Richard Gere refused to go naked for Pretty Woman scenes
Richard Gere objected to a nude bathtub scene in 'Pretty Woman' as he didn't feel that it was necessary for the movie.
Richard Gere refused to do nude scenes in 'Pretty Woman'.
The movie's costume supervisor Dan Lester has revealed that the star didn't want his millionaire businessman Edward Lewis to bare all in a bathtub scene with prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) in the hit 1990 flick.
Lester told the Metro newspaper: "Julia's character was always fully developed but Richard's really wasn't. So he had a lot of input in changing things.
"I remember there was a bathtub scene and it started out with just Richard in the bath and they wanted him to be nude.
"And he's like, 'I'm not doing that'. He's like, 'This in this movie is not about that. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to be covered, whether it's bubbles or, you know, or the scene's going to take place outside. I'm not going to be naked in the bath'.
"And he got his way. He was right, that isn't what the movie was about."
Lester also revealed that the film's initial script was a lot darker than the story turned out to be.
He said: "The first script was dark. It was originally called $3,000 because that was the dollar amount (for hiring Ward for a week).
"It wasn't a fairytale. He didn't come back in the end and do all that."
Richard revealed last year that he turned down 'Pretty Woman' at first because he "didn't understand" it when he first read the script and couldn't see himself as a part of the film.
Speaking on the 'Awards Chatter' podcast, Richard said: "Let me be clear, I really like the movie. Initially, I didn’t understand it. There was no character. So I read this thing and I said, 'It’s not for me. To me it’s a suit that’s there in the movie'.
"[I said], 'I wouldn’t mind seeing the movie. But I don’t see myself doing this'."
Richard was eventually convinced to take the role after a meeting with Roberts.
Recalling a conversation with director Garry Marshall, the 75-year-old actor stated: "I said, 'She’s adorable. She’s great'. And while I’m talking to him, she takes a Post-It off of my desk and she writes on it something.
"Then she moves it across the table to me and it says, 'Please say yes'. So how could you say no to that?"
Following "a lot of rewrites", Richard had a "wonderful time" working on the movie and threw himself into the project.
He said: "We ended up really trying to find a character there that made sense within the structure and the essence of what that piece was.
"To make it heartfelt, to make it charming, make it fun, make it sexy, you know?
"And we all loved each other. Great trust, we had a wonderful time, and we had no idea that it was gonna be what it was."
