Screenwriter J.F. Lawton: Part of why [that scene] still resonates is it came as much from research that Idid into that world as personal things that Iwas doing. At that time, Iwas very much struggling in my own life. Iwas living off of Hollywood Boulevard. Iwas struggling to make it as awriter, and Ifelt the whole world was against me.
I got to know some of these working girls at Winchell’s Coffee Shop on Hollywood Boulevard. We would have coffee and Iwould talk to them about their lives. When Istarted to get the idea [for Pretty Woman], Iknew the street side of the world, but not the rich side. So Iasked somebody Iknew that was of better means, “What’s the best hotel?” Iwent to the Beverly Wilshire and Iput on areally nice suit. At that time, Ididn’t know you could even walk into ahotel if you weren’t gonna stay there. When Ifirst walked into the lobby, it was so beautiful, and Ithought security was going to be instantly called on me.
That became the moment when Vivian first walks into the Beverly Wilshire, and Julia [Roberts] is looking around. She goes, “Oh sh*t!” She’s intimidated by it, and that came from me. Then Idiscovered that Rodeo Drive was right next to [the Beverly Wilshire], and so Istarted to go to Rodeo Drive, very nervous and afraid to go into the shops because they were so nice and Ihad no money, of course. Iwas in asecondhand suit, but it was adecent suit. And Iactually went into amen’s shop, and there was amale clerk there. Iwas looking around, and Idon’t know if it was because Iwas so nervous, but he said to me, “What are you looking for?” Isaid, “Oh, Ijust want to look around,” and he said, “We have nothing here for you. You’re in the wrong place.”
That really happened to me! It wasn’t two women, but that really happened to me. Ididn’t get payback like [Vivian does] in the movie, but both of those scenes were in the original script. The payback that Igot later in life, is after Pretty Woman did well [at the box office] and Ibecame more confident in that world. Now Ican walk into any shop in Beverly Hills in atorn T‑shirt and jeans and people sense that Ihave confidence and immediately want to help me, right?
In the original script, that scene did happen, and then she does go back, but she makes arude gesture. She doesn’t say “Big mistake.” “Big mistake” was, Ibelieve, ad-libbed by Julia with [director] Garry [Marshall]. Garry loved to ad-lib. So many of the best lines in the film, the most famous lines, were ad-libbed, so Ican’t steal credit for that. That was aJulia ad-lib, is my belief.
If you want to drill down on that scene, when Iwrote it, it was just writing from my own personal experience. Iwas writing out of sympathy for the people that Isaw on Hollywood Boulevard, from my own feelings of insecurity, alittle bit of my own anger at the world being unfair in terms of money. And then also the darker side of myself, in Edward, being driven.
It’s funny when people criticise the film as being materialistic. It’s the opposite of that. It’s about agirl who sees that other world as something far away, that she can never obtain, and of course it’s attractive, right? But then when she gets to experience it, she’s willing to walk away from it all. The thing that Iwould always notice is that people who grow up in that poverty world, they don’t feel like they deserve nice things. They don’t feel like they deserve nice clothing, and Iknew so many women who would be afraid to dress up.
The thing that Vivian does, “Big mistake,” which is maybe better than just her making arude gesture, is, she’s saying to those saleswomen, “You didn’t see the real me. You judged me based on the way Ilooked and acted, but there’s more to me, and it hurt you.” She doesn’t go in there and get them fired. She teaches them alittle bit of alife lesson. That’s what resonates with people. People say, “Oh, Ihad my Pretty Woman moment.”
I forget what [Henry] Kissinger said about it, but it was something like, he met some diplomat, and then later the diplomat didn’t recognise him, and then later they recognised him and they were all apologetic. It doesn’t relate in any way to shopping, but it relates to people feeling like, “You don’t see the real me, you don’t appreciate me, you’re making abig mistake by judging me.”
