The love story of a young princess and a reporter,developing against the backdrop of beautiful views of Rome, has long become a classic and loved 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 exactly as it was forever loved by fans of cinematography.
In the romantic comedy of William Wyler "Romanvacation "actors Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck told the viewer a fairytale story 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 worried about the imagination of the princess and entailstowards 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 attemptsfind the girl's house, Joe eventually leads Anna to her house so she can 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 aboutthat she recognized her as a princess and continue to communicate. 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 proceedsto his duties, and the enamored Joe refuses to write about joint adventures, leaving the time spent with Anna, only in his memory. Before leaving Italy, Princess Anna gives a press conference and, meeting her eyes with Joe, says that she has fallen in love with Rome forever and will never forget it.
Initially, the management of the studio "Paramount"planned to make a film in Hollywood, but director William Wyler categorically refused. 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 US. 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 the dissidents got into trouble.
The choice for the filming of the painting fell on Rome, sincethe "Paramount" studio 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 is 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 ElizabethTaylor, but the actress had a busy 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 a young Audrey in the movie "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.
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, taking 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 about this turn of the plot, 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 round, for example, when the scene was shot,where the princess says the words of Joe's farewell, the inexperienced Hepburn was unable to give out the required tears. Director William Wyler cursed the actress for the amount spent and Hepburn burst into tears, and the scene was successfully filmed.
Audrey Hepburn for the role of Princess Anne receivedOscar "in the nomination" Best Actress "in 1953. 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 in front of 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 Anne brought Hepburn the worldpopularity 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.
