Pretty Woman is one of those movies I can watch countless times — it never gets old or boring.
But considering how many times I’ve seen it, it’s a bit surprising that I’ve never noticed these bloopers and mistakes that tell a different story about the film.
Contents
Disney changed everything
Al Pacino turned down the lead role
The croissant becomes a pancake
Truth behind the iconic dress
Richard Gere’s tie
‘Obscene’ shopping spree
The ruby-and-diamond necklace was real
Jewelry box scene was a practical joke
Edward’s disappearing shoes
Money in the boot
Four colored condoms
Richard Gere didn’t like his character
More than just onscreen lovers
Roberts convinced Gere to star in Pretty Woman
Contents
Disney changed everything
Al Pacino turned down the lead role
The croissant becomes a pancake
Truth behind the iconic dress
Richard Gere’s tie
‘Obscene’ shopping spree
The ruby-and-diamond necklace was real
Jewelry box scene was a practical joke
Edward’s disappearing shoes
Money in the boot
Four colored condoms
Richard Gere didn’t like his character
More than just onscreen lovers
Roberts convinced Gere to star in Pretty Woman
Disney changed everything
Pretty Woman became a romantic comedy that captivated millions and launched Richard Gere and Julia Roberts to superstardom.
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But that’s not how it was supposed to be. The original screenplay was titled 3,000, penned by then-struggling screenwriter J.F. Lawton. The early draft tackled much darker themes about societal disparity and corporate greed.
Julia Roberts has a drink with Richard Gere in a scene from the film ‘Pretty Woman’, 1990. (Photo by Buena Vista/Getty Images)
However, everything changed when Disney took the reins. The company preferred to downplay the themes of class and sex work in Los Angeles. Instead, Disney gave it a large budget and turned it more into a a romantic comedy.
Al Pacino turned down the lead role
For me, it’s unthinkable to envision anyone other than Richard Gere in the role of Edward Lewis, the mega-rich business man from New York who hires Vivian (Julia Roberts) to be his escort for a week.
The casting process for Pretty Woman took longer than expected, with Al Pacino initially leading the charge for the role of Lewis. The legendary actor even went so far as to participate in a casting reading with Julia Roberts before ultimately deciding to turn the part down.
Although he liked the script, Pacino never disclosed his reasons for passing on the role. In hindsight, he has expressed admiration for Roberts, who was a relatively unknown actress at the time.
“I mean, you could tell at the reading, this is going to be good, this is going to be a hit picture. You just knew it,” Pacino shared.
He went on to say: “And this girl was phenomenal. I mean, I said to Gary, ‘Where did you get this girl?’” (Gary being Gary Marshall, the film’s director). Pacino’s instincts were spot on, as Roberts’s standout performance would define her career and the film’s legacy.
The croissant becomes a pancake
In the scene where Richard Gere’s character orders breakfast to the room, there’s a funny little detail you might not have noticed. It starts with Vivian enjoying a croissant while talking to Edward.
But then, in the blink of an eye, the croissant magically turns into a pancake.
Screenshot
How did that happen? According to director Garry Marshall, he preferred Roberts’ performance in the later takes, where she was eating a pancake instead of the croissant, so they kept the footage.
However, this created a continuity issue. In the first shot with the pancake, Vivian takes a second bite, but in the following shot, the pancake has only one bite missing, and the bite pattern is noticeably different.
It’s clearly not the same pancake!
Truth behind the iconic dress
The careful consideration of costume design might go unnoticed by the average moviegoer. However, whether you have a keen eye for fashion or not, it’s impossible to overlook the iconic red dress that Julia Roberts’ character wears in the movie.
The red dress symbolizes Vivan’s transformation and empowerment, during an “transformative” scene in the film where Roberts’ character accompanies her Edward Lewis for a night at the opera.
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Vogue described the dress as ”eye-catching, incredibly sexy without losing an ounce of elegance.” The genius behind that stunning dress? None other than the award-winning costume designer Marilyn Vance.
She crafted six fabulous outfits for Julia Roberts’ character, Vivian Ward, and was also the mastermind behind Richard Gere’s dapper looks.
Take, for instance, the charming brown-and-white polka dot dress Roberts wore to the horse race. That little gem was created from old silk found in a tiny antique fabric shop in Los Angeles — talk about recycling in style! And those chic shoes? Yup, they were by Chanel.
Richard Gere’s tie
As for Gere’s wardrobe, it was a masterclass in color coordination, featuring brown, navy, and blue-gray suits, all designed by Vance.
Now, about that famous tie that Roberts snatches from a store employee? According to Vance, it was “nothing special” and certainly not designer.
She picked it up in a Los Angeles shop for a cool $48.
The tie makes several appearances throughout the film, and if you watch closely, you might notice that it mysteriously changes knots from time to time.
During the polo match, Edward sports a straight-collar shirt along with the tie that Vivian gifted him, knotted in a half-Windsor. But in a later scene, the sharp-eyed viewer can spot a subtle change — Edward’s collar has magically transformed into a spread style, and the tie is now in a full-Windsor knot.
‘Obscene’ shopping spree
When Richard Gere introduces Julia Roberts’ character to the glamorous world of the rich, he takes her on a wild shopping spree down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
That afternoon shopping trip? It would have set Gere’s character back at least $30,000, according to designer Marilyn Vance.
Talk about a retail therapy session on steroids! It’s like they were shopping with Monopoly money — no wonder Vivian was in a daze.
