Why did Judy Davis replace Jane Fonda in Woody Allen Husbands & Wives?

Anyone know?

• Nobody knows why?

• Jane refused to change her hairstyle for the movie. Seriously. No wonder this bimbo is treated as a demigod on Datalounge. Davis is far the better actor, in any event (Woody Allen himself thinks she's the best actress he's ever worked with).

• Davis also blew Woody in her town car, and wiped the lipstick and other smear up with his handkerchief, and said, handing it back to him, "Why don't we call this a replicable annendum to the contract, Liebling?"

• Both Judy Davis and Jane Fonda have played Lillian Hellman on screen.

• Cause Jane is a worthless CUNT

• Jane was too busy providing comfort to the enemy.

• Jane would have been better in that part than Judy Davis

• Shut up about jane. She's a national treasure. Judy Davis is a god. There's room for both in our little gay hearts.

• Up for R8's lovely remark. I'd date him (R8).

• R8 you do know that Judy Davis is responsible for River Phoenix suicide

• River Phoenix was responsible for River Phoenix's suicide.

• River Phoenix didn't commit suicide. He was a drug addict who overdosed in front of Jonny Depp's nightclub.

• I'd help you, R9.

• Perhaps Woody wanted a much more mannered performance. I'm not being a cunt. Judy's work in Husbands and Wives is extremely stilted in a singularly droll, neurotic and ingenious way. I'm not sure Fonda, whom I also greatly admire, could have achieved anything like it. The first time I saw the movie I couldn't stand Davis in it, but on repeated viewings, I've grown to admire her performance and to give her a great deal of credit for going to such extremes.

• I think r14 nailed it.

• I think "Husbands and Wives" is so overrated! It's miserably grim, uncomfortable and if I wanted to see dull suburban types argue bitterly, I could go visit my parents.

• She wouldn't do the scene with anal in it

• There was a line where her husband is yelling at her and he says - "You used to be so beautiful, but now you're ugly!" Jane just couldn't bring herself to play it. She remembered how her dear friend Mae West had them change a line in the song "Love Will Keep Us Together" when she made Sextette. Instead of "Young and beautiful, someday your looks will be gone" Mae had it changed to "Young and beautiful, your looks [bold]will never[/bold] be gone. Jane felt Woody should make a similar compromise.

• Perhaps Woody Allen wanted someone more age appropriate, after all.

• "Mae West had them change a line in the song "Love Will Keep Us Together" when she made Sextette. Instead of "Young and beautiful, someday your looks will be gone" Mae had it changed to "Young and beautiful, your looks will never be gone." Well, it would be ridiculous for an 80 something year old actress to be singing about being young and beautiful for just a little while longer, now wouldn't it?

• " it would be ridiculous for an 80 something year old actress to be singing about being young and beautiful for just a little while longer, now wouldn't it?" Yeah--that's what would have made "Sextette" ridiculous.

• More importantly, why was Emily Lloyd replaced with Juliette Lewis?

  Emily

• Allen was totally impressed with her performance in the film 'Wish You Were Here'. He cast her without even a reading or a screen test of any sort (which is what he usually does). He did warn her agents that she had to master an American accent, and it had to be prefect by the time filming started up. She had about three months to prepare. However by the time she arrived on set, Emily Lloyd could not master an American accent. Even the hiring of an on-set dialogue coach, didn't help. After viewing the dallies, Allen felt he had no choice but to replace her.

• Thank you r23! So it wasn't because they didn't get along or because of her acting skills.

• The scene with Judy Davis thinking about hedgehogs or foxes is worth the price of admission.

• Jane Fonda has two Oscars, Judy Davis is a three-time Oscar loser. Jane would have wiped Judy Davis on the floor with her performance as Sally.

• I am glad to hear that Emily Lloyd story. At the time we all just thought it was because Emily Lloyd was a nut-job.

• Judy Davis and mannered don't go together. Some of her performances might have been better than Fonda's, but Fonda is more consistent. Davis has given some truly terrible, borderline unwatchable work.

