The First Wives Club

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The First Wives Club
Directed by	Hugh Wilson
Produced by	Scott Rudin
Written by	Olivia Goldsmith (novel) Robert Harling Paul Rudnick (screenplay)
Narrated by	Diane Keaton
Starring	Goldie Hawn Diane Keaton Bette Midler Elizabeth Berkley Stockard Channing Stephen Collins Victor Garber Marcia Gay Harden Eileen Heckart Dan Hedaya Sarah Jessica Parker Bronson Pinchot Maggie Smith
Music by	Marc Shaiman
Cinematography	Donald E. Thorin
Editing by	John Bloom
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	September 20, 1996
Running time	103 min.
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000[1]
Gross revenue	$181,490,000[2]
IMDb profile

The First Wives Club is an Academy Award-nominated 1996 comedy film, based on the same-titled 1992 novel by Olivia Goldsmith. Narrated by Diane Keaton, it stars Goldie Hawn, Keaton and Bette Midler as three divorced women who seek revenge on their husbands who left them for younger women. Stephen Collins, Victor Garber and Dan Hedaya co-star, with Maggie Smith, Stockard Channing and Sarah Jessica Parker playing key supporting roles. Scott Rudin produced and Hugh Wilson directed; the film was distributed by Paramount Pictures.

While critical reaction to the film as a whole was more measured,^[3] it received generally favorable notice and became a surprise box-office hit following its North American release, eventually grossing $181,490,000 worldwide, mostly from its domestic run.^[4] Even developing a cult following among middle-aged women,^[5] the actresses' highest-grossing project of the decade helped revitalizing their careers in film and television. The picture spawned an Academy Award nomination for "Best Score" for composer Marc Shaiman^[6] as well as a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Hawn and two Satellite Award nominations for Midler and Parker.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Development 2.1 Writing 2.2 Casting 3 Production 4 Cast 4.1 Major ensemble 5 Legacy 5.1 Sequel 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

Elise Elliot (Goldie Hawn), Brenda Cushman (Bette Midler), Annie Paradis (Diane Keaton), and Cynthia Griffin (Stockard Channing) were best friends at Middlebury College during the 1960s, but marriage and children force them to drift apart. Decades later, Cynthia commits suicide because her husband has divorced her, having left her for a younger woman. The three remaining women reunite at her funeral. Subsequently, we learn that their husbands are divorcing them too, and, like Cynthia's ex-husband, are taking up with younger women.

All three had helped their husbands' careers, and all three feel they are being shafted. They plan to get revenge by ruining their husbands' careers. Brenda plans to expose her ex-husband Morty's (Dan Hedaya) income tax fraud, Elise plans to reveal that Bill's (Victor Garber) mistress is a minor and ruin his reputation, and Annie buys out Aaron's (Stephen Collins) partner, taking half of his advertising business. Deciding that revenge would make them no better than their husbands, they instead use these situations to push their men into funding the establishment of a non-profit organization dedicated to aiding abused women, in memory of Cynthia.

It is important to note that the plot of the movie diverges significantly from that of the novel. In the novel, the wives also seek revenge on Cynthia's ex-husband Gil (James Naughton), each wife has a romantic subplot, and the children have more significant roles.

[edit] Development

[edit] Writing

The film project originally belonged to Sherry Lansing, who bought the unpublished manuscript of the novel in 1991, after many publishers had rejected it, and handed it over to producer Scott Rudin when she became CEO of Paramount Pictures in 1992.^[7] "It was one of the single best ideas for a movie I've ever heard," she said in a 1996 interview with The New York Times. "The situation of a woman getting left for a younger version of herself was far too common. But we didn't want a movie about women as victims. We wanted a movie about empowerment."^[8] Rudin consulted Robert Harling to write the screenplay, whose script was reworked by Paul Rudnick when Harling left to direct 1996's The Evening Star, the sequel to the 1983 drama Terms of Endearment. Rudnick, however, felt the final script was "incomprehensible":^[9] "To figure out the structure of that movie would require an undiscovered Rosetta Stone," he told The New York Times.^[10]

[edit] Casting

Diane Keaton was the first reported to have landed one of the starring roles, having previously worked with Rudin on the set of Marvin's Room (1996), followed by Bette Midler who had originally auditioned for the "more glamorous role" of Elise.^[11] Although Rudin originally intended to cast Jessica Lange in the latter role, the team decided to rewrite the character of the book in favour of a "glitzier" version which eventually went to eleventh-hour addition Goldie Hawn.^[12] Actor Mandy Patinkin dropped out shortly before shooting start and was replaced by Steven Collins when he decided to leave the project in favour of his musical ambitions,^[13] while Dan Hedaya won the role of Morty over Hector Elizondo.^[14] Elizabeth Berkley only had taken her part to "work with the best actresses around,"^[15] and Timothy Olyphant, who had impressed by local stage work, made his screen debut as director Brett Artounian in the film.^[16]