The ruby-and-diamond necklace was real
The jewelry Julia Roberts sported with her stunning red ball gown — a heart-shaped necklace crafted from rubies and diamonds — was valued at a whopping quarter million dollars. Yes, you heard that right.
According to movie trivia sites, this ruby-and-diamond masterpiece was the real deal. In fact, while filming, an armed security guard hired by the jewelry store responsible for this extravagant necklace stood vigilantly behind the director.
Jewelry box scene was a practical joke
The scene where Richard Gere presents Julia Roberts with the pricey necklace is not only one of the most romantic and iconic moments in movie history, but it also has a funny backstory.
Originally, it was meant as a playful prank for the film’s gag reel.
As you might recall, the jewelry box snaps shut on Julia Roberts’ fingers, prompting one of the most genuine, charming laughs ever captured on film.
The real story behind the scene came from director Garry Marshall, who revealed why he and Gere decided to play the trick on the young actress.
According to Marshall, Roberts, then just 23, would sometimes arrive on set a bit sleepy after a late night out.
“I said, ‘Richard, you gotta wake her up a little, so when she reaches for the box, slam it.’ It was a soft box. I would never hurt her,” Marshall explained.
It wasn’t until the final stages of editing that they chose to keep the scene in the movie. “We put it in… and it became like the trademark of the movie,” Marshall said.
And just like that, an unscripted joke turned into cinematic magic.
Edward’s disappearing shoes
As we mentioned earlier, there are some mistakes in Pretty Woman that aren’t easy to catch on the first viewing, but some eagle-eyed viewers have spotted them all the same.
For example, when they leave the opera and head to the park, Vivian takes off Edward’s shoes. However, as he begins to lie down, the shoes magically reappear.
Money in the boot
Speaking of things on (or in) your feet, there’s a little mystery involving Vivian’s boots that you might have missed.
When Edward hands her $100 in the penthouse, she slips the cash right into her boot for safekeeping. But later, after the room service arrives with champagne and she takes off her boots, the money has mysteriously disappeared.
Did the cash vanish into thin air, or is Vivian just really good at hiding things? Maybe those boots came with a secret compartment, or perhaps the $100 decided it didn’t want to stick around for the rest of the film…
Four colored condoms
When Vivian offers Edward a selection of colorful condoms, it seems they have a mind of their own.
Screenshot
Vivian starts with four neatly arranged options (not counting that fancy gold circle one). But in the next shot, like magic, the order has completely changed.
Richard Gere didn’t like his character
Richard Gere has certainly benefited from the success of Pretty Woman—both in terms of his career and his bank account. But he hasn’t always been entirely positive about the film, especially when it comes to his character, Edward. At a film festival in Venice, Gere described Edward as “criminally underwritten.” He added, “Basically, he’s just a suit and a good haircut.”
One scene in particular seemed to irk Gere, featuring Edward playing the piano while Vivian edges closer. Reflecting on it, Gere sarcastically remarked: ”I mean, no chemistry. This actor and this actress obviously had no chemistry between them… I haven’t seen that in a long time. That’s a sexy scene.”
Director Garry Marshall came up with the idea for the scene after asking Gere what he usually did late at night in a hotel. Gere recalled, “And I said, ‘Well, I’m usually jet lagged, [that] would be the time I’m in a hotel. So I’m up all night and usually there’s a ballroom somewhere or a bar, and I’ll find a piano and I’ll play the piano.’” Marshall then suggested, “Well, let’s do something with that.”
So, the scene was essentially improvised, with Gere explaining: “He said, ‘Play something moody.’ I just started playing something moody that was this character’s interior life.”
Then, just as mysteriously, they snap back to the original lineup in the third shot. It’s as if the condoms were having their own little dance routine behind the scenes.
More than just onscreen lovers
If you ask me, the chemistry Julia Roberts and Gere in Pretty Woman was undeniable. But the sparks didn’t just fly when the cameras were rolling — they formed a close bond off-screen too.
In 2017, Gere shared that he still talks to Roberts ”all the time,” and back in the day, they would speak ”three or four times a day.”
You could say it was love at first sight, in a friendly sort of way.
”Yeah, we loved each other immediately. So it was a nice thing,” Gere admitted.
Even director Garry Marshall noticed the connection between them right away.
He recalled a moment during the first meeting when he stepped out to use the restroom, leaving the actors alone to get acquainted.
”I came out and saw the two of them at the end of a hall, just looking at each other,” Marshall said. ”And right there, I thought, look at that chemistry. They don’t know each other, and yet they’re doing great.”
Roberts convinced Gere to star in Pretty Woman
Although Al Pacino came close to landing the role, it seems Julia Roberts was determined to have Richard Gere as her on-screen partner.
She practically pleaded with Richard Gere in a very genuine way.
”He’s a very serious actor and he had very specific thoughts about the movie and the part and what worked and didn’t work for him,” she told SiriusXM in 2017.
”I think I just nodded and smiled a lot and agreed with everything he said. I said, ‘You have to do this movie, if you don’t do this movie and it falls apart and I lose this job it’ll just be terrible.’”
And this is how it all went down according to Richard Gere:
“I still didn’t know if I was doing this movie. We’re getting to know each other, we’re flirty, flirty…nice, nice…She’s across the desk, she takes a piece of paper, and she’s writing something on it and she turns it around and pushes it to me…‘Please say yes’”.
Even in a fairytale romance, things don’t always go as planned. Maybe that’s just what makes this movie so endearing —and keeps us coming back for another look, year after year.
