Pretty Woman is one of those movies I can watch countless times – it never gets old or boring.
But considering how many times I’ve seen it, it’s a bit surprising that I’ve never noticed these bloopers and mistakes that tell a different story about the film.
Disney changed everything
Pretty Woman became a romantic comedy that captivated millions and launched Richard Gere and Julia Roberts to superstardom.
But that’s not how it was supposed to be. The original screenplay was titled 3,000, penned by then-struggling screenwriter J.F. Lawton. The early draft tackled much darker themes about societal disparity and corporate greed.
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.
In the scene where Richard Gere’s character orders breakfast to the room, there’s a funny little detail you might not have noticed. It starts with Vivian enjoying a croissant while talking to 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.
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.