Pretty Woman turns 35: 10 curiosities about the film that launched Julia Roberts

Pretty Womanthe modern fairy tale with Julia Roberts And Richard Gere, Celebrate 35 years. Directed by Garry Marshallon JF Lawton’s screenplay, the film debuted in the US theaters the 23 March 1990 conquering millions of fans with «that great ass of Cinderella». There more romantic comedy ever Tell the timeless Love Story between Vivian Ward, an escort of Beverly Hills, and Edward Lewis, a rich and fascinating businessman. The man offers her to be with him for a week as his escort to work events. Between unbridled shopping, luxury dinners and an unforgettable evening at work, the two get closer and closer. Despite the differences between their worlds, both discover true love. With a Budget of 14 million dollarsthe film touched it 500 all over the world And at the time of its release it was the fifth film with the greatest collection of all time, behind only a And the extra-terrestrial, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and the last crusade And The shark.

Pretty Woman He catapulted Julia Roberts into the Hollywood Olympus, making her earn a Golden Globein addition to his first Oscar nomination for best leading actress. The film is also known for the famous soundtrack, driven by the 1964 Evergreen Oh, Pretty Woman of Roy Orbison who inspired the title. Even today the film replica on TV records the listening record. The stainless success of Pretty Woman generated the homonymous in 2018 Broadway musicalwith music and texts by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. We celebrate the 35 years of the 90s classic in 10 crazy curiosities: from the shocking dark ending of the origins to the director who influenced the bed with the couple of stars, to the famous actresses who pulled back for fear of damaging their image.

A Pretty Woman Without happy ending

Pretty Woman It was originally conceived as a dark drama set in New York in the 1980s. In the original script, Vivian (Roberts) was dependent on cocaine and a part of the pact with Edward (Gere) included his abstinence from drugs for a week. Edward finally throws it out of the car and leaves. The first script of J. F. Lawton ended with Vivian and his friend Squillo on the bus for Disneyland.

The “fairytale” rewriting

It was the then president of the Walt Disney Studios, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who insist that Pretty Woman It was rewritten like a modern fairy tale and a love story, transforming it with respect to the original dark drama. In order not to compromise the image of Vivian, Laura Ziskin, executive producer of Touchstone Pictures (the Disney brand dedicated to the more adult audience), transferred the element linked to drugs to the character of the friend kit.

The inspiration behind Pretty Woman

While Pretty Woman draws inspiration from films such as Wall Street And The Last Couragepresents a strong similarity with the myth of Pygmalion, in particular with the homonymous theatrical work of George Bernard Shaw, who in turn gave birth to the iconic musical My Fair Lady.

The original fantasy-tale

Pretty Woman “3000” was supposed to be named, with reference to the sum of money agreed between Vivian and Edward. It was changed because Disney managers thought he played too “science fiction”.

The actors for the role of Edward

Before offering the part of the fascinating billionaire to Richard Gere, director Marshall had considered several high -profile actors. Among the initial candidates there were Christopher Reeve, Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington and Al Pacino, but everyone declined the proposal for various reasons, including creative differences and incompatibility with the revisited tone of the script. In the end, the star of American Gigolò he accepted the role, helping to make Pretty Woman One of the most iconic romantic films in the history of cinema.

No one wanted to (s) to play Vivian’s role.

Fearing that the role could damage their image, many prominent actresses refused Vivian’s part. Initially, the director proposed the role to Karen Allen, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Daryl Hannah, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Valeria Golino, but all declined. After numerous waste, Marshall decided to focus on Julia Roberts, then 22 years old and still little known. With Pretty Womanthe actress reached the international consecration, conquering the public with her talent and what would become the most beautiful smile of Hollywood.

Pretty Julia’s laughter

To get Roberts’ fragorous laughter in the scene in which Vivian, lying on the pink carpet, looks at the replicas of the sitcom Lucy and methe director tickled her feet (out of the frame).

One thing three

During the filming of the sex scene, Julia Roberts was so nervous that a showy vein turned her on the forehead, risking compromising the shot. To help her relax, the director Marshall decided to intervene personally: he raged in bed between her and Richard Gere and began to gently massage her temples until the vein mitigated. But the tensions were not over: immediately afterwards, the actress had a rash due to stress, forcing the troupe to take a break before they could continue shooting.

This scene was improvised

The scene in which Gere suddenly closes the treasure chest of the necklace while Roberts is about to take it, causing his spontaneous laugh, was not foreseen in the script. The actor improvised the gesture at the moment, and Julia’s genuine reaction liked it so much to Garry Marshall that he decided to keep it in the final assembly.

A collier that is worth a fortune

The necklace that Vivian wears at work is a unique piece, made by French goldsmiths Fred Joaillier with 23 rubies set in white gold hearts, stormed with diamonds. In the film, Edward evaluates him $ 250,000, but his real value was even higher. After the release of the film, the necklace reached 440. thousand dollars. Today it is estimated that, thanks to the success of the film, it can be worth up to 1.5 million dollars. However, this iconic jewel has never been sold.