Pretty Woman, the 1990 film starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere has long been considered one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, no doubt bolstered by the two leads’ on-screen chemistry. But for Roberts, landing the role of feisty but naive sex worker Vivian was not so straightforward, Roberts revealed to MiNDFOOD.
“Garry Marshall, the director, dropped me off at Richard’s house and then left us alone to talk and get to know each other,” she says. “After about 10 minutes later Garry called and asked Richard how things were going. While Richard was talking to him, I could tell he was still hesitating.”
She continued: “I needed the job, so I took a Post-it note and wrote on it, ‘Please says yes!’ and pushed it over to Richard. He burst out laughing and told Garry, ‘Yes’. A few months later I learned that he had turned down the part several times; one of the reasons being that he hadn’t found the right partner. We’ve been friends ever since!”
Naturally, Roberts’ determination and guile paid off: the film went on to gross US$463 million worldwide, earned Roberts an Oscar nomination, and won her a reputation as one of the most magnetic actresses ever to have graced the silver screen.
