No one noticed this giant blooper in the iconic Pretty Woman!

Pretty Woman is one of those rare films that refuses to age. No matter how many times you watch it, it still hits the same sweet spot — Gere’s quiet charm, Roberts’ irresistible spark, the fantasy, the humor, the chemistry. But for a movie so familiar, it’s surprising how many wild behind-the-scenes twists, casting near-misses, and flat-out bloopers slipped past almost everyone for decades.

And that “giant blooper” everyone somehow missed? We’ll get there. But first, the movie you know almost didn’t exist at all.

The film that became Pretty Woman started as something completely different. The original script, written by then-unknown J.F. Lawton, wasn’t a fairy tale or a glossy rom-com — it was dark, sharp, and angry. Titled 3,000, it dug into the ugly gaps between rich and poor, corporate greed, and the brutality of life on L.A.’s margins. Vivian wasn’t written as a Cinderella figure; she was a beaten-down survivor. Edward was colder. The ending wasn’t tender — it was transactional.

And then Disney stepped in.

The studio decided Americans didn’t need another harsh drama. They wanted charm, romance, fantasy — something that felt good, not gritty. So the script morphed, softened, sparkled up. The result was the movie we know today: one of the most iconic romantic comedies ever made, the one that turned Richard Gere and Julia Roberts into global superstars.

What’s wild is how differently the casting could have gone. Believe it or not, Al Pacino was the front-runner for Edward Lewis. He even sat down with Julia Roberts for a reading. Pacino liked the script but ultimately passed. He never said why. But he was floored by Roberts.

“You could tell this was going to be a hit. She was phenomenal,” he later admitted.

Gary Marshall, the director, had the same feeling. Roberts was relatively unknown, but her spark was obvious.

Still, Gere wasn’t sold at first. He wasn’t interested in doing a rom-com. He saw Edward as thinly drawn — “criminally underwritten,” as he put it years later. He said the character was basically “a suit and a good haircut.”

But Roberts wasn’t letting him get away.

During one meeting, she wrote something on a scrap of paper and slid it across the desk to him. Gere flipped it over.

Please say yes.

And just like that, he did.

Once filming started, the chemistry was so real it practically rolled off the screen. Director Garry Marshall once described walking down a hallway and finding Roberts and Gere alone, standing at opposite ends, silently staring at each other — and he instantly knew the movie would work. Gere later said they talked “three or four times a day” during filming and remained close long afterward.

But the shoot itself wasn’t without its hilariously sloppy moments — including one of the most obvious continuity errors in movie history that went unnoticed by almost everyone.

Remember the breakfast scene? Vivian starts off eating a croissant. Then suddenly — magically — the croissant becomes a pancake. Then the pancake changes shape. Then the bites change. Then the pancake becomes a fresh pancake all over again.

The reason? Gary Marshall liked Roberts’ performance in the later takes better, and she happened to be eating a pancake that day. So they kept it — continuity be damned.

That wasn’t the only wardrobe or prop mistake.

Take Vivian’s condoms — neatly arranged in one shot, scrambled in the next, back to neat in the third. Or Gere’s outfit during the polo match. At first, he wears a straight-collar shirt and a half-Windsor knot. Minutes later, his collar magically becomes a spread style and the tie shifts to a full Windsor. Even the tiniest wardrobe details shifted depending on the take.

Wardrobe, though, was mostly a triumph — especially Vivian’s iconic red dress for the opera. It symbolized everything about her transformation: power, poise, confidence, elegance. Vogue called it “sexy without losing a drop of class.” Costume designer Marilyn Vance created six unforgettable outfits for Roberts, including the famous brown-and-white polka dot dress worn at the horse race. That dress was made from old silk Vance found in a tiny, nearly forgotten fabric shop in Los Angeles. The shoes? Chanel, naturally.

Edward’s wardrobe may have looked effortless, but it was all meticulously planned. Vance dressed Gere in a curated palette of browns, blues, and gray-blues to project a cool, restrained power. And that tie Vivian snatches in the boutique? It wasn’t luxury. It wasn’t special. It was $48 from a small L.A. shop.

Then there’s the infamous shopping spree scene. The “obscene” spending montage on Rodeo Drive? According to Vance, that trip would have cost at least $30,000 — in 1990 money. Vivian wasn’t just getting pampered; she was being fully re-invented.

Still, Gere had mixed feelings about Edward Lewis. At one point he said:

“Basically, he’s just a suit.”

Yet in one improvised scene — the piano moment — he poured his real personality into the film. Marshall asked him what he usually did alone at night in hotels. Gere confessed: he found a piano and played, usually because he was jet-lagged. Marshall told him, “Alright, let’s use that.” Gere sat down and played something moody, something that reflected Edward’s inner life. Roberts reacted, the camera rolled, and one of the sexiest scenes in the movie was born — not scripted, not planned, just real.

Off-screen, the chemistry between Roberts and Gere kept growing. They adored each other, laughing on set, talking constantly, and building a bond that made the film work. Roberts later said she “begged” him to take the role because she couldn’t imagine anyone else playing Edward.

It’s a good thing she did — because Pretty Woman without Gere and Roberts is unthinkable.

And that’s the magic of the movie. It wasn’t perfect — the bloopers, continuity errors, improvised scenes, last-minute casting decisions, and Disney-mandated rewrites created something messy but irresistible. The finished film is the result of instincts, accidents, compromises, and pure luck.

Yet somehow, the whole thing came together into a timeless story that still charms people today.

Pretty Woman may not be flawless, but that’s exactly why it’s unforgettable.