Sally Field has revealed that she turned down the role of one of the iconic members of the First Wives Club.
The 79-year-old actress told Parade that she refused the role of Annie MacDuggan-Paradis in the 1996 comedy, explaining that while she “loved all those actors” in the movie, she had her reasons for turning down the film.
Field explained that she had concerns with the film’s plot. The movie, directed by Hugh Wilson and based on the novel of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith, followed three divorcées on a mission to get justice after each of their husbands left them for younger women.
“I have always had a problem with older women either wanting to get a date or looking to, like, you know, have more sex with their husband,” Field said. “I just feel like there’s more for women to say, so that was just never my cup of tea.”
Ultimately, the late Diane Keaton played the role of Annie, whose estranged husband has an affair with their couples counselor. The trio was rounded out by Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn.
“I would never have been as good,” Field said of Keaton. “I mean, it was absolutely right for Keaton—not for me.”
Field, a two-time Academy Award winner and three-time Emmy winner, also said she couldn’t have fulfilled one of the requirements for the role: singing. In the closing scene of the film, the trio belts out “You Don’t Own Me,” Lesley Gore’s 1963 hit, and dances on the streets. “I couldn’t have done that role,” Field told Parade, “because I don’t sing and they all do at the end.”
That same year, Field instead starred in Eye for an Eye, and directed the television film The Christmas Tree.
The First Wives Club went on to be a surprise commercial hit and was nominated for an Academy Award. The cast included several A-List faces, including Maggie Smith and Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as cameos by Ivana Trump, Gloria Steinem, and Edward I. Koch.
