Pretty Woman

I know it's supposed to be Julia Roberts breakthrough, iconic performance. But I really don't get what she brought to the table that was THAT unique for the role. Unlike Steel Magnolias, where I feel she WAS Shelby, any of the following could have done Pretty Women just as well, if not better: Meg Ryan Molly Ringwald Ally Sheedy Jasmine Guy Valerie Bertinelli Jamie Lee Curtis Elizabeth Shoe Robin Givens Ricki Lake Nancy McKeon Bonnie Hunt Pam Dawber There was really nothing that Roberts personally brought to the table that made it her movie.

• Molly Ringwald turned down Pretty Woman.

• There are any number of actresses who could have done it better - Jennifer Tilly, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Oprah Winfrey. I mean, the list is endless.

• I always thought she was typecast as the stupid, gauche whore.

• OP, just out of curiosity, are you the same person who can't understand the appeal of All About Eve?

• You bring nothing special to the table, OP. Why are you breathing? It offends us.

• If you seriously think Valerie Bertinelli would have been as good in Pretty Woman as Julia Roberts, then there is no possibility of convincing you otherwise. You're a lost cause.

• That could've been a big comeback vehicle for Shelley Duvall.

• Molly has said that she was never given an official offer to do the movie. Hers was one of many names considered.

• Lisa Whelchel was the first choice. She turned it down so they settled on Julia.

  The Liar

• Shelley Winters!

• Gary Marshall originally wanted Madonna for the role, when the movie was called 3000. Madonna turned it down to make Dick Tracy and fuck Warren Beatty. True story. Google it. 3000, the original title, is of course the amount of money Gere offers Roberts.

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• Ally Sheedy would have been an interesting Pretty Woman.

• Speaking of Dick Tracy, isn't it funny how that movie is totally forgotten today? It was a big hit at the time and had a ton of merchandising tie-ins but now you never hear about it.

• What interesting about the OP's list is that most of these actresses are monumentally more talented than Julia Roberts. So the list is sort of a no-brainer. At any rate, I hated the movie just for launching that horse-mouthed, overexposed bitch into A-list stardom.

• Lucy wanted to do it, but Gary Morton didn't want her working for someone else named Garry.

• Neigh! Neigh!

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• Mimi Kennedy turned it down first, then Lorna Patterson.

• [quote]Nancy McKeon They would have had to have changed the title to "Bitch-Faced Woman."

• Michelle Pfeiffer would have been the best for it.

• Karen Bllack was being considered as well...but her lazy eye was needed for a TV movie of the week.

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• Shelley Hack, Sally Struthers and Sally Kellerman were all busy.

• [quote] They would have had to have changed the title to "Bitch-Faced Woman." I keep imagining Debi Mazar starring in that movie.

• Bitch faced woman Walking down the street Bitch faced woman Will kick you in the teeth Bitch faced woman Inhale her toxic queef...

• Mercy!

• Julia made the role her own.

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• drink your juice Shelby!

• I think Bette Midler could have rocked this role.

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• You mean except for the "pretty" part?

• I saw Pretty Woman on a date when it first came out. What did she have? She was a fresh face at the time, girl next door type, enthusiastic, comedic. Her character triumphs in the end and she was part of the fairytale.

• I was being completely serious with my post. And yes, I do think Bertinelli could have rocked the role. Julia was not convincing in that hooker outfit. She had the posture and strut of a man.

• I was being facetious, R28.

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• That's not a pretty list, OP. Molly Ringwald? She would've gummed up the screen.

• How plump was Valerie in the early 90s?

• That list is fucking hilarious, OP! Pam Dawber?! Oh, my sides! Seriously, W&W for you!

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• OP, you idiot. Don't you have better things to do with your time and life than think up such utterly stupid points of conversation? Have you no life at all?

• I think a woman of color should have been considered.

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• This is what Julia brought to the role...

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• [quote] I think a woman of color should have been considered Gosh, yes! Because a black woman had never played a prostitute before.....

• R11 I believe when the script was originally shopped around as 3000 it was supposed to star Kathy Moriarty and Sean Connery and was supposed to be much grittier.

• OP I thought this was a serious thread until I saw you had Nancy McKeon on your list.

• I hated Julia Roberts for years. Now that I see the crop of younger actresses I appreciate her. Watching Devil Wears Prada I kept imagining if Roberts had played the Hathaway role how much better it would have been. Roberts is incredibly limited but she's honest and like her or not in her early roles like PRETTY WOMAN, her honesty comes through.

• Pam dawber ?really

• I would have loved Jasmine Guy in this role... It would have been the campest movie ever.

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• [quote] Watching Devil Wears Prada I kept imagining if Roberts had played the Hathaway role how much better it would have been. Except the actress needed to be younger than Meryl Streep - a generation or more. Julia is younger but in that role would have come off like a Jerri Blank. Practically anyone would have been better in the role of Andie, however, than Anne Hathaway.

