. Because of Eva being who she is, by the act of casting her in that role, her character is likable in a way that you don't expect. You've got to admire her."
Eva Mendes: "You've got to feel sorry for her. If you have to work like that at Saks Fifth Avenue…"
Annette, your character is tough as nails one second and completely vulnerable the next. Talk about what you wanted to say with her.
Annette Bening: "It was fun to play a businesswoman, a woman who wasn't a mother. One of the things Diane and I talked about, I really liked playing a woman who wasn't conflicted about not having children. I like that. I have friends who haven't had children who are so free. I thought it would be refreshing to have a woman who wasn't torn about not having children. She just really didn't want them."
When your character goes over the edge and eats butter, you see the pressure she's under to be perfect. Do you feel that pressure to be perfect? And what were you really eating?
Meg Ryan: "I'm not going to tell you what I really was eating. I'm just going to say, yes, I was so happy to do that scene because up until that moment in the movie, she's just like a sleepwalking person. Diane and I talked a lot about her transition in the movie. She's somebody whose life is falling apart all around her. She thinks it's going perfectly, but she's asleep to a lot of it. I liked making her culpable in that way in that she's not a perfect friend, though she thinks she is. And she's not a perfect wife, although she thinks she is. She's somebody who isn't coming through for herself or anyone else. By that point in the movie, she's just frustrated with the whole thing and throws it away."
"I personally don't feel any kind of need to be perfect. I think that's kind of dull."
