"Roman holidays": actors without whom it is impossible to imagine a film

The love story of a young princess and a reporter, developing against the backdrop of the beautiful views of Rome, has long become a classic and has become popular with the viewer. Now it is difficult to imagine that the actors of the film "Roman holidays", playing the role of the main characters, could be different, and romantic events take place in another city. But such an opportunity existed. Fortunately, a string of circumstances developed into a bizarre pattern, and the picture turned out to be exactly what her fans of cinema loved forever.

The summary of the film

In William Wyler's romantic comedy The Roman Holiday, actors Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck told the viewer a fairy tale about the love of a princess and a simple reporter. Princess Anna (Hepburn) comes to Rome during the European tour. As a representative of the royal family, she is obliged to take part in numerous receptions and meetings. Tired of official duties, Anna takes a sedative to sleep, but she does not succeed.

Rome worries the imagination of the princess and leads to adventure. She secretly gets out of the embassy to explore the city on her own. But soon the sleeping pills begin to act, and Anna meets American reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) while trying to sleep on a bench in the park. Joe tries to help the girl to return home by taxi, but instead of her address, sleepy Anna pronounces the name of the ancient amphitheater "Colosseum".

Having circled the city in unsuccessful attempts to find the girl's house, Joe eventually leads Anna to her home so she can get enough sleep and recover. The next day Joe goes to work, leaving Anna asleep in her house. In the editorial on the first page of the newspaper, he sees Anna's photo and realizes that his real princess is sleeping at his house, which is searched by the entire city police. Joe feels that he has a real sensation in his hands and he can get an exclusive interview with the princess. Such a chance to become famous Joe will not miss.

He decides not to tell Anna that she recognized her as a princess and continue her communication. For Anna and Joe, Roman holidays begin. Actors later admitted that during the filming in Rome fell in love with the ancient city in the same way as their heroes, although the public suspected that there were feelings between them. Soon young people fall in love with each other, but any fairy tale ends sooner or later.

The princess returns to the embassy and takes up her duties, and the enamored Joe refuses to write about joint adventures, leaving the time spent with Anna only in her memory. Before leaving Italy, Princess Anna gives a press conference and, meeting her eyes with Joe, says that she fell in love with Rome forever and will never forget him.

The film "Roman Holidays": actors and roles

Initially, the management of the "Paramount" studio planned to shoot a film in Hollywood, but director William Wyler refused categorically. He was in Europe because he feared persecution of the US authorities for his liberal political position and sought to shoot far away from the United States. At that time, the House of Representatives Committee on the investigation of anti-American activities began to hunt for "red witches" and under suspicion all dissidents got into trouble.

The choice to shoot the picture fell on Rome, as the studio "Paramount" limited the creators of the film in the budget. Since some of their funds were frozen in Italy, it became possible to use the money for the intended purpose. It's interesting that in the movie "Roman holidays" the actors performing the main roles were not approved right away.

In the role of Princess Anna, the director saw Elizabeth Taylor, but the actress had a tight schedule and shooting in Rome did not suit her. Then it was decided to try the beginning actress Audrey Hepburn, on the samples she fascinated the director and was approved for the role. Her partner on the site was to become Cary Grant, but the actor refused, he considered himself too old to play a love story paired with young Audrey in the film "Roman holidays".

Actors ten years later still met on the set of the movie "Farce", where Hepburn and Grant played lovers, but so far the role of John was approved by Gregory Peck.

Interesting Facts

In the film, several scenes were taken from the first take. One of the most memorable actors and director is "The Mouth of Truth". According to the plot, the heroes had to check the sincerity of their words, putting their hand into the marble mouth of the ancient bas-relief called "The Mouth of Truth". A resourceful journalist, removing a brush from his stone mouth, hid it under the sleeve of his jacket, as if a graven image had bitten off her for a lie. But Audrey Hepburn no one reported this turn of the story, so when Gregory Peck imitated the bitten off hand, the actress's fright was real, and the scene was taken from the first take.

It was the other way around, for example, when the scene was shot, where the princess says the words of Joe's farewell, the inexperienced Hepburn was unable to give the required tears. Directed by William Wyler cursed the actress for the amount of film spent and Hepburn burst into tears, and the scene was successfully filmed.

"Roman Vacations": actors and roles that changed their lives

Audrey Hepburn won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1953 for her role as Princess Anne. At the ceremony, she received an award from the highly respected president of the Academy, Gene Hersholt. After receiving the Oscar, Audrey kissed the president on the lips with excitement, instead of cheek. An embarrassed actress could not recover for several minutes while in the ladies' room. When she was ready to go out to the press and pose before the cameras on the steps of the theater center in New York, Audrey realized she had forgotten the statuette. Therefore, before making his famous photo with "Oscar", the actress had to return behind him a ladies' room.

The role of Princess Anna brought Hepburn world popularity and forever changed her life. When Gregory Peck came to Italy for filming, he was depressed about his recent separation from his first wife Greta Kukkonen. But the spark that flowed between him and Audrey while working on the film, healed the actor. Soon he met and fell in love with a Frenchwoman named Veronica Passani, they were married and stayed together for life.