I Could Never Be Your Woman

For songs prominently featuring the lyric "I could never be your woman", see Your Woman and Never Be Your Woman.

I Could Never Be Your Woman
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Amy Heckerling
Produced by	Scott Rudin Twink Caplan
Written by	Amy Heckerling
Starring	Michelle Pfeiffer Paul Rudd Sarah Alexander Stacey Dash Jon Lovitz Fred Willard Saoirse Ronan Tracey Ullman
Studio	Bauer Martinez Studios
Distributed by	The Weinstein Company
Release date(s)	February 12, 2008 (2008-02-12)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$24 million
Box office	$9,576,495

I Could Never Be Your Woman is a 2007 American romantic comedy film directed and written by Amy Heckerling and starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd. The film was released on May 11 in Spain, July 18 in Belgium, September 14 in Brazil, September 20 in Greece and October 19 in Taiwan. The film was not released theatrically in the United States, instead going direct to DVD on February 12, 2008. It was also sent straight to DVD in Italy (February 6), the UK (July 14), Finland (August 6), Australia, Iceland (both August 27) and Germany (December 11). It was also went direct to DVD on February 1, 2011 in France.

Plot

Rosie (Michelle Pfeiffer), a scriptwriter for a TV show, falls for a younger man, Adam (Paul Rudd), while her daughter Izzie (Saoirse Ronan) falls in love for the first time herself. Meanwhile, the narrator, Mother Nature (Tracey Ullman), discusses their fates with Rosie.

Cast

• Michelle Pfeiffer as Rosie Hanson
• Paul Rudd as Adam Pearl
• Saoirse Ronan as Izzie Mensforth
• Tracey Ullman as Mother Nature
• Jon Lovitz as Nathan Mensforth
• Sarah Alexander as Jeannie
• Fred Willard as Marty Watkin
• Stacey Dash as Brianna Minx
• Yasmin Paige as Melanie
• O. T. Fagbenle as Sean
• Twink Caplan as Sissy
• Henry Winkler as himself

A number of British comedy actors have roles in the film, including David Mitchell, Mackenzie Crook, Steve Pemberton, Olivia Colman, Phil Cornwell and Sarah Alexander, as well as Irish comedy actors Graham Norton and Ed Byrne.

Production

Heckerling's inspiration for I Could Never Be Your Woman came from her own personal life as a single mother raising a young daughter during the making of the Clueless TV show. According to Missy Schwartz in an Entertainment Weekly article on the film, "Every day, she felt increasingly ambivalent about working in an industry that promotes unrealistic standards of beauty for young girls and considers women over 40 to be prehistoric beasts."

Heckerling sent her script for Woman to Paramount Pictures, but the studio was unnerved into backing a film about an older female protagonist. The script eventually went into the hands of independent producer Phillipe Martinez of Bauer Martinez Entertainment, and the film was picked up with a $25 million budget.

Principal photography began on August 2005 and ended later in the year. Although many scenes were shot in California, others were shot in London, England to take advantage of tax incentives. In order to cut production costs even further, Martinez suggested to Michelle Pfieffer to take a reduced salary ($1 million, plus 15% of the gross).

Release

Bauer Martinez signed a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to distribute the film theatrically, and The Weinstein Company for DVD and non-pay TV distribution rights. MGM, however, backed out upon learning about Pfieffer's share in the film's revenue. After Bauer Martinez failed to find a theatrical distributor, it ended up going straight to video.

Reception

According to Rotten Tomatoes, 60% of critics gave the film a positive review (out of 10 reviews) with an average rating of 5.5/10.

External links

• I Could Never Be Your Woman at the Internet Movie Database
• I Could Never Be Your Woman at AllRovi
• I Could Never Be Your Woman at Box Office Mojo