Celebrating THE FIRST WIVES CLUB!
HERE ARE SOME FUN FACTS ABOUT THE ICONIC FILM, WHICH TURNS 25 THIS MONTH
There are few films out there as quintessentially ’90s as The First Wives Club. With quick-witted one-liners, a power-suited wardrobe, outrageous opulence and a cast boasting the inimitable trio of Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler, the film is still a fiercely fun tale of female empowerment and eternal friendships.
With the cult favourite celebrating its 25th anniversary on September 20, WHO takes a look back on the hilarious comedy and some little known facts about the film.
MOVIE BOSSES HAD LITTLE FAITH When it was first released, there wasn’t a great deal of hope for the film. Though led by three of the most highly regarded actresses of their time, there was one thing in particular that made Hollywood think the comedy trio were a losing gamble: their age. Movie bosses were the biggest naysayers, believing audiences wouldn’t want to watch a film about three middle-aged women when they could see an action-packed Bruce Willis movie – Last Man Standing – instead. But The First Wives Club opened at number one at the box office, raked in over $143 million dollars in the US alone and became the 11th highest grossing movie of the year.
A SEQUEL WAS CANNED
Despite the film’s success, studios didn’t believe that could be recreated and were reluctant to do a sequel. And when they did come around to the idea, Hawn says that she and her fellow co-stars were forced to turn it down due to the dismal salaries they were offering. “Everyone took a cut in salary to do [the first film] so the studio could make what it needed,” the star said. “The movie was hugely successful … but two years later, when the studio came back with a sequel, they wanted to offer us exactly the same deal.” THE FINAL SCENE FLUKE
Looking back now, it’s not easy to imagine the film without the final musical number. Dancing down the street in their all-white ensembles belting out Lesley Gore’s ‘You Don’t Own Me’, the scene has become iconic in itself. But director Hugh Wilson previously admitted the team were at a loss of how to end the film right up until the last hour. “If we had never come up with that song, we’d probably still be sitting in the Lower East Side trying to figure it out,” he shared. “It’s a great song and the take we used was the last one, just as the sun was coming up out of the river. Goldie was coming down with the flu. And I think Bette broke two heels while shooting that scene.”
WHAT A CAST
Not only was the main trio a knockout, the accompanying cast were also unforgettable! Sarah Jessica Parker, Maggie Smith, Stockard Channing, Victor Garber, Dan Hedaya and Marcia Gay Harden all played a part in making the movie what it is today. Plus with guest appearances from Gloria Steinem and Ivana Trump, it’s no wonder the film took home a National Board of Review Award for Best Ensemble!
IVANA PAVED THE WAY
In the early ’90s, Ivana Trump became the ultimate first wife – after being dumped by Donald for a much younger Marla Maples in one of the biggest tabloid scandals of the time. So naturally, her cameo in The First Wives Club was a hit. “The studio had come up with a great slogan for the movie: ‘Don’t get mad, get everything,’” Wilson said of the guest appearance. “Then it was my idea to give that line to Ivana … it was worth a million bucks at the box office, in my opinion.” BEST FACE FORWARD
For her role as movie star Elise, Hawn needed to look like she had overdone it on the filler front. But the film’s makeup team didn’t want the actress to have to go through the real deal, so they came up with a solution to make it look like she’d gotten collagen in her lips by injecting saline into them. Hawn has since said it was so painful, that it put her off real collagen for life!
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When Gemma Chan stepped in front of the Palais des Festivals for her first-ever appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in July – the biggest red carpet event since the pandemic – she admits she was a little nervous. “I felt so out of practice and got butterflies. Not used to walking in heels either. I’ve been in elasticated waists,” she says with a laugh.
But the British actress, 38, will have to get used to being back in the spotlight. After she captivated audiences as the alluring Astrid in 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians, her career has been busier than ever. She plays super-powerful Sersi in Marvel’s highly anticipated Eternals, out in November, and stars with Harry Styles in the Olivia Wilde-directed psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, in theatres next year.
“I’m attracted to fully rounded, well-drawn threedimensional characters,” she
says. “I like messy women.” While Chan is grateful for her success, her road to stardom was a winding one. “I took a convoluted route to get to where I am,” she says. Growing up outside London, she was a competitive swimmer and accomplished violinist. She studied law in college, but after graduation she passed on a job offer from a law firm to try her luck at acting. Telling her parents – her dad, an engineer, grew up in Hong Kong, and her mum, an NHS worker, was born in China but raised in Scotland, where they met before moving to London – wasn’t easy. “I don’t come from a showbiz family,” she says. Her parents’ “humble beginnings” led them to worry whether she’d find work. “I had no idea of what pathway there would be,” she says. “But in the end I had to follow my heart.” Part of what made that path so uncertain: there were few Asian stars to look up to. “I had always done a lot of music and drama growing up [ but] never realised, partly because of the lack of representation, that I could have a career in the arts,” says Chan. One “huge inspiration” was Lucy Liu: “I thought she was incredible.” Chan worked as a model before seguing into acting. “At the beginning of my career, I did anything I was offered – one-line parts, guest roles – just to get more experience,” she says.
Eventually the work paid off and Hollywood took notice. “There’s something special about Gemma that the camera is just drawn to,” says Eternals producer Nate Moore. “She’s fantastic in not only delivering a performance but also getting performances out of her co-stars.”
Today Chan is using her platform to speak out against hate crimes (see box) and for more diversity on-screen. “Culture and representation matter because they affect real experiences of people in our communities and how they’re treated,” she says. “If you see it, you can imagine it.”
And while the world – and red carpets – may be returning to normal, she hopes to retain some lessons from lockdown. “It was quite nice to have some time in one place and to not be travelling every other day and being ships in the night,” she says of spending time with her boyfriend, Mamma Mia! actor Dominic Cooper, 43. “This time has really made me appreciate family and friends and the people who value you.”