Some people classify “Pretty Woman” as a Cinderella Complex film. The famous website Box Office Mojo, which tracks box office revenue for Hollywood’s biggest films, places “Pretty Woman” in this category. Which, as the name clearly suggests, means it tries to be a modern-day version of the much fantasized Cinderella story (the poor girl that falls in love with a prince and all of her dreams come true).
This Cinderella Complex genre also features films like “The Devil Wears Prada,” “She’s All That,” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” But Pretty Woman is listed as the second highest-grossing film in the category.
The Hotel and Sets
Pretty Woman had a big budget, especially for a romantic comedy. This allowed the production to film in various locations, in upscale places around Los Angeles. They filmed scenes that were supposedly at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, but the actual shooting was done at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel.
If you ever find time to roam around Los Angeles, try going to Cicada, where Vivian and Edward dated and relive the show.
Christopher Reeve, Denzel Washington, and Daniel Day-Lewis Almost Played Edward Lewis
Regardless of knowing it's all staged and there are real people behind our favorite screen characters, we still get attached to their on-screen personas. Can you imagine the business tycoon Edward Lewis being played by anyone other than Richard Gere? Neither can we. But the fact is, many other brilliant actors were considered for the role, such as Denzel Washington, Christopher Reeve, and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Any of these three actors would have undoubtedly, done a phenomenal job at playing Edward Lewis. However, we'd rather remember Denzel Washington as the compassionate lawyer from "Philadelphia," Christopher Reeve as the legendary Superman, and Daniel Day-Lewis as the one and only Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood."
Not Your Average Disney Movie
Believe it or not, Pretty Woman is a Disney movie. It purchased its screenplay and, since many of the movie's themes are not exactly family-friendly, they produced it under Touchstone Pictures, its film distribution label that carries movies intended for a mature audience.
This minute detail is easy to miss, and it’s quite surprising when you first learn about it.
A Very Big Age Difference
People say age is just a number, but when the gap between two co-stars (especially when they're a man and a woman) is significantly big, age does seem to play a part. When "Pretty Woman" was filmed, Julia Roberts was 18 years younger than Richard Gere. She was 22, and he was 40!
This seems to have paved the way for Gere since, after that, he became known for dating (much) younger women, such as Hillary Swank (25 years younger), Winona Ryder (22 years younger), and Julie Delpy (21 years younger).