Cameos of note include Ivana Trump, Gloria Steinem and Kathie Lee Gifford as themselves as well as uncredited appearances by Richard Council, author Olivia Goldsmith, Hugh Wilson as a commercial director, and Heather Locklear as the younger lover of James Naughton's character Gil.^[17] Additionally, Jon Stewart was hired to play the lover of Goldie Hawn's character Elise; however, he never actually made it to the film. "I played her boyfriend and apparently they felt that that was not inherently part of the storyline and so she broke up with me before the movie started," he joked on Larry King Live in 2006.^[18]

[edit] Production

Principal photography took place over three months at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York City between December 4, 1995^[19] and March 19, 1996.^[20] Among the sixty sites showcased on screen are Christie's auction house, the Bowery Bar, a suite at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the Cafe des Artistes, the King Cole bar at the St. Regis Hotel, Frank E. Campbell's funeral home, and Barney's,^[21] as well as the Chrysler Building, the NoHo neighborhood, both the 5th and the 7th Avenue, the Riverside Drive, and the Central Park.^[22]

Production designer Peter Larkin took much inspiration from Hollywood's romantic comedies of the 1930s, incorporating a post-Great Depression view on style and luxury, widely popularized through these films. "Those sets looked better than real New York penthouses and nightclubs ever could," he said upon creation. "In this film I wanted settings that had that kind of striking nature."^[23]

[edit] Cast

[edit] Major ensemble

• Diane Keaton as Annie MacDuggan Paradis, the vehicle for the film's sporadic voice-over; an anxious and neurotic housewife, saddled with self-esteem problems, attempting to save her marriage with estranged husband Aaron - much to her daughter's dismay.
• Bette Midler as Brenda Morelli Cushman, as a wise-cracking Jewish single mother who helped set her husband Morty on his feet financially, before he left her for the much younger Shelly, cheating her out of an equitable settlement.
• Goldie Hawn as Elise Elliot Atchison, a former one time Oscar-winning actress, now an alcoholic and heavy smoker relegated to B movies due to her 'unprofitable' age. Her husband, Bill, who left her for another woman, is suing for half of her worth.
• Stephen Collins as Aaron Paradis, Annie's conflicted husband and CEO of an advertising agency, who leaves his wife for their sex therapist Leslie Rosen.
• Dan Hedaya as Brenda's ex-husband Morton 'Morty' Cushman, an electronics tycoon, who hides his wealth and takes advantage of having his former wife having signed an out-of-court settlement - just to finance his fiancée's preferences.
• Victor Garber as Bill Atchison, a successful film producer, who rose to fame through Elise's connections and eventually left her in favour of a young starlet.
• Marcia Gay Harden as Dr. Leslie Rosen, Aaron's short-time affair, who works as a sex therapist.
• Sarah Jessica Parker as Shelly Stewart, Morty's dim-witted but manipulative fiancée.
• Elizabeth Berkley as Phoebe LaVelle, an up-and-coming actress, living with Bill.
• Stockard Channing as Cynthia Swann Griffin, a college friend of the three main protagonists, who commits suicide after her husband, Gil, betrays and eventually divorces her.
• Maggie Smith as Gunilla Garson Goldberg, a wealthy New York society head, being a first wife herself.
• Bronson Pinchot as Duarto Felice, Brenda's boss and (according to Annie) "one of the ten worst interior decorators in New York."
• Jennifer Dundas as Chris Paradis, Annie's lesbian and feminist daughter.
• Eileen Heckart as Catherine MacDuggan, Annie's 'controlling' mother.
• Ari Greenberg as Jason Cushman, Brenda's son.
• Philip Bosco as Uncle Carmine Morelli, Brenda's maternal uncle and part of her family's Italian mafia connections.

[edit] Legacy

[edit] Sequel

For years there have been rumors of a sequel of the film.^[24] Although columnists Stacy Jenel Smith and Marilyn Beck reported in a 2002 article that producer Scott Rudin would refuse to work on a sequel, the actresses have made various statements to the contrary. In a Chicago Sun-Times interview on December 15, 2003, Keaton expressed her efforts on the realization of a second film: "I tried to get this movie off the ground. I tried like hell. You should talk to [Paramount honcho] Sherry Lansing. I mean, I'm ready. I'm ready to do it."^[25] A year later, writer Paul Rudnick reportedly started writing a draft,^[26] entitled Avon Ladies of the Amazon,^[27] and in 2005, Midler confirmed in a live chat with USAToday that there was indeed a manuscript: "FWC2 may go. There's a very good script, but the strike kept it from happening."^[28] However, as Hawn declared in a 2006 interview with New York Daily News, Paramount Pictures declined the trio's services due to their demand of an increase in fees: "Diane called me and said, 'We've got to do this.' I got a call from the head of the studio, who said, 'Let's try to make it work. But I think we should all do it for the same amount of money.' Now, if there were three men that came back to do a sequel, they would have paid them three times their salary at least."^[29]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The First Wives Club at the Internet Movie Database
• First Wives Club -- The Musical