Pretty Woman is one of those movies I can watch countless times — it never gets old or boring.
It’s kind of surprising that after watching it so many times, I never caught those bloopers and mistakes that actually show a different side of the movie.
Disney changed everything
Pretty Woman turned into a romantic comedy that won the hearts of millions and made Richard Gere and Julia Roberts superstars.
However, it wasn’t always meant to be that way. The first version of the script was called 3,000, written by a screenwriter named J.F. Lawton, who was having a tough time in his career. The initial draft focused on much heavier topics like social inequality and the greed of big companies.
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
I can’t imagine anyone else but Richard Gere playing Edward Lewis, the super-rich businessman from New York who hires Vivian (played by Julia Roberts) to be his escort for a week.
The casting for Pretty Woman took a lot longer than people thought it would. Al Pacino was actually the first choice for the role of Lewis. He even did a reading with Julia Roberts, but in the end, he decided not to take the part.
Even though he liked the script, Pacino never explained why he turned it down. Looking back, he has said nice things about Roberts, who was pretty unknown back then.
“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 continued by saying, “This girl was amazing. I told Gary, ‘Where did you find her?’” (Gary is Gary Marshall, the director of the movie). Pacino really knew what he was talking about because Roberts’s incredible performance would shape her career and the film’s reputation.
The croissant becomes a pancake
In the part where Richard Gere’s character asks for breakfast in the room, there’s a funny detail that you might have missed. It begins with Vivian munching on a croissant while chatting with Edward.
But then, in the blink of an eye, the croissant magically turns into a pancake.
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.
Vogue called the dress “super eye-catching and really sexy while still being elegant.” The brilliant designer who made that amazing dress is the award-winning costume designer Marilyn Vance.
She designed six fabulous outfits for Julia Roberts’ character, Vivian Ward, and also created Richard Gere’s stylish looks.
One standout piece is the adorable brown-and-white polka dot dress that Roberts wore to the horse race. That lovely dress was made from vintage silk discovered in a small antique fabric store in Los Angeles — how cool is that for recycling? And those stylish shoes? They were from Chanel!
Richard Gere’s tie
Gere’s outfits were really impressive, showing off great color matching with suits in brown, navy, and blue-gray, all created by Vance.
And what about that well-known tie that Roberts grabs from a store worker? Vance mentioned that it was “nothing special” and definitely not a designer piece.
She picked it up in a Los Angeles shop for a cool $48.
The tie shows up a lot in the movie, and if you pay attention, you might see it changing knots in a strange way.
In the polo match, Edward wears a straight-collar shirt with the tie that Vivian gave him, tied in a half-Windsor knot. But later on, if you look closely, you can catch a little change — Edward’s collar has switched to a spread style, and now the tie is tied 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 shopping trip in the afternoon? Designer Marilyn Vance said it would have cost Gere’s character at least $30,000.
Wow, that’s some serious retail therapy! It’s like they were using fake money from Monopoly — no wonder Vivian looked so confused!
The ruby-and-diamond necklace was real
Julia Roberts wore some amazing jewelry with her beautiful red ball gown. She had a heart-shaped necklace made of rubies and diamonds that was worth an incredible $250,000! Can you believe it?
Movie trivia websites say that this ruby-and-diamond necklace was totally authentic. While they were filming, there was even an armed security guard from the jewelry store watching over it right behind the director.
Jewelry box scene was a practical joke
The part where Richard Gere gives Julia Roberts the expensive necklace is not just one of the most romantic and famous scenes in movies, but it also has a funny story behind it.
At first, it was supposed to be a silly joke for the film’s blooper reel.
You might remember how the jewelry box accidentally closes on Julia Roberts’ fingers, which leads to one of the most real and delightful laughs ever seen on screen.
The true story about this scene comes from director Garry Marshall, who explained why he and Gere chose to pull this prank 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 told Richard, “You need to wake her up a bit, so when she goes for the box, just slam it down.” The box was soft, so I knew I wouldn’t hurt her,” Marshall explained.
They decided to keep that scene in the movie during the last editing phase. “We included it, and it ended up being the movie’s signature moment,” Marshall said.
And just like that, a spontaneous joke transformed into something amazing on screen.
Edward’s disappearing shoes
There are some little mistakes in Pretty Woman that you might not notice the first time you watch it, but some really observant viewers have caught them.
One example is when Vivian takes off Edward’s shoes after they leave the opera and go to the park. But then, when he lies down, the shoes suddenly show up again like magic.
Money in the boot
There’s an interesting little mystery about Vivian’s boots that you might not have noticed.
When Edward gives her $100 in the penthouse, she quickly puts the cash inside her boot to keep it safe. But later, when the room service brings champagne and she takes off her boots, the money is nowhere to be found.
Did the cash just disappear, or is Vivian super skilled at hiding stuff? Maybe her boots have a hidden pocket, or maybe the $100 just didn’t want to stay for the rest of the movie!
Four colored condoms
When Vivian offers Edward a selection of colorful condoms, it seems they have a mind of their own.
Vivian begins with four options that are all lined up nicely (excluding that shiny gold circle one). But in the next scene, it’s like magic because the order has totally switched around.
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.”
In one scene that really bothered Gere, Edward was playing the piano while Vivian moved in closer. Thinking about it later, Gere made a sarcastic comment: “I mean, there’s no chemistry at all. This actor and this actress clearly had zero chemistry… I haven’t seen that in ages. What a steamy scene.”
Director Garry Marshall got the idea for the scene by asking Richard Gere what he usually did late at night when he was in a hotel. Gere replied, “Well, I’m usually jet lagged, so I’m up all night. There’s often a ballroom or a bar, and I like to find a piano to play.” Marshall thought this was a great idea and said, “Let’s do something with that.”
The scene turned out to be mostly improvised. Gere explained, “He told me to play something moody, so I just started playing something that reflected the character’s feelings.”
Then, in a surprising twist, they suddenly returned to the original setup in the third shot, almost like the condoms were having their own secret dance party behind the scenes.
More than just onscreen lovers
I think the chemistry between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in Pretty Woman was really strong. But it wasn’t just during filming; they also became good friends outside of the movie.
In 2017, Gere mentioned that he still chats with Roberts “all the time,” and back when they were making the film, they would talk “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.
Marshall said, “I stepped outside and spotted the two of them at the far end of the hallway, just staring at each other. In that moment, I realized how much chemistry they had. They didn’t even know each other, but it was clear they were connecting really well.”
Roberts convinced Gere to star in Pretty Woman
Even though Al Pacino almost got the part, it looks like Julia Roberts really wanted Richard Gere to be her co-star in the movie.
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 kept nodding and smiling a lot, agreeing with everything he said. I told him, “You really need to do this movie! If you don’t, and it all falls apart, I could lose this job, and that would be awful.”
Here’s how Richard Gere remembers it:
“I still wasn’t sure if I was going to take this movie. We were getting to know each other, being a bit flirty and nice. She was sitting across the desk, wrote something on a piece of paper, turned it around, and slid it over 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.
Did we miss your favorite “Pretty Woman” blooper? Share it with us and keep the fun going!