#Julia roberts pretty woman movie

Producer Steve Reuther suggested 20-year-old Roberts, then known to movie audiences only as one of the three stars of cult hit 'Mystic Pizza.' Roberts met with Marshall and immediately told him, 'I won't be naked.' He was charmed.Ĩ. He also considered Winona Ryder (17) and Jennifer Connelly (18) but decided both were too young.ħ. Looking at actresses under 21, Marshall considered Molly Ringwald (then 20), but the 'Pretty in Pink' star was uncomfortable with the role's sexual content. Marshall met with Madonna, but the singer, then 30, felt the part would be better suited to someone under 21.Ħ. Michelle Pfeiffer (whom Marshall would cast a year later as the lead in 'Frankie and Johnny') also disliked the tone of the material. Daryl Hannah felt the part was misogynist. Several actresses turned down the role of Vivian. Benedek also wrote the dental floss scene, as a funny way of revealing that Vivian did not use drugs.ĥ. She modeled him after Donald Trump but added vulnerability.

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Softening Vivian's character was easy, Marshall recalled, but only 'Big Chill' screenwriter Barbara Benedek (the lone woman among the script doctors) figured out how to soften Edward. Five writers were involved in the rewrite process, including Lawton. The first thing that had to go was the title, 'Three Thousand.' As Marshall recalled, 'Test audiences given the premise and the title thought 'Three Thousand' was a movie about prostitutes from the moon who had orgasms in orbit.'Ĥ. Marshall promised a 6 or 7, but with laughs.ģ. On a scale from 1 to 10, where Neil Jordan's gritty prostitution drama 'Mona Lisa' was a 2 and 'Cinderella' or 'My Fair Lady' was a 10, the studio asked Marshall to turn the script into an 8. Disney gave the script to veteran comedy director Marshall to lighten it up. The story ended with a scene reminiscent of 'Midnight Cowboy,' with Vivian and Kit boarding a bus to Disneyland.Ģ. The relationship ended with Edward striking Vivian to the ground, throwing the $3,000 at her, and leaving her screaming at him from the gutter where he first found her. Part of their week-long arrangement was that Vivian had to stay off cocaine for the duration. Edward was a ruthless corporate raider and Vivian a long-time, drug-addicted streetwalker. Lawton's script started out not as a peppy romantic comedy or modern-day Cinderella tale, but as a bleak drama. Even so, there's much you may not know about the movie - the difficulties in casting (Gere and Roberts weren't anyone's first, second, or third choices), crises on the set, what was left out of the final film, and how the principals reunited for the successful non-sequel 'Runaway Bride.' Here, then, are the secrets behind 'Pretty Woman,' many of them divulged by director Garry Marshall in his memoirs 'Wake Me When It's Funny' and 'My Happy Days in Hollywood.'ġ. Plus, the film saved Gere's career and (along with 1989's 'When Harry Met Sally') revived the romantic comedy genre in Hollywood.Ī quarter-century later, 'Pretty Woman' remains a fan favorite, one you've seen a million times on cable. Mirroring her on-screen Cinderella makeover, Julia Roberts went from little-known ingenue to queen of Hollywood. But when the movie was released, 25 years ago this week (on March 23, 1990), the project was transformed from overlooked stepsister to box office royalty. It was a modestly-budgeted romantic comedy whose stars were Richard Gere (then in the depths of a career slump) and Eric Roberts's kid sister.

No one expected much from ' Pretty Woman' when they were making it.