In the classic Touchstone Pictures romantic comedy Pretty Woman, a relatively unknown redhead named Julia Roberts got her big break when she landed the star-making role of street-walker-with-a-heart-of-gold Vivian Ward. In this unforgettable scene from the film, which was captured in one take, Richard Gere suddenly closes the jewelry box on Julia’s hand — visibly surprising the actress, who didn’t expect Gere’s impromptu acting impulse. Today, it’s hard to imagine the film without Roberts in the lead role, but at the time, she was far from the producers’ first choice. A string of A-list actresses, including Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daryl Hannah, turned down the role leaving it wide open for Julia, and the rest, as they say, is history.