• Maybe they should of got one of the cast of the golden girls

• ugh! Roberts was a disaster in Steel Magnolias. Her big "drink your juice" scene is high camp because Roberts cannot act if she isn't doing her big horsy laugh. And don't get me started on that accent.

• I dislike Julia, but she was THE movie star of the 1990s. She's like Tom Cruise. I hate them both (him more), but denying that they had It is just silly.

• R45 Should HAVE.

• What about Pia Zadora?

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• Wasn't rikki lake pretty chunky back then..?

• [quote]but she was THE movie star of the 1990s Until...

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• EVERYONE IN PRETTY IN PINK. EVERYONE IN PRETTY IN PINK.

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• Samantha Mathis would have nailed it.

• If Molly Ringwald starred in the movie it would have been called "Pretty Ugly".

• [quote]If Molly Ringwald starred in the movie it would have been called "Pretty Ugly". I don't think so

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• I'm trying to picture Ricki Lake in this role. I keep flashing to Rosie O'Donnell in Exit to Eden, complete with leather bustier.

• Ricki Lake was in "Cry-Baby" in 1990, the same year as "Pretty Woman." I somehow don't think the studios would have gone with this look for any version of "Pretty Woman."

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• [quote]Michelle Pfeiffer would have been the best for it. I think Michelle is one of the most beautiful women in the world but she doesn't exactly give off warmth which is Julia's (only?) true talent as an actress.

• Jennifer Lawrence would be a good choice if they redid Pretty Woman.

• the obnoxious laugh, the big curly hair, the catapillar lip, the slumbering walk, were all new at the time. At least for a leading lady playing a hooker. She was not Kim B in LA Conf. Vivian was a plain jane hooker with a heart of gold. I think that was part of the appeal. Then she became the "it" girl cuz we had/have no imagination. That was the height of Julia's appeal. After that, her boobs, bitchyness, and that stupid fucking laugh did the work. She even tried that technique later in her career (don't remember the movie just the promos of her gawfawing) and it didn't hold up.

• R51 Actually, it wasn't Sandra that Julia started losing steam too... it was Cameron. That's why Julia made sure to make Cameron's life a living hell on the set of My Best Friend's Wedding.

• Julia was a star long before Sandra.

• True, R62, but when that spunky chick who drove the bus in "Speed" came onto the scene, the writing was pretty much on the wall for Julia that there was a new America's Sweetheart in town.

• You are correct R63.

• Sandra really didn't start becoming America's Sweetheart until the late 90's.

• [quote]Sandra really didn't start becoming America's Sweetheart until the late 90's. The media were already referring to her as the new America's Sweetheart when "While You Were Sleeping" came out, which was mid '90s.

• Valerie Bertinelli as a hooker? You've got to be kidding. NOBODY would havbe bought that. Cutesy Meg Ryan as a hooker? Nope, nobody would have believed that either. Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy...neither one was good-looking enough. Wholesome Pam Dawber as a hooker? No, it wouldn't have worked. Robin Givens had no talent. Ricki Lake? Richard Gere falls in love with Ricki Lake? HAHAHAHA! Nancy McKeon? Plain, butch nancy McKeon as an irresistible hooker? Again: HAHAHAHA!

• Exactly, R67. Julia had that "beat bitch" look down pat!

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• Jennifer Jason Leigh was also in the running.

• Valerie Bertinelli could have done it. It would have been different, but she has the chops. Molly Ringwald was gorgeous in her mid 20s.

• R69 Jennifer Jason Leigh would have been a perfect if they would have kept the original concept of the script.

• No one could have saved PW. It is awful big H dreck, the adult theme of prostitution given the Disney princess treatment. I detest this movie with every fiber of my being in the name of all that is sex & desire & longing & lust.

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• Michelle Pfeiffer. She was offered it first. No one else on that list fits the bill. Michelle does.

• [quote]denying that they had It is just silly This statement reminded me of a reality series from about 10 years ago. I think it was on Bravo and followed the lives on several wanna-be actors as they tried to make it in the business. It was called "The It Factor" and the first edition was set in New York and the second in LA. After the second edition aired, it vanished and I've often wondered what happened to all of the aspiring actors on the show. (The only one I remember clearly has done pretty well for herself, though mostly on the reality show side of things: Lisa Raye, who is on "Single Ladies" on VH1.) Anyone else remember this show?

• R73 Wasn't Pfeiffer a little long in the tooth to play Vivian?

• For the sequel, :Prettiest Woman," Cillian Murphy should star.

• R75 - She is a lot older than Julia, but looks young.

• THE most Gawd-awfullest movie ever!

• [quote]THE most Gawd-awfullest movie ever! That's your opinion, honey.

• On now on Oxygen