Recalling her experiences at then all-female Vassar College, Meryl Streep has been quoted by a biographer: "I felt absolutely great in that atmosphere. And I blossomed. Suddenly, I felt accepted by the entire other half of the human race. From the time I entered college until now, I never felt the need to compete with anyone... I learned to believe in myself. I acquired a genuine sense of identity." 

In an interview about her role in The Majestic, Laurie Holden recalled being at an all girls school in Canada as "the best time" of her life. "I loved it because.. we wore our little sailor outfits. And we weren't allowed to wear makeup. So you just kind of fell out of bed and went to school. There was no fussing or worrying about vanity or any of that stuff. 

"And it was cool to excel. It was cool to be smart and it was cool to be athletic... it was the greatest environment for a girl to grow up in because she aspired to be the best in everything. 

"Mind you, I had no concept of how the world really was. When you're surrounded by girls for most of your life, when you don't have that constant interaction with men, you never really are taught or made to feel like you need to diminish your voice. ...

"I guess I just learned over the years to really embrace my voice and not feel like I need to downplay who I am or what I believe. I think that sometimes if a woman has a voice she's perceived as bitchy or headstrong rather than just being bright and articulate."

Commenting in an interview about the script's female focus for "How To Make An American Quilt" Anne Bancroft said in an interview "The unique thing is that it is women relating to women, women's needs, women's problems, women's worries, women's loves, all those things. We're always relating to men in movies, because men sort of dominate movies, so that's really quite marvelous." 

She also found "I find it very, very interesting, very comforting and very safe to be in a cast and working situation where it's all women." The director of the film, Jocelyn Moorhouse, says of her cast, "It was very emotional for me, because I'd admired all these women for quite a long time. It was sort of like a wish list from the golden age of American cinema." 

A number of actresses feel that women are simply more qualified to develop material about women's lives. Helen Hunt has commented, "It hasn't happened so much on my show ["Mad About You"], but on movies , I've sometimes felt like, Wow - this is written by a man. You can just feel it. The problem is that many things that are feminine are slightly deeper than words can describe. You come up against men sitting in a room, and you say, 'I know in my ovaries that this isn't right, I'll try to tell you why, but will you slow down enough to hear this?'" 

Many actresses and other gifted women have said they have found in the company of women on a film set a kind of safety and comfort that is releasing, that helps enhance their talents. It isn't a matter of having to work with men necessarily being negative. Dyan Cannon has commented she developed her skills as a director by asking questions of male directors of her films, and has acknowledged their support for her growing achievements: "If it weren't for the help of hundreds of men, I couldn't have done what I've done." 

Producer Sherry Lansing (chairman of the motion picture group at Paramount), referring to her partner Stanley Jaffe, has noted "We are able to bring my female sensibilities and his male sensibility to our films. In "Fatal Attraction" I was interested in jealousy. And Stanley was intrigued by every man's nightmare." 

Working on her female ensemble film "Bad Girls" (which also starred Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson and Andie MacDowell) during its first phase, Drew Barrymore has recalled "It was a totally unstable production. Nobody got along.. We'd be shooting a scene, like the four of us sitting around the table talking, supposedly relating like pals, and believe me, it sure wasn't like four best friends sitting around a table. It was four actresses." 

After a number of changes, including replacement of original director Tamra Davis by Jonathan Kaplan, and having spent months together, Barrymore said "All of a sudden, though, out there in Nowhereville, we all let all the stuff go. No more Hollywood bullshit. We were totally in character, totally struggling and we had to learn to become friends with each other and not be competitive. Thank God, you know, it happened, but believe me, it wasn't easy." 

Producer and co-star of "Now and Then" Demi Moore, referring to director Lesli Linka Glatter said "I knew I wanted the production to be a nurturing environment, and Lesli's enthusiasm, excitement and loving spirit were a big part of creating that." Another of the film's stars, Christina Ricci, was also drawn to the female camaraderie of the project: "I think it makes a difference having mostly women in the cast and on the crew. It really helped us relate with each other." 

Director Allison Anders notes that on two of her films - "Gas Food Lodging" and "Mi Vida Loca" - she consciously chose a particular style: "I purposefully wore dresses down to my ankles, because I really didn't want to be some kind of macho chick in a leather jacket. I don't mind being that the rest of the time, but I don't want that kind of energy on the set. The energy on my films was pretty much maternal. I've never been very comfortable with being authoritarian, not even with my children." 

Just because a director, for example, is female may not automatically make her better for actresses to work with, as Mary-Louise Parker has commented: "I find every director vastly different. I couldn't say that Jane Campion is different because she's a woman. If someone is strong and clear in what she does, then you're not going to notice her gender.. except that she might ask me where I got my pants." Actor Kristen Scott Thomas feels gender usually doesn't make any difference: "The boss is the boss." But other actresses feel there is an advantage for them working with a woman director; Lili Taylor has said "When I'm working with a guy, it's as if I were with my brothers, and the sister can't play ball with them. I find with females that I'm included a bit more." 

