Gary W. Goldstein, Producer/Author/Instructor: At that time Michael Keaton was the lead actor.
Well the deal went awry. I don't know the details but the deal went awry so production
was sidelined…
Film Courage: What was the original version of Pretty Woman?
Gary: The original version was titled ‘Three Thousand’ spelled out which was the number
of dollars that Edward [Richard Gere] pays Vivian [Julia Roberts] for her companionship
for the week.
It was a drama, it was not a picture where boy and girl end up together and in some ways
it was a much more realistic story.
And I think it was very reflective of the writers…sort of the world that he lived
in and the way he was feeling about things at the time.
But there was something undeniably here's what I would say about it Jonathan [J. F.
Lawton, screenwriter] when he was in film school he kept writing these very complex
really interesting leading women characters and I remember one of our early conversations
before we started working together he let on that one of his professors presumably a
male as I recall wagged his finger at him and basically said you know leave that alone
let the women write women characters you focus on blah blah which was like waving a red flag
in front of a bull. John one of the things I’d say that we shared in common was a certain
reverence for women and that showed up in all of his scripts no matter how flawed and
they were all flawed but they were absolutely magnificent and one of the things I would
say about his character his women elite lead women characters was that they were inevitably
the moral superior in every given any given story and I would say that was one of the
things that really stood out for me in this sort of grittier world of Hollywood or the
collision of these two worlds the investment banker from New York and the girl from the
streets of Hollywood coming together this unlikely duo where he had a certain wound
a certain skepticism a certain you know agenda based on his relationship with his dad and
his life experience his current girlfriend and then she despite her circumstances was
this ineffable spirit who had this sort of moral code she was just a delightful character
who's making the best of her circumstances and there was something so alluring to me
about her in this original script Three Thousand. So while it didn't end well I just saw that
the relationship and who she was was such a unexpected construction and I figure I’m
like a really good audience I’m like I am almost like the perfect audience to read a
script I don't read it when I get a script I never read it as if i'm the producer I try
not to read it as up on the director or the financier or the distributor or any of those
hats the closest thing I would say is I try to read it as if I’m going to be the lead
actor but more importantly I try to read it as if I am the audience because that's ultimately
who I am right and that script was was I a must-see story for me so my belief in it was
a thousand percent it was like it wouldn't matter how many no's I heard that was going
to be I was going to do anything possible to get that film made and originally it was
intended to be made as a scripted as a lower budgeted you know several million dollar independent
film because it was set in just a room in a hotel right we didn't have a lot of production
value to worry about but I guess the the authenticity of both the lead characters was so undeniable.
It was written like he knew these people deeply and then the supporting cast Jonathan had
a gift as well there's no such thing as a secondary character they may be supporting
they may not have a lot of dialogue or page count but no one in that story is not important
even the hotel manager even the elevator operator even before it became a comedy you could see
we were witnessing with and through the eyes of these people and they were so interesting
in their own right so it was I don't know if that answers your question but it was absolutely
a mesmerizing read how obsessed were you with the screenplay when you first read it I wish
I could take it back to the moment I closed the script cover because it was a script that
I know that if I can't stop reading which I didn't I read it cover to cover in one sitting
which is not that extraordinary but it's a good sign but what I know when I closed the
screen cover I was speechless like I had just experienced something, probably the most special
script at that young juncture of my career that I’d read to date and I could see it
it's it's there's something about a brilliant screenplay that draws you and it takes you
on a journey that is so detailed and and emotive where the characters are so different or unexpected
that you feel yourself literally being pulled into the story and
that was the case with Three Thousand it was certainly I was devastated at the end but
apart from the being devastated because of the reality of the story and the experience
of the characters when I closed that script however I was a bit stunned into silence like
I know I have a movie I for the first time you know this is like I want this to be a
movie I produce it's the first time I said that to myself and I don't really you know
honestly it's almost like you go blank after that and I don't remember all the particular
conversations that we had but I know I immediately reached out to Jonathan and said I am so happy
we're working together this is this is a special script are fascinating creatures and sometimes
there's something that really stands out it might be a particular character it might be
the world it might be the descriptions it could be dialogue it could there was something
about Three Thousand where the whole of it was just right and all of it drew me in.
