Julia Roberts reveals what iconic 90s movie Pretty Woman was REALLY meant to be about – and lets slip the movie’s original name and intended ending on Graham Norton
90s movie Pretty Woman is one of Julia Roberts‘ most famous films, but it was originally meant to tell a very different story.
Julia appeared on the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show – set to air on Friday – alongside fellow guests Timothee Chalamet, Tom Hanks and Cher.
Graham made sure to ask Julia about the movie, which is when she admitted it was meant to be ‘much darker’ than it ended up being.
The 56-year-old actress famously played prostitute Vivian, who was hired by Edward – played by Richard Gere – . The pair ended up falling in love after he initially hired her to accompany him to some social events.
Julia said: ‘It was going to be a much darker film called $3,000 (the price for Vivian to spend the night with Edward).’
‘Vivian was a drug addict and the movie ended with him leaving her in a side street, throwing the money at her, and driving away.
‘I got that part in that movie and felt really proud, but when the production company folded and the film disappeared I was crushed. But then Disney picked it up, which seemed so unlikely, and made it funny.’
Julia’s latest comments about 3000 comes after she spoke about the original idea for ‘Pretty Woman’ back in 2019.
After going over the previous script idea, Julia admitted she ‘had no business being in a movie like that’ in a 2019 chat with Patricia Arquette for Variety’s Actors on Actors series.
She added, ‘There was one producer that stayed with the script and then it went to Disney. And I went, “went to Disney? Are they gonna animate it? How does this become a Disney movie?”‘
Julia is now starring in the new Netflix movie Leave The World Behind.
The Mona Lisa Smile star spoke about starring in the flick to Graham, sharing: ‘I was sent the book by the director who told me I would love it and to read it as fast as I can, but I just couldn’t because it was scaring me and as soon as it got dark, I had to get away from it.
‘The film is spooky and frightening but so good.’
Speaking about Barack and Michelle Obama’s involvement in the movie, Julia added, ‘They are brilliant people and great human beings who have made the world a better place so when they said they were interested in collaborating on the film through their production company I was very excited.’
Leave The World Behind tells the story of a family vacation on Long Island taking an unexpected turn after a cyberattack knocks out their devices and two strangers turn up at the door.
The film also stars Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Kevin Bacon, Myha’la Herrold and more.
