In an age when remakes are being churned out like assembly line cookies, the fact that writer/director Diane English got a modern retelling of the 1939 comedy classic The Women off the ground and into production is a huge accomplishment. In fact, English has been trying to put the film together for the past 14 years, with a lot of starts, stops and hurdles along the way plus with several different top name actress attached. English's journey to remake the 1939 film of the same name, starring Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, and Paulette Goddard, finally ended when The Women went into production with a cast that includes Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Candice Bergen, Jada Pinkett Smith, Carrie Fisher, and Bette Midler.

This week at the Toronto Film Festival, The Deadbolt was on hand at the film's press conference to listen to Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, and Annette Bening share their thoughts on their characters, politics, men, and the roles offered to women.

Eva Mendes on her character:

"You know, Diane [English] and I really talked about bringing some fun to Crystal Allen and we didn’t want to vamp her out and make her this evil woman with an arched eyebrow, we wanted to realize that she was just very desperate. She’s not a bad person, she’s just desperate, her time is running out, she wants a piece of the pie. She’s not like this husband stealer, she’s like, ‘Look, Mary Haines. You’ve had your fun, you’ve had money all of your life, you have your kid with this guy, you have your houses, let me have a piece of the pie for a few years. You’ll get him back, just let me have him for awhile. Let me get a piece of the pie.’ Because the acting thing wasn’t working out and, you know, spritzer - you know what I mean? So it was more like we came at her that way and I had more fun playing her that way.

Annette Bening on her character, Sylvia Fowler:

"It was fun to play a businesswoman, a woman who wasn’t a mother. And I know one of things Diane and I talked about - I really liked having a woman who was not conflicted about not having children. I liked that. I have friends now who haven’t had children, they’re so free. [laughs] They can go where they want. And I thought it would be refreshing, maybe, to have a woman who wasn’t torn about not having children. She really just didn’t want them."

Meg Ryan on the pressure her character feels to be perfect:

"I was so happy to do that scene. Because up until that moment in the movie, she’s just like a sleep-walking person. And Diane and I talked a lot about her transition in that movie about she’s somebody who’s life is falling apart all around her. She thinks it’s going perfectly, but she’s asleep to a lot of it. I like making her culpable in the way in that she’s not a perfect friend. Although she thinks she is, she’s not a perfect wife, although she thinks she is. She’s somebody who really isn’t coming through for herself or anybody else. And by that point in the movie, she’s just frustrated with the whole thing and just throws it all away."

Mendes on her character’s costumes and if they helped her get into the role:

"I would describe it as barely there, considering one scene is in a bathtub then one is in lingerie. So the lingerie scene, Diane and I, we really wanted to make sure she’s not a tramp. Well, I gotta say, she has a trampiness about her, because when we did costuming for that scene we could’ve gone - Like I could’ve given it to you in a Brazilian thong and it would’ve been really indecent. We didn’t do that because it was too obvious to go that way and it was also - again, she’s not that girl, slut, tramp. She’s not that girl, she’s actually much more calculated, which makes her more dangerous. So she knows that Steven Haines would probably not go for something - You know what I mean? So we tried for that one scene to make it a little classy, we didn’t show any midriff.

Mendes on seeing the original film:

Well, I’d seen it before. It was just a classic, so I’d seen it before. And then I knew people were going to kill as far as like - You know, I got a lot of questions today - ‘How was it to fill Joan Crawford’s shoes?’ And I’m like, ‘I didn’t try to fill shoes. Please don’t try to put that in my head,' because it’s nerve wracking. She’s Joan Crawford! My God, and she killed it as Crystal Allen. But you know it was one of those things where I didn’t allow the original to intimidate because that was its own thing and we were kind of doing our own thing. So I just appreciated it."

Annette Bening on having a female in the running for Vice President:

"I think that it’s exciting to see a woman chosen to be on a major ticket. The idea that people who voted for Hillary, who tend to be Democrats, would change and vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin seems to me, bizarre. I’m sure there are some women who only vote because they want to vote for a woman. I find that an odd idea, because, of course, Sarah Palin’s politics are right of McCain’s. She’s incredibly conservative and more. I think it’s a fair statement; more conservative than John McCain. So whether she will rally more conservative people to get out there and vote, I don’t know. But I don’t think that the people, I hope, the people that were going to vote for Hillary, and most of the people I know that were interested in voting for Hillary, are voting for Obama."

Meg Ryan on successful women in relationships who overshadow their husbands:

"I think it’s definitely something women deal with still. I think it’s men. I don’t want to generalize, but it feels like it’s easier to be more outwardly defined as a man than a woman. There are other - Women just find their value in a lot of other different ways. So when a woman is eclipsing a man out there in the marketplace or whatever, I think it definitely is trouble in a relationship. It’s something that needs to be coped with as intelligently as you can."

Eva Mendes on what frustrates her about the roles she’s offered:

"I think for me it’s a lack of range, because I think it’s one of these things. I would be an idiot to pass up this role, this opportunity to work with everybody, and also to be a total supporter. I was telling Diane earlier, I’m really excited for this premiere and it’s not just to see my girlfriends and wear pretty dresses. It’s to really support Diane because I don’t think I could’ve done - fourteen years, that’s just unbelievable you know. But anyway, back to me. So for me I feel like there’s a lack of range. It’s not like I don’t want to do these kinds of roles, they’re fun, and I get to work with amazing women, but I would just like more range. I want to get offered the same stuff Drew Barrymore gets offered, you know? I want to be considered for more American girl next door, not just...