The shopping trip that afternoon? According to designer Marilyn Vance, it would have set Gere’s character back at least $30,000 .
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 diamonds and rubies — was valued at a whopping quarter million dollars. Yes, you heard that right.
Per movie trivia sites, this ruby-and-diamond masterpiece was the real deal. In reality, 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 just one of the most romantic and iconic moments in movie history, but it also has a funny backstory.
Initially, it was meant as a playful prank for the film’s gag reel.
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 made a decision to play the trick on the young actress.
Marshall shared that 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 was not 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
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, as 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
There’s a little mystery involving Vivian’s boots that you might have missed.
Edward hands her $100 in the penthouse, and 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 c0nd0ms
When Vivian offers Edward a selection of colorful condoms, it seems they have a mind of their own.
Vivian starts with four neatly arranged options (not counting that fancy gold circle one). But, like magic, in the next shot, the order has completely changed.
Richard Gere didn’t like his character
Richard Gere has certainly had benefits 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 he asked 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, 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.
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