One of the most acclaimed directors of films about women's lives, Henry Jaglom, has commented that "It's easier to work with women because they are more forthcoming; the more a film is about women, the easier it is because the more willing and open the people, who are essentially what the film is about, are." He has also said that a set where a female is running the show "is going to be less competitive, and more sharing, more nurturing and more positive. Being a male, I've got plenty of other stuff going on that is not as positive.. The making of every film is different. I can't say it's different because one is more women-oriented, because I'm very woman-oriented. All my films have a very female base because I've got a very female base." 

A more female working environment may provide a greater sense of safety and encouragement in many ways for many women. Actress Suzy Amis says she finds even meeting with a woman scriptwriter or director is a different experience: "You let your defenses down too. You're not having to deal with sexuality for the most part." But there are exceptions; actress Martha Plimpton has noted that sexual harassment is still rampant in Hollywood, and has revealed that she has experienced sexual harassment from a woman; "It didn't have anything to do with the fact that she was attracted to me. It was a power trip." 

Penelope Ann Miller has noted that women may not deal with competition as well, and that can affect working relationships: "I think men are conditioned at a very young age because of sports to learn how to deal with competition. I think women can be horribly jealous and catty and nasty and vicious. I know I've been guilty of that. As an actor you're being criticized every time you take a new job. It's negative energy." 

Though she noted in a 1996 magazine interview there wasn't really a part for her, Michelle Pfeiffer said she would have liked to have been in "American Quilt": "I envied all those women working together." Referring to an earlier film in which she did work, Pfeiffer noted she had "never felt that kind of backbiting, manipulative competition with other actresses that a lot of people think exists. I sometimes think they tried to divide and conquer us on "The Witches of Eastwick." But the exact opposite happened. We really banded together: the three of us and Jack.. Women in the business can be very supportive of each other." 

Sally Field has commented in magazine interviews that she feels "Actresses and other women in the industry need to have contact with each other. Not to tell sob stories, but to kick each other in the butt creatively.. I'm hungry to know more women who are interesting - women in various stages of their lives, young and middle and older. To know what they go through, and what life is like for them, because it helps me figure out my own life now." 

Reportedly frustrated with the stereotypical roles she was finding as an actress, Julianna Lavin wrote and directed "Live Nude Girls" as a film by, for and about women - in particular showing how women talk with each other when men are not present. Shot with a mostly female crew, and starring six actresses, the film has a feel of a documentary shot with hidden cameras. 

Director Lavin has commented in an interview that it was a unique kind of set: "There's a specific kind of energy that happens when a room only has women in it." While appreciating Lavin's script and working with "such a supportive and collaborative group", Kim Cattrall (one of the leads) also says she was "really nervous" during rehearsal because of relating so intensely to her character. 

One of the issues for a film so specifically focused on women's lives and conversations is marketing, as noted by producer Denise DiNovi: "Women's movies are tough to get made even if they're not about sex. Women go to see men's movies, but men never go to see women's movies." 

One of the exceptions to that generalization is screenwriter Richard LaGravenese ("The Bridges of Madison County", "A Little Princess"), who is writing Barbra Streisand's new film "The Mirror Has Two Faces" and says "I just really have an affinity for women. Watching them go through journeys is more interesting to me than watching men." 

Producer Kathleen Kennedy says she is really irritated by the label "woman's picture" and notes she was involved with "The Bridges of Madison County", which "became known as a woman's film. I know a lot of men who like that movie. But it had to be labeled." 

She says about the notably sensitive and generous way her production company (formed with her husband Frank Marshall) operates, "It's that classic thing of, 'Are women more sensitive, nurturing, generous?' I've never really analyzed whether or not I'm doing that or reacting to something because I'm a woman. On the other hand, having worked with so many men, I take it for granted that it's the right thing to do, and they don't. Maybe it is female." 

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   sources

Amis: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1996.

Anders: personal interview.

Bancroft: "American Quilt": studio production notes on CompuServe, 1996.

Barrymore: Movieline, April, 1994.

Cannon: People Magazine, Spring, 1991.

Cattrall: Venice, December, 1995.

DiNovi: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1996.

Field 1: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1993.

Field 2: InStyle, February, 1995.

Holden: Venice magazine - venicemag.com interview, 2001

Hunt: US, October, 1994.

Jaglom: personal interview

Kennedy: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1996.

LaGravenese: Movieline, April, 1996.

Lansing: People Magazine, Spring, 1991.

Lavin: Movieline, Feb., 1996.

Miller: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1996.

Moore: Entertainment Drive on CompuServe.

Moorhouse: "American Quilt": studio production notes on CompuServe.

Parker: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1996.

Pfeiffer 1: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1996.

Pfeiffer 2 ("Witches") Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1993.

Plimpton: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1996.

Ricci: Entertainment Drive on CompuServe.

Scott Thomas: Premiere, special issue,Women in Hollywood, 1996.

Streep: book: Diana Maychick, "Meryl Streep: The Reluctant Superstar".

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