• Wasn't Mia supposed to do the part before the break-up?

• Wood Allen always casts the latest flavor of the month, except he is usually a few years late. I guarantee you that in a couple of years he'll make a film with Rooney Mara.

• Jane Fonda is such a terrible actress that I am shocked that anyone would want to see her in anything. Her weird jaw tension makes every character (even Barbarella) sound like the repressed daughter of Thurston Howell.

• Judy Davis is the latest flavor of the month, r30? Kind of an odd thing to say about a world class actress with a career spanning 5 decades, no? With due respect to the achievements of both actresses, it's a particularly odd statement to make in a thread about Davis, with her long and quite serious career, replacing Fonda, who was megastar of a decade (and a half) and then more or less withdrew from acting.

• [quote]Judy Davis is the latest flavor of the month, [R30]? Kind of an odd thing to say about a world class actress with a career spanning 5 decades, no? I was referring to the young actors in his films (Scarlett Johansson, Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Rhys Meyers) though Judy Davis can fit into this theory because she was very "in" here in the US around that time, early to late 90s and not so much since then. American filmmakers have that "in love" moment with a lot of foreign actors and then it fizzles out (or maybe the actors can't be bothered with Hollywood-ising their careers). What I wanted to say is that Allen casts actors actresses with recent recognition and fame (though he is always a bit late in the game). Anyway, I'm not sure I can explain this, but I find his casting very predictable.

  30

• Because I know! Because I do…..

  J.%20Davis

• Hilary Swank also has two Oscars, R26. Are you saying that she is a better actress than Davis, or Laura Linney or Glenn Close? Somehow, I can't see Hils in the Davis part.

• R30 was referring to Emily Lloyd as 'flavor of the month' when she was cast in Husbands & Wives. Unfortunately she didn't work out and was replaced by another 'flavor of the month' Juliette Lewis.

• LOL R34! But remember... DON'T DEFEND YOUR SEX!!!!!

• Judy Davis kicked ASS in the Coens' BARTON FINK.

  "you see, Bill and I are...in love..."

• Woody realized there was too much scenery and he need someone to chew it.

• "More importantly, why was Emily Lloyd replaced with Juliette Lewis?" Juliette Lewis gives the best performance in the movie.

• R40, Are you kidding? She's grating in the movie ... and this is coming from someone who thinks she gave a stellar performance in "Cape Fear".

• She gave a stellar OSCAR NOMINATED performance in "Cape Fear".

• I'm not kidding. I can understand one finding Lewis's character grating, but that doesn't mean that her character wasn't appealing to Woody Allen or that she wasn't totally convincing in the role, as I, for one, found her to be. For Christ's sake, Davis is also excellent in the movie and she's the quintessence of grating.

• R43, I respect your opinion - I just found her a little too worldly and long-in-the-tooth for the role. I didn't find her character particularly well written, either. For me, the standouts are Judy and Mia.

  R41

• I agree, Juliette is the worst part of the film.

• I respect your opinion as well but as for worldly she's playing a college student from an upper middle class Manhattan intellectual family. As for "long in the tooth," Lewis was 19 and playing a college student. How long in the tooth could she have been? Especially since you loved her in "Cape Fear," made only a year earlier, in which she played a high school student.

• R46, I liked her in "Cape Fear" because she was believable as a naive, young girl. In H&W, she comes across as too mature and knowing for a freshman. Her actual age has nothing to do with it. In fact, I think it has more to do with how Woody wrote the role. He can't convincingly write ingenues. Anyways, Judy and Mia are what people remember about this film.

  R44

• Wonder how different it would be if Emily Lloyd stayed in the role. She change the character from American to a British exchange student.

• I wish we could hear Jane's side of the story.

• I thought that she wAS hilarious in H&W

• Judy Davis won three out of the four major critics awards that year (Miranda Richardson won the other one) I wonder if Jane would have won the Oscar, instead of Marisa Tomei, had she played the part.