Actress Debra Messing ready for 'The Women'

"The Women," which began as a Broadway hit in 1936 starring, among others, Arlene Francis and Marjorie Main, is probably more famous for its popular reincarnation as a major 1939 film by MGM directed by George Cukor and starring a who's who of that Hollywood studio's leading ladies such as Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Paulette Goddard, Rosalind Russell, Hedda Hopper, Joan Fontaine and Butterfly McQueen all joining Main, who reprised her stage role. Filmed in black and white, the film is still considered ground-breaking because it included a 10-minute sequence shot in Technicolor of a department store fashion show featuring designs by the famed Adrian. (This part, usually cut in the late, late show airings, has now been restored by Ted Turner.) The great F. Scott Fitzgerald even wrote the film's screenplay. The movie's 130 roles are all played by women and even all of the animals,from dogs to horses, used in the film are female.

Now that the NBC hit "Will&Grace" has left the small screen and had its final bows, actress Debra Messing has joined the cast of a big screen remake of "The Women." She'll co-star with Meg Ryan, Ashley Judd, Annette Benning, Uma Thurman and Sandra Bullock, with Diane English directing the picture, which will be released next year.