What was interesting was when I finished reading it I was so excited and yet I was also very
pragmatic I realized I was still relatively new in the business I mean certainly I hadn't
produced except for a couple of micro budget little you know but I hadn't produced anything
the world knew and Jonathan was still relatively unknown he was not yet an established name
but what I held in my hand merited a lot of attention and the question was how do I get
from here to there how do I create that energy and the one thing that occurred to me was
I think this is such an artful compelling beautifully crafted story that it lives at
the level of the early like extremely rarefied atmosphere that was Sundance institute so
I called up I had befriended Michelle Satter who sat at the right hand of Robert Redford
since day one building the institute building the festival and all that it had become and
they had all these beautiful labs and workshops and they had one called the production lab
where they would pick I don't know a limited number eight ten perhaps projects and invite
them once a year it was maybe a week-long event and you would go to Utah and you would
workshop the project meaning you would have a level talent show up all these resource
people would show for free editors cinematographers actors you name it and so you would take that
script and break it down and you'd start videotaping scenes with these actors and sort of trying
to you know find what's working how to improve it etc so I sent it to Michelle and she quite
quickly called me back and said I want this project I want you I want to invite you guys
to come as the writer producer so we did and it was one of those exalted moments that you'll
never forget because when you're still relatively you know you're you're at the lower end of
the ladder you're climbing the ladder and then you're invited to Sundance already amazing
but beyond that one day I remember I could I see the scene I’m sitting there and there
are actors and there are the video cameras and Jonathan's there and a bunch of other
people and we have these wonderful actors playing Edward and Vivian and we shot a scene
and suddenly I hear a voice whispering notes in my ear what if and I look just like I thought
I was dreaming this man that was whispering in my ear was Paul Hirsch editor of Star Wars
editor of you know an Oscar winning you know like 50 of the greatest films ever and he
is offering me creative notes it was like I died and gone to heaven, it was a magical
experience to see this sort of come to life in that venue and of course Hollywood took
notice that was the whole idea well one of the inciting ideas was I want people to I
want this in the trades I want people to see that by association this is a quality project
and that and it worked the phone started ringing people were very interested it started to
have this sort of create this this cause celeb this buzz this energy
the script had a consistent it's been taught in film schools it had that sort of consistent
response it was one of those rare scripts that sort of hits everybody where they live
everyone can relate to the humanity of this story and so we were very blessed that way
and that you know obviously like every film it travels a very twisted journey and it goes
off the cliff here and it dies by a thousand paper cuts over there and and so on but you
stay with it and I don't know if i've ever shared the I sent it wide option to best run
and then I got it back out and then I optioned it to new regency and we were still stalled
we couldn't get it financed or cast Richard had Richard Garry turned the project down
and during that time back when I was at restaurant I had friends Mark and Scott who produced
Mystic Pizza which is just such a brilliant film and when the lights came up of this little
friends and family screening to get feedback before they locked picture I had I had no
criticism to offer but I saw this girl on the screen and I said I don't know who she
is but will you introduce me and that was Julia Roberts and they did they were very
kind and Julia and her then manager read it and was attached for three years before we
actually went into production
but unexpectedly because Hollywood is nothing if not non-linear right it's full of surprise
so I sent it to someone I had known when he was a junior a lesser executive somewhere
and then he became a senior vp at touchstone and I sent it as a writing sample saying this
is not Disney material it's about a prostitute but you're going to absolutely flip you're
going to fall in love with the craft this writer is someone you need to know and we're
going to come in a week heads you'll read it we'll come in next week and we will pitch
you a couple of more Disney appropriate stories it was only several days before the phone
rang and and and the call was we want to buy it and I was taken a little back and I said
gosh are we talking about the same script well we were and I mean there's a there's
a lesson in this for everyone in this business like you cannot know what's happening behind
the curtain you don't know all the forces or influences that are at play Disney touchstone
in this case had a the wonderful project what about bob and it was going in depression with
Garry Marshall directing and Dianne Critten and casting in the full Laura Siskind line
producing and they had the full team and at that time Michael Keaton was the lead actor
well the deal went awry I don't know the details but the deal went awry so production was sidelined
and they thought gosh we have Garry we have this team assembled and they looked at our
script and thought great we'll create a marriage. so there was this meeting a week later that
was no longer a pitch meeting it was about we want to buy this script and we just want
to know can you lighten it the question actually from the president of the studio was on the
Disney lightning scale this is a foreign we'd like it to be a seven can you do that and
I answered absolutely yes we can do that because it was pretty evident what they were asking
and
as a result we not only inherited I mean I’m not so brilliant that I would have thought
of Garry Marshall directing this particular film and we were fortunate because i'd never
had a big studio a major director and a deep pocket so I went back to Richard Gere's agent
Ed Lamotto and said please because Ed loved the project would you go back to Richard now
and the studio backed it and they made him the sort of the godfather offer that you couldn't
refuse and so Richard finally said yes and the beauty of that was they've been auditioning
and meeting and screen testing many many many actors both for the male and female lead and
you know it's it's there's sort of a lot of it's it's public information there's you know
the long list of name actors and actresses who who who sort of paraded through and fortunately
many of them declined either passed on it or whatever for whatever reason it didn't
happen but Julia was not on their radar she was like an unknown actress at the time she
had shot steel magnolias but it hadn't come out and she was so you know Mystic Pizza wonderful
movie but she was not yet sort of well known to either the public or or the studios but
now with Richard if you have your anchor tenant right then it was like okay now this is possible
just maybe I just wanted them to screen test together that would have been all my dream
right and so I you know I lobbied and said you know this is but it had to be Gary Marshall
and the idea was Garry meet her alone just the two of you and you're going to fall in
love and that happened so when Garry Marshall versus Gary W. Goldstein says to the c-suite
of Hollywood of a major studio this is my girl I want to screen test it happened and
once they did it was it was so undeniable so the journey of a film is so unknowable
so unpredictable and that we ended up with our dreamcast and it turns out a dream director
I didn't know was even in my dream is it's you know it's the stuff that you can't you
can't make up just happens.
Question For The Viewers: What did you like about this video?