A remake of George Cukor's 1939 film, The Women, starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, will arrive in theaters this October. The new version, helmed by "Murphy Brown" writer-producer Diane English, will have Meg Ryan playing the Norma Shearer role, Annette Bening filling the Rosalind Russell role, and -- weirdest of all -- Eva Mendes taking over Joan Crawford's role.
This isn't the first remake, though; in 1956, The Opposite Sex, based off of the same Clare Boothe Luce play, was released. Starring June Allyson and Joan Allen, the film went on to earn a Golden Globe nomination. It went no further than that, though.
Is a contemporary version of this film really necessary? This new version has, apparently, been in production for 13 years. Will it be worth the wait?
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Yeah, this idea has been floating around for a long time...I think Ryan is the only one who has always been attached (if memory serves me right). Not to be catty, but a lot the women in the cast just don't have box office pull and appear to be from gone by eras. Not that I'd want a remake with Jessica Alba or something, but if they had, say, la Blanchett taking over the Crawford role, and ladies like Thandie Newton, Julianne Moore, Emma Thompson, etc., I'd be far more excited about its prospects; but as it stands, I can only summon a "meh."
I mean, Mendes has neither the talent nor the box office appeal to fill in for Joan Crawford, who had incredible stage presence. Annette Bening, as you well know, has not been impressing me as of late, and Meg Ryan is sort of stuck in this genre.
I just don't know that there's a real urgency in the general public to see this film. But, I'll admit, it's been a long time since we've seen an all-female ensemble, so kudos there, I guess.
So true...there's a serious lack of female ensemble films as of late. Looking at this decade alone, I can only come up with "8 Femmes." How sad is that?
The Devil Wears Prada is pretty female driven. Aaaand... Baby Mama. Little Children's two top-billed stars were Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly.
That's all I've got, haha.
I fully expect this to be a full blown disaster, k. But I MAY go depending on what I hear at the time. It will depend on word of mouth, reviews and clips/trailers I see.
I like the original film. I'm rather fond of The Opposite Sex actually. It was fun and seemed to riff on its own potential campiness. I especially LOVED Joan Collins as Crystal. You could tell that she really dug being vital and vampy in that. I always thought that Joan was a much better actor than people gave her credit for. When she had that big resurgence in the 80s, apparently all people really wanted to talk about were her lovers and her marriages. I'd rather hear about the work, thank you very much...
But, yeah, I prefer Ms. Collins to Ms. Crawford in a heartbeat.
But that's just me...
Count me out.
Don't F with a classic. All I'm saying.
I'm with you there, craig.
Besides F-ing with a classic (to borrow Craig's term), it's difficult to imagine how this film could be remade and set in a contemporary time period.
Withholding judgment for now, just to be fair, but Meg Ryan?
Welcome, Pierre!!! So nice to see you here :)
I echo the sentiment regarding Ms. Ryan...especially in a film like "The Women" with all the alpha females. So, yeah, I'll firmly stand by my "meh" reaction to the project.
pierre -- IMDB has got a whole bunch of pictures up... it looks as though it's just a bunch of women with designer handbags, fancy cell phones, and lapdogs. This is "modernizing," apparently. There's really no way they can build on or improve the themes of the original, so what they're doing instead is giving the women fancy gadgets and sending them out into the world.
"it looks as though it's just a bunch of women with designer handbags, fancy cell phones, and lapdogs. This is "modernizing," apparently."
LMAO. Sounds like "Sex and the City" meets "The Devil Wears Prada." "The Sex Devil Wears Prada in the City"
Ha, that's exactly what it sounds like!
I hope it is good - but I am doubtful.
I hope it is good - but I am doubtful.
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