The Women

The central character is clothing designer Mary Haines, who lives in a beautiful country home with her wealthy financier husband and their 11-year-old daughter Molly. Her best friend Sylvie Fowler is the editor of a prominent fashion magazine, a woman who dictates the latest in taste and style for New York City fashionistas. When Mary's husband becomes involved with Crystal Allen, a perfume salesgirl in Saks Fifth Avenue, her friendship with Sylvie is put to the test. Everyone in their close-knit circle of friends, including the ever-pregnant Edie Cohen and author Alex Fisher, begins to question their loyalty to each other and their romantic involvements.

In 1994, Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan agreed to co-produce and star in a contemporary version of the classic film written by Diane English and directed by James L. Brooks, with a supporting cast including Blythe Danner, Marisa Tomei, and Candice Bergen. Two years later, the first table reading of the script was held on the Sony Pictures lot. Despite the enthusiasm of everyone involved, the project stalled when Roberts and Ryan decided they wanted to play the same role. English spent the following year revising the screenplay, during which time Brooks dropped out to direct As Good as It Gets. Roberts also lost interest and moved on. English first entertained the idea of directing the film herself in 2001. Over the next few years, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Uma Thurman, Whitney Houston, and Queen Latifah were among those to express interest, although none were attached officially. After being turned down by every major Hollywood studio, English decided to develop the project as an independent film and approached Victoria Pearman, the president of Mick Jagger's production company, Jagged Films, who agreed to produce the film for Picturehouse. Upon its completion, it was shown to executives at Warner Bros., which had absorbed Picturehouse in the interim. Unimpressed, they put the film on the back burner until the box office success of Sex and the City convinced them there was an audience for an all-female film.

The film was shot on location in New York City and Georgetown, Gloucester, Sudbury, Medfield, and Boston in Massachusetts. In keeping with the all-female theme, all portraits and sculptures of men were replaced with those of women when scenes were shot in the Boston Public Library.

You can edit this page to add links to blogs, sites, and other information... If this page has a "PageType" set above - that will determine where the page is listed on SideReel. You can add text, a picture, links or more by editing the page... Check out the links above if you need help.