It doesn’t seem real that it was 25 years ago when the most unlikely on-screen couple found true love in Pretty Woman. Julia Roberts and Richard Gere‘s chemistry was the stuff Hollywood romance is made of, and the movie remains a classic among rom-com lovers.
1. The original title for Pretty Woman was 3,000, the amount of money agreed upon between Julia Roberts’ character, Vivian and Richard Gere’s character, Edward for a week of service.
2. The red jacket Vivian is wearing when she meets Edward for the first time was bought for $30 from a movie usher on the street right before filming.
3. Demi Moore was offered the role of Vivian’s best friend Kit Deluca, but she turned it down. The role ended up going to Laura San Giacomo.
4. Julia’s character was originally written to have her addicted to cocaine, but it was deemed to dark for the direction of the movie.
5. Richard Gere composed and played the piano piece his character performed in the hotel.
6. The scene where Edward snaps the jewelry case closed on Vivian’s hand was improvised and Julia’s reaction was totally natural.
7. Speaking of jewelry, the necklace Vivian wears was worth $250,000 and had its own security guard on set.
8. Ferrari and Porsche both declined the opportunity to have their cars in the movie.
9. The homeless man Edward asks for directions in the beginning of the film is actually the director, Gary Marshall.
10. On the movie poster, Julia Roberts’ head was Photoshopped on famous body double, Shelley Michelle. Additionally Richard Gere’s hair is brown in the poster, but in the movie he’s graying.
11. The opera the two attend, La Traviata, is about a prostitute who falls in love with a wealthy man.
12. Even though he didn’t have any nude scenes, Richard Gere got naked and walked around set one day just to shock everyone.
13. During Vivian and Edward’s love making scene, Julia was so nervous, a huge vein popped up on her forehead and Gary Marshall had to get in bed with her and Richard to massage it until it went down.
14. Meg Ryan was the first choice to play Vivian.
15. Gary Marshall got Julia Roberts to laugh during the scene where she’s watching I Love Lucy by tickling her feet out of frame.
16. Julia Roberts fainted on set due to only eating a single avocado over the course of two days.
17. Hector Elizando was cast in the movie as the hotel manager because he is deemed Gary Marshall’s good luck charm for every movie he directs. His rate was too high for the studio so Marshall paid half of it to have him in the film.
18. The film earned a total of $463 million dollars.
19. Julia Roberts received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role, and was the only nomination of that kind the movie received.
20. The movie’s soundtrack sold over 3million copies making it a certified triple platinum hit.
