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4.0 Sequel and stage adaptation

4.1 Sequel

4.2 On stage

5.0 Awards and nominations

5.1 Wins

5.2 Nominations

6.0 References

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The First Wives Club Wiki Information

The First Wives Club is a 1996 comedy film, based on the same-titled 1992 best-selling 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 as the husbands, and Sarah Jessica Parker, Marcia Gay Harden and Elizabeth Berkley as their lovers, with Maggie Smith and Stockard Channing playing key supporting roles. Scott Rudin produced and Hugh Wilson directed; the film was distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Despite generally lukewarm critical reactions, ^[1] the film became a surprise box-office hit following its North American release, eventually grossing $181,490,000 worldwide, mostly from its domestic run. Even developing a cult following among middle-aged women, ^[2] the actresses' highest-grossing project of the decade helped revitalize their careers in film and television. Composer Marc Shaiman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score, while Hawn was awarded a Blockbuster Entertainment Award and both Midler and Parker received Satellite Award nominations for their portrayal. ^[3]

THE FIRST WIVES CLUB TICKETS

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Plot

At Middlebury College in the 1960s, four friends, Elise Elliot (Goldie Hawn), Brenda Cushman (Bette Midler), Annie Paradis (Diane Keaton), and Cynthia Griffin (Stockard Channing), are graduating. As gifts, Cynthia presents the girls with matching pearl necklaces.

Decades later, Cynthia commits suicide when her husband divorces her for a much younger woman. Her former friends aren’t doing much better: Brenda is divorced, left for a younger woman, depressed, and struggling financially. Elise, also divorced also for a younger woman, is now an aging alcoholic movie star who has become a plastic-surgery addict to keep her career afloat. Annie, meanwhile, is separated and going through therapy with her husband. Shortly after the funeral, at which the three friends are reunited for the first time since college, Annie’s husband Aaron (Stephen Collins) leaves her for a younger woman (her therapist) and asks her for a divorce; Brenda has a rather nasty encounter at a store with her ex Morty (Dan Hedaya) and his younger and rather hateful mistress Shelly (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Elise finds out that her new director wants her for a role as a mother. Feeling that they are being shafted by their husbands, the women start up the First Wives Club, aiming to get revenge on their exes. Annie’s lesbian daughter Chris (Jennifer Dundas) also gets in on the plot by working at her father’s advertising agency so she can supply her mother with information.

Brenda finds out through her uncle Carmine (Philip Bosco) who has Mafia connections that Morty is guilty of income tax fraud, while Annie makes a plan to buy out Aaron’s partners. However, as their plan moves through, things start to fall apart when they find out that Elise’s ex Bill (Victor Garber) has no checkered past and nothing for them to use. Brenda and Elise hurl insults at each other, and the women drift apart. When Annie starts thinking about closing down the First Wives Club, her friends come back, saying that they want to see this to the end… and they now have dirt on Bill: his mistress (Elizabeth Berkley) is a minor.

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. The movie ends with a celebration at the new women’s center. Annie narrates that Elise started a relationship with a cast member in her new play, that Brenda and Morty reconciled their differences and got back together, and that when Aaron tried to get back together with her, Annie, she told him to "drop dead.”

Development

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. ^[4] "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." 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": ^[5] "To figure out the structure of that movie would require an undiscovered Rosetta Stone," he told The New York Times . ^[6]

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. ^[7] 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. Actor Mandy Patinkin dropped out shortly before shooting start and was replaced by Stephen Collins when he decided to leave the project in favour of his musical ambitions, ^[8] while Dan Hedaya won the role of Morty over Hector Elizondo. ^[9] Elizabeth Berkley only took her part to "work with the best actresses around," and Timothy Olyphant, who had impressed with local stage work, made his screen debut as director Brett Artounian in the film.

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. ^[10] 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. ^[11]

Production

Principal photography took place over three months at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York City between December 4, 1995, ^[12] and March 19, 1996. ^[13] Among the 60 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, as well as the Chrysler Building, the NoHo neighborhood, both the 5th and the 7th Avenue, the Riverside Drive, and the Central Park. ^[14]

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." ^[15]

Cast

Major ensemble

Diane Keaton as Annie MacDuggan Paradis , the vehicle for the film's sporadic voice-over; an anxious and slightly neurotic housewife, saddled with self-esteem problems, attempting to save her marriage with estranged husband Aaron - much to her lesbian daughter's dismay.
Bette Midler as Brenda Morelli Cushman , as a wise-cracking Sicilian/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 alimony and insisting that all of their joint assets be sold and the profits divided between them.
Stephen Collins as Aaron Paradis , Annie's conflicted husband and CEO of an advertising agency, who leaves his wife for their 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 is the therapist for both Annie and Aaron. Leslie has been "helping" Annie with her self-esteem problems.
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. Elise discovers that she is sixteen years old.
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 leader, also a first wife.
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.

Sequel and stage adaptation

Sequel

For years there have been rumors of a sequel of the film. ^[16] 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 in 2003, Keaton expressed her readiness to appear in a second film. ^[17] A year later, writer Paul Rudnick reportedly started writing a draft, entitled Avon Ladies of the Amazon , ^[18] and in 2005, Midler confirmed to USAToday that there was indeed a manuscript but that "the strike kept it from happening." ^[19] 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: "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." ^[20]

On stage

A musical stage version of the film, The First Wives Club – The Musical , opened at The Old Globe in San Diego on July 17, 2009, in previews, through August 23, 2009, ^[21]prior to a projected Broadway engagement. The book is by Rupert Holmes, with a score by the "one-time only reunited" Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team from 1960s Motown soul music fame. Francesca Zambello is directing. ^[22] ^[23]The creators and Zambello were engaged for the project in 2006. ^[24]An industry reading of the musical was held in February 2009, with principals Ana Gasteyer, Carolee Carmello and Adriane Lenox. ^[25]

The principal cast originally included Karen Ziemba as Annie, Adriane Lenox as Elyse, Barbara Walsh as Brenda, John Dossett as Aaron, Kevyn Morrow as Bill, Brad Oscar as Morty, Sara Chase as Trophy Wife, and Sam Harris as Duane. The choreographer is Lisa Stevens, with scenic design by Peter J. Davison, and costume design by Paul Tazewell. ^[26] On June 16, 2009, Lenox dropped out of the production due to health concerns and was replaced by Sheryl Lee Ralph. ^[27] ^[28] The production's tryout received mixed to unenthusiastic reviews. ^[29]

Awards and nominations

Wins

National Board of Review Awards : Best Acting by an Ensemble
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards : Favorite Actress - Comedy (Goldie Hawn)
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards : Top Box Office Films (Marc Shaiman)

Nominations

Academy Awards : Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (Marc Shaiman)
Artios Awards : Best Casting for Feature Film, Comedy (Ilene Starger)
Satellite Awards : Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (Bette Midler), Best Supporting Actress - Musical or Comedy (Sarah Jessica Parker)