Trivia / The Women

• All-Star Cast:
  • The 1939 version features, among others, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine and Norma Shearer.
  • The 1956 film has June Allyson, Anne Miller, Joan Collins, and Leslie Nielsen.
  • The 2008 version features, among others, Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, Eva Mendes (all five of which were "jointly" nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress), Cloris Leachman and Carrie Fisher.
• Saved from Development Hell: The 2008 remake, which was first pitched by director and writer Diane English (the creator of Murphy Brown) in 1993.
• What Could Have Been: According to Diane English on a DVD making of documentary for the 2008 remake, she originally pitched it with both Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts agreeing to be not only in the lead roles, but also as co-producers, and James L. Brooks as the director. Blythe Danner and Marisa Tomei would have co-starred, as would have Candice Bergen and Debi Mazar (who remained in the final cut). The project went into Development Hell after Roberts and Ryan declared they both wanted to play the same role at the first table reading. Brooks left to work on As Good as It Gets, and Roberts declared she was no longer interested and also dropped out. Other actresses that expressed interest included Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Uma Thurman, Whitney Houston and Queen Latifah. She also declared she wanted the script to have strong and self-reliant female characters.

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