Somewhere between district attorney and Driving Miss Daisy (1989), the three stars of this raucous 1996 comedy proved that women of a certain age could not only carry a picture but also rise to the top at the box office. Released the same weekend as Michael Douglas' highly touted African safari adventure The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), The First Wives Club surprised industry insiders by claiming the week's top box-office spot with three female stars: Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler. During her Diva Las Vegas tour and HBO special, Midler even joked about "three lyin' old bags" beating out "Michael Douglas bagging an old lion."
In a late-20th-century Hollywood dominated by male executives, male-oriented stories were believed to be the only sure bets at the box office. Yet there had certainly been significant female-driven hits, including Hawn's Private Benjamin (1980) and Death Becomes Her (1992), Midler's Ruthless People (1986) and Beaches (1988) and Keaton's Baby Boom (1987), not to mention Steel Magnolias (1989), The Joy Luck Club (1993) and Waiting to Exhale (1995). In most cases, female-oriented films, that made money at the box office, particularly when the stars were older women or women of color, were viewed as flukes. With that kind of thinking, most of Hollywood was taken by surprise when The First Wives Club became not just a hit, but something of a cult film.
The three stars play college classmates who've been out of touch but reunite at the funeral for a friend who committed suicide after her husband left her and remarried. Finding that each of them has also recently separated from her husband, they join forces in search of revenge, setting the stage for a series of hilarious confrontations. Key among them are Midler's run-ins with her ex (Dan Hedaya) and his social climbing mistress (Sarah Jessica Parker).
Drawing on her own divorce experience and stories she heard from her friends, the novel's author, Olivia Goldsmith, fantasized about what would happen if they joined forces to get back at the husbands who had become successes with their help. After quitting her job and going into debt to write her first novel, Goldsmith couldn't find a publisher, so she shopped it around Hollywood. It generated a bidding war won by independent producer Sherry Lansing. That also landed Goldsmith a publisher, and The First Wives Club came out in 1992.
When Lansing stepped in as head of Paramount Pictures, she passed the project on to Scott Rudin, who hired Robert Harling, the author ofSteel Magnolias, to write the script. Paul Rudnick did the final re-write when Harling left to write and direct the Terms of Endearment (1983) sequel, The Evening Star (1996). Rudnick had so little faith in the film he asked that his work not be credited. He would later reveal to The New York Times that Rudin had told him to sacrifice coherence in order to give the three stars more jokes: "To figure out the structure of that movie would require an undiscovered Rosetta Stone." Under Rudin's guidance, Harling and Rudnick had taken only the basic situation and some names from Goldsmith's novel while pushing for broader humor and a more conciliatory ending.
Australian P.J. Hogan, who had written and directed Muriel's Wedding (1994), was the first person approached to direct, but he was already committed to another project. Instead, the job went to Hugh Wilson, a TV writer and director best known for the series WKRP in Cincinnati and Frank's Place, for which he had won a writing Emmy. The first of the three stars cast was Keaton, who had worked with Rudin on Mrs. Soffel (1984) and had recently signed to star for him in Marvin's Room (1996). Midler read for aging film star Elise, but instead was offered the role of Brenda, whose wisecracks fit Midler's comedy style better. Originally Jessica Lange was approached to play Elise. Then Rudin opted for a more glamorous approach to the role and offered it to Goldie Hawn.
Rudin assembled a powerful supporting cast, including Eileen Heckart, in her final feature role, as Keaton's mother; Maggie Smith as a society friend who helps the stars out; Rob Reiner in a cameo as Hawn's plastic surgeon; Broadway stars Victor Garber, Stockard Channing, Philip Bosco, James Naughton and Debra Monk; comedienne Lea DeLaria; Timothy Olyphant, making his film debut as a director considering Hawn for her first mother role; and, as themselves, Kathie Lee Gifford, Gloria Steinem, Ed Koch and Ivana Trump. When Rudin mentioned to Wilson that Paramount's marketing department planned to advertise the film with "Don't get mad, get everything," Wilson gave the line to Trump. It always got the biggest laugh in the film's previews.
As location filming in New York was drawing to a close, Rudin and Wilson were still unhappy with the ending. They couldn't come up with the right way to button the comic action. Earlier, Wilson had suggested using Lesley Gore's 1964 hit "You Don't Own Me" somewhere in the film. Rudin suggested using it to give the picture a big musical finish. It was one of the hits of the film and brought Gore back into the spotlight 14 years after she had recorded her next-to-last album (she would do her final album in 2005).
The film's first cut was entirely too long. Wilson held talk backs after previews to determine what worked for the audience and what didn't. He ended up cutting about 40 minutes, including an entire subplot featuring Jon Stewart as Hawn's younger lover. The newer, tighter film played much better in previews. Still, with its cast of older actresses, nobody was expecting it to take the top box office slot for its premiere week. It remained number one for three weeks, eventually grossing $181 million on its $30 million investment. Although it was met with mixed reviews, it scored an Oscar nomination for Marc Shaiman's score and the National Board of Review award for Best Acting by an Ensemble.
With such a success record, a sequel would have seemed natural, and the three stars were eager to reunite. Paramount executives, however, considered the film's box office performance a fluke and would not do a sequel unless the three stars agreed to work for the same fees. That was unheard of for performers in hit of The First Wives Club's magnitude, so the plan fell through. Over the years, rumors of a sequel persisted, with Rudnick allegedly working on a new script in 2004. Netflix announced work on a sequel in 2016, but the script has yet to meet approval. Recently, however, Hawn, Midler and Keaton announced they would reunite for a different film, Family Jewels, currently in pre-production.
The First Wives Club has seen continued life in other ways, however. A stage musical based on the film opened at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in 2009 with songs by Motown's legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland team. A new adaptation opened in Chicago in 2015. TV Land greenlit the pilot for a TV version re-set in San Francisco with Alyson Hannigan, Megan Hilty and Vanessa Lachey starring but decided not to take it to series. Instead, BET debuted its own version in 2019 with Jill Scott starring. That version was recently renewed for a second season.
Producer: Scott Rudin
Director: Hugh Wilson
Screenplay: Robert Harling, Paul Rudnick (uncredited)
Based on the novel by Olivia Goldsmith
Cinematography: Donald Thorin
Score: Marc Shaiman
Cast: Goldie Hawn (Elise Elliot Atchison), Bette Midler (Brenda Morelli Cushman), Diane Keaton (Annie MacDuggan Paradis), Maggie Smith (Gunilla Garson Goldberg), Sarah Jessica Parker (Shelly Stewart), Dan Hedaya (Morton Cushman), Stockard Channing (Cynthia Swann Griffin), Victor Garber (Bill Atchison), Stephen Collins (Aaron Paradis), Elizabeth Berkley (Phoebe LaVelle), Marcia Gay Harden (Dr. Leslie Rosen), Bronson Pinchot (Duarto Feliz), Eileen Heckart (Catherine MacDuggan), Philip Bosco (Uncle Carmine), Rob Reiner (Dr. Morris Packman), James Naughton (Gilbert Griffin), Ivana Trump, Kathie Lee Gifford, Gloria Steinem, Ed Koch (Themselves), Lea DeLaria (Elise's Fan), Debra Monk (Jilted Lover), Timothy Olyphant (Brett Artounian), J.K. Simmons (Federal Marshal), Heather Locklear (Gil Griffin's New Wife), Hugh Wilson (Commercial Director), Olivia Goldsmith (Funeral Attendee)
By Frank Miller
