Pretty Woman
Short description
Edward Lewis is a wealthy corporate raider in Los Angeles on business, and Vivian Ward works the streets of Hollywood Boulevard. After a chance meeting, he hires her for a week to accompany him at social and business functions, an arrangement that requires a new wardrobe and a crash course in polite society. As she moves through a world of luxury and pretence, the two discover they have more in common than either expected, and the line between client and companion begins to blur.
Garry Marshall directed the film, the sixth of the eighteen he made, following Beaches and preceding Frankie and Johnny. Julia Roberts plays Vivian and Richard Gere plays Edward, with Ralph Bellamy, Jason Alexander, Laura San Giacomo and Héctor Elizondo in supporting roles. J.F. Lawton wrote the screenplay, and Arnon Milchan and Steven Reuther produced.
Released on 23 March 1990, the film runs 120 minutes. Made for 14 million dollars, it took in 463 million dollars worldwide, a multiple of its cost that made it one of the most commercially successful releases of its year. On IMDb it holds 7.1 out of 10 from over 400,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4 out of 10 from more than 9,000. A critics' rating of 6 out of 10 from 79 reviews places it below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film poster only shows a portion of Julia Roberts. This is because Julia's head was superimposed onto Shelly Michelle's body. On the same poster, Richard Gere’s hair is chestnut brown, whereas in the film itself it is graying.
- Richard Gere actually plays the piano. Moreover, he composed the musical piece he played himself.
- The sports car Edward borrows at the beginning of the film is a Lotus Esprit.
- In an early draft of the script, Vivian was using cocaine; part of the deal was that she had to abstain for a week. She needed the money to go to Disneyland. Edward eventually throws her out of the car and drives away. The script originally called for the film to end with Vivian and her prostitute friend riding a bus to Disneyland.
- The red jacket Vivian wears was bought for $30 on the street from a movie ticket taker shortly before filming began.
- The car Edward picks up Vivien in belonged to producer Nancy Gross.
- The working title of the film was "$3,000".
- At the very beginning of the film, you can notice that some of the neon letters in the hotel where Vivien lives are burnt out. The only remaining illuminated letters are “HO” (from “hotel”; “ho” in English sounds like “whore”).
- The necklace that Vivien wears to the opera is actually worth $250,000. During filming, an armed security guard from the jewelry store stood behind the director at all times.
- Daryl Hannah declined the role of Vivian, suggesting that she would feel debased as a woman after playing it.
- Listeners of London's Capital FM radio station ranked this film fourth on their list of must-see movies.
- The director's cut of the film has a runtime of 125 minutes.
- The scene where Edward snaps Vivienne’s fingers with the necklace case was improvised by Gayer, and Roberts’s reaction (laughter) was completely natural. The filmmakers liked it so much that they decided to keep it.
- Filming took place from July 24 to October 18, 1989.
- The opera with which Edward charms Vivian is called La Traviata (Italian for “The Fallen Woman”). It tells the story of a courtesan who captivates wealthy men, and who falls in love with a less affluent man.
- At the very beginning of filming, Richard Gere eagerly threw himself into his role, but Garry Marshall took him aside and said, “No, no, no. Richard. One of you is acting in this movie. And the other one isn’t. Guess which one you are?”
- In the final scene, Edward serenades Vivian along with a recording of an aria from La Traviata (Italian for “The Fallen Woman”). The aria features a vocal solo accompanied by a string theme and a trumpet. This arrangement was not original to the opera, but was adapted for the film.
- The film Vivian is watching before going downstairs to Edward is called "Charade" (1963).
- While filming the scene where Vivian lies on the floor in Edward’s penthouse and watches reruns of the old series "I Love Lucy" (1951) to achieve genuine laughter, director Garry Marshall had to tickle Roberts’ feet (of course, this remained off-camera) to make her laugh so hysterically.
- During the pre-production of "Pretty Woman", Julia Roberts spent a lot of time with Garry Marshall’s wife, who ran a free clinic located on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.
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