Julia Roberts claims that Pretty Woman almost didn’t have a happy ending.
According to the 51-year-old Hollywood icon, the movie was originally conceived as a “dark and gritty drama about prostitution,” rather than the romantic comedy we know and love.
In a Variety interview, Roberts chatted with actress Patricia Arquette about her role as a down-on-her-luck Hollywood s-x prostitute, which launched her to prominence in 1990, alongside Richard Gere.
Patricia revealed that she had originally auditioned for Pretty Woman, that was earlier titled 3,000.
Arquette said, “That movie was really dark and the ending was really heavy. It really read like a dark, gritty art movie.”
Roberts confirmed this by adding that in the end, someone “threw her out of the car, threw the money on top of her, as memory serves, and just sort of drove away, leaving her in some dirty alley.”
Julia had previously disclosed that before filming ‘Pretty Woman,’ she spent time with prostitutes who were paid USD 35 apiece to chat to her. Julia Roberts’ film is widely regarded as a masterpiece and one of her most memorable ventures.
Roberts acknowledged that she “had no business being in a movie like that.” However, the young actress was relieved of her predicament. The initial film company collapsed just days after I got the part. She was jobless until Walt Disney came to her rescue.
“I thought, Went to Disney? Are they going to animate it?’ Garry Marshall (Director) came on, and because he’s a great human being, he felt it would only be fair to meet me, since I had this job for three days and lost it. And they changed the whole thing. And it became more something that is in my wheelhouse than what it originally was,” Roberts said.
Gary Marshall was appointed as the new director, and he hit it off with Julia right away. With the script totally changed into the rom-com that we know today, all of the pieces were in place for the film to become the massive smash that it is nearly 30 years later.
Arquette then revealed that she has long dreamt of a $3,000 film starring Roberts. “You could do it right now,” she added. That plot certainly sound like it would be popular in today’s world. Roberts, on the other hand, would not be involved.
“I couldn’t do it then, and I couldn’t do it now,” the Oscar winner admitted. “Thank God it fell apart.”
