The Original Version Was Much Darker
The final version of the film we love is a romantic comedy, but its original script was intent on showing us a dark version of it. It had Vivian Ward as an addicted working girl, whom Edward paid $3,000 to stay with him for a week, but their deal was cut short as he could no longer stand being with her.
Vivian gets thrown out on the side of the road. Kit, her close friend, tragically dies. There was nothing romantic about it at all.
One of the Most Important Lines Was Added by a Woman
Remember the final line in "Pretty Woman," when Vivian says, "She rescued him right back!"? Well, not so surprisingly, that line was written by a woman. More specifically, a famous Hollywood producer called Laura Ziskin, known for "Spiderman" (I, II, and III), "As Good as it Gets," "Dinner With Friends," "No Way Out," "The Butler," and more. But there's a backstory to why Ziskin decided to add that final line.
At some point during the film, Roberts tells Gere that she always dreamed of a knight in shining armor that would come and rescue her. And, of course, he ends up doing just that, making the grand gesture of climbing the fire escape up to her modest apartment, holding her in his arms, and kissing her. Ziskin didn't want to end the film there, so when Gere says, ‘So what happened when he climbed the tower to rescue her?’ Roberts replies, ‘She rescued him right back!’. Ziskin explains that she didn't want the film to send out a message to women that a nice guy will always come around to 'rescue' them by giving them money and buying them nice clothes. She wanted to give both of them equal credit for their happiness.
Preparation For The Role
Julia Roberts didn’t want to miss the opportunity of really being able to play her role effectively, so she immersed herself in a free clinic in Los Angeles, where Garry Marshall’s wife worked as a nurse.
She met working girls there and tried to understand their plight until she was confident enough to play her character as Vivian Ward.
Roberts’ Favorite Scene in the Movie
"Pretty Woman" has many lovely scenes, but Julia Roberts’ favorite was early in the film when she drove the Lotus automobile for Edward. She said she wasn’t really good at driving at the time but enjoyed it nevertheless, describing it as a hilarious scene.
Garry Marshall admitted the cameramen struggled to keep up with her fast driving.
Four Screenwriters
There were so many changes made to the original script that the final draft was actually written by four different screenwriters...at least! Despite the fact that J.F. Lawton is the only credited writer for the movie, other talented scriptwriters helped add to it along the way.
Most noticeably, these include Robert Garland ("The Big Blue"; "No Way Out"), Barbara Benedek ("The Big Chill"; "Sabrina") and Stephen Metcalfe ("Turner & Hooch"; "Cousins")