Celebrating 25 Years of Watching: PRETTY WOMAN

by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

The Today Show reunited the cast of one of my all time favorite movies – PRETTY WOMAN to celebrate the movie’s 25th Anniversary. This is my go to when I just wanna shut out the world. I’m all in every time, every scene.

But it feels impossible Pretty Woman was released 25 years ago. If only I could pretend I was 5 when the movie came out, and lie and say I never saw it in the movie theater. But alas, I remember distinctly going to see it. The pre-viral, yet media frenzy over the discovery of the “Pretty Woman” herself Julia Roberts, and all the songs from the soundtrack playing on the radio; it feels as if it were maybe 10 years ago, 15 at the most, not a quarter of a century.

I call Pretty Woman one of my guilty pleasure addictions, because it’s a romantic comedy. However, it’s one that hits all the right beats, every scene is tight, the cast is perfect, down to the elevator attendant. Most importantly, it’s held up over time, so that’s not really the definition of a guilty pleasure flick, it’s actually good movie making. How did director Garry Marshall pull off creating such a charming movie featuring a hooker and a corporate raider? Like he said, it came down to chemistry!

However, I’ve never liked the shot of that ending kiss.  I think it’s an unflattering angle for a screen kiss.  It’s too… real.

I found it funny how little Richard Gere remembers of the movie, even though it’s his most memorable role. Julia Roberts seemed super into the reunion and rehashing the making of this classic, and as it put her on the Hollywood map, I guess she should. Roberts really hasn’t changed very much in 25 years, inside or out, which is probably part of why she’s had such longevity in this industry.

Carpet Picnic

I’ve always wondered how they fit all of Julia Roberts hair under that “Carol Channing” wig?

I wish Jason Alexader as the pugnacious Stuckey had joined the cast for the reunion, would like to hear his pre-Seinfeld success memories of the movie.

In terms of Food n Film Moments: my favorite is not the part with the flying escargot, but rather the breakfast where Vivian is eating everything with her hands. She starts with a croissant, the camera turns to Gere, then when it swings back around she’s eating a pancake. It’s possible she could have put down the croissant and reached for a pancake, but I think it was a delightful editing mistake.

” I didn’t know what you liked, so I took the liberty of ordering everything from the menu” This would be a DREAM COME TRUE!

Who doesn’t love that Vivian gets revenge on those snotty women on Rodeo Drive – “You work on commission, right?… Big mistake. Big. Huge. Well, I’ve got to go shopping now” – But my favorite scene is where Vivian wakes up in the middle of the night to find Edward is not in bed, he’s down in the hotel banquet room playing a moody tune on the piano. When she joins him, he clears the room of the late night staff and makes love to her on the piano. I’ve watched that scene a million times! ‪#‎PrettyWoman25‬

• 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.”
•  Several actresses turned down the role of Vivian. Daryl Hannah felt the part was misogynistic. Michelle Pfeiffer (whom Marshall would cast a year later as the lead in “Frankie and Johnny”) also disliked the tone of the material. Valeria Golino, fresh off “Top Gun,” felt her thick Italian accent wouldn’t suit the character. Marshall met with Madonna, but the singer, then 30, felt the part would be better suited to someone under 21.
•  After the film’s success, it seemed everyone wanted a sequel. The Buddhist Gere, told Marshall that he’d been in a cave in Tibet where a monk asked him, “When are you going to make ‘Pretty Woman 2’?” It was at that moment that Gere said he decided that he, Roberts, and Marshall should reunite for whatever script they could find that worked, rather than wait for a writer to craft a viable “Pretty Woman” sequel. He and Roberts found the “Runaway Bride” script and approached Marshall with it, leading to the team’s successful reunion with the 1999 romantic comedy.  READ MORE  moviefone.com