Originally set up by Joe Roth (then head of 20th Century Fox) as a star vehicle for Madonna, who pulled out when scheduling conflicts arose with her role in Abel Ferrera's Dangerous Game (1993). Joan Allen, Kim Basinger, Halle Berry, Sherilyn Fenn, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Helen Hunt, Demi Moore, Kathy Najimy, Tatum O'Neal, Daryl Hannah, Meryl Streep, Marisa Tomei and Sela Ward were then considered before the part went to Geena Davis. It was then that a leaked fax from Madonna to Roth emerged in which she sarcastically blasted his decision to dump her for a non-Italian actress. It transpired that Roth had privately expressed doubts about Madonna's ability to carry a movie, comments which had made it back to the star in question, hence her sudden departure from the project. Original director Jonathan Kaplan soon followed, to be replaced by Martha Coolidge, with whom Davis had worked two years previously on Rambling Rose (1991).