16 Things You Never Knew About 'Pretty Woman'

Psh, you thought you'd heard it all.

By Chelsea Peng

Mar 24, 2015

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Well, here we are: Pretty Woman's turning 25 this month, which is both unbelievable and not terribly shocking when you think about that whole "climb up the tower and rescue me" thing. Here, we've compiled 15 little-known facts to celebrate the movie's silver anniversary.

1. Richard Gere was out of the country at the time, so it's actually director Garry Marshall's voice you hear asking for directions at the beginning of the movie.

2. Julia Roberts did all the love scenes herself, but on the poster, that's her head Photoshopped onto Shelley Michelle's body.

3. The Princess Diaries, which Garry Marshall also directed, makes references to Pretty Woman. Marshall hired the same waiter who says "It happens all the time" to deliver the same line when Mia breaks a glass tapping on it to announce a toast. There's also a Pretty Woman outtake in which Julia Roberts takes a too-big mouthful of ice cream that was mimicked in TPD:

4. Ferrari and Porsche didn't want their cars to be associated with soliciting prostitutes, which is why Edward drives a silver Lotus 1989.5 Esprit SE.

5. The original title was going to be $3,000, the fee Vivian charges Edward for the week, but Disney (yeah, it's a Disney movie) execs thought it sounded too science-fiction-y.

6. While filming the scene where Vivian's lying on the floor watching I Love Lucy, Garry Marshall had to tickle Roberts's feet to get her to laugh so hysterically.

7. Because life is like one big rom-com for movie stars, Julia Roberts persuaded Richard Gere to do the movie by pushing a Post-It note across his desk on which was written, "Please say yes." My poor blood sugar levels.

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8. You know the sex-on-top-of-the-piano scene? According to the DVD director's commentary, the real sound the keys made was too discordant, so it had to be dubbed in.

9. Richard Gere composed the piece he plays in that scene, BTW.

10. Pretty Woman started out as a drama, in which part of Vivan and Edward's deal is that she stay off cocaine for the week. Spoiler: She doesn't end up with him and goes home to find out her roommate Kit overdosed while she was gone. Dark.

11. The necklace in the case-snapping GIF above was worth $250,000. The jewelry store sent an armed security guard to stand next to Marshall during filming.

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12. That jacket, on the other hand, was bought for $30 from a movie usher the director met before filming started.

13. Casting took a rather along time. (See: the prostitute problem.) Molly Ringwald, Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan, Daryl Hannah, and Jennifer Connelly were reportedly offered the role of Vivian, while Al Pacino, Christopher Reeve, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Denzel Washington were considered for Edward. Al Pacino...as Edward...we can't.

14. When they filmed the scene where Vivian talks about wanting to be a princess who's rescued from a tower, they hadn't written the movie's ending yet.

15. The off-the-shoulder red gown almost didn't happen. Costume designer Marilyn Vance revealed that the studio originally wanted a boring, black dress. Which would have been a travesty.

16. As a prank during the shooting of the bubble bath scene, everyone except the cameraman left while Roberts was submerged. You can see her reaction here: