Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday
Theatrical release poster
Directed by William Wyler
Produced by William Wyler
Screenplay by
Story by Dalton Trumbo
Starring
Music by
Cinematography
Edited by Robert Swink
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • August 27, 1953 (1953-08-27)
Running time
 118 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Italian
Budget $1.5 million
Box office $12 million

Roman Holiday is a 1953 American romantic comedy film directed and produced by William Wyler. It stars Gregory Peck as a reporter and Audrey Hepburn as a royal princess out to see Rome on her own. Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance; the screenplay and costume design also won.

It was written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him. Trumbo's credit was reinstated when the film was released on DVD in 2003. On December 19, 2011, full credit for Trumbo's work was restored. Blacklisted director Bernard Vorhaus worked on the film as an assistant director under a pseudonym.[2][3]

It was shot at the Cinecittà studios and on location around Rome during the "Hollywood on the Tiber" era. The film was screened in the 14th Venice film festival within the official program.

In 1999, Roman Holiday was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Filmed on location, several scenes show landmarks such as the Spanish Steps.

Ann (Audrey Hepburn), a crown princess on a state visit to Rome, becomes frustrated with her tightly scheduled life and secretly leaves her country's embassy. The delayed effect of a sedative makes her fall asleep on a bench, where Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), an expatriate reporter for the "American News Service", finds her without recognizing who she is. Thinking she is intoxicated, Joe lets her spend the night in his apartment.

The next morning, Joe hurries off late to work and gives his editor, Mr. Hennessy (Hartley Power), false details of his press conference with the princess. When Hennessy informs him that the event had been cancelled and shows him a news item about her “sudden illness, " he realizes who it actually is in his apartment. Seeing an opportunity, Joe proposes getting an exclusive interview with the princess and Hennessy agrees.

Joe hurries home and, hiding the fact that he is a reporter, offers to show his guest "Anya" around Rome. He also calls his photographer friend, Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert), to tag along and secretly take pictures. However, Ann declines Joe's offer and leaves. Enjoying her freedom, she explores an outdoor market. Joe follows and ‘accidentally’ meets her on the Spanish Steps. This time he convinces her to spend the day with him and takes her to a street café, where he meets up with Irving. Later, when she tries to drive the Vespa on which he has taken her for a ride, they are arrested and only get away with it when he and Irving show their press passes.

Joe and Ann career through Rome on a Vespa scooter

That night, at a dance on a boat, government agents called in by the embassy track Ann down and try to force her away. Ann takes part in the fight that breaks out, during which Joe is ambushed and falls into the river and Ann jumps in to save him. After they swim away and police arrest the agents, they share a kiss as they sit shivering on the riverbank. Later, knowing her royal responsibilities must resume, Ann bids a tearful farewell to Joe and returns to the embassy.

Meanwhile, Hennessy has come to suspect that the princess was not ill as claimed and tries to get Joe to admit what he knows about it. Joe, however, has decided not to write the story, although he later tells Irving that he is free to sell his photographs. They then leave for the postponed press conference at the embassy, surprising Princess Ann.

At the end of the interview, the princess unexpectedly asks to meet the journalists, shaking hands and speaking briefly with each. As she reaches Joe and Irving, the latter presents her with an envelope containing the photographs he had taken. After the interview ends, Joe walks away alone.

Cast

Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley

Wyler first offered the role to Hollywood favorite Cary Grant. Grant declined,[4] believing he was too old to play Hepburn's love interest (though he played opposite her ten years later in Charade.) Other sources say Grant declined because he knew all of the attention would be centered around the princess.[5] Peck's contract gave him solo star billing, with newcomer Hepburn listed much less prominently in the credits. Halfway through the filming, Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing—an almost unheard-of gesture in Hollywood.

Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann (Anya "Smitty" Smith)

Wyler had initially considered Elizabeth Taylor and Jean Simmons for this role, but both were unavailable.[6] Wyler was very excited to find Hepburn, but he did not choose her until after a screen test. Wyler was not able to stay and film this himself, but told the assistant director to ask the cameraman and the sound man to continue recording after the assistant director said "cut" so that she would be seen in a relaxed state after having performed a dignified, subdued scene from the film.[7] The candid footage won her the role; some of it was later included in the original theatrical trailer for the film, along with additional screen test footage showing Hepburn trying on some of Ann's costumes and even cutting her own hair (referring to a scene in the film). Roman Holiday was not Hepburn's first acting appearance (she had appeared in Dutch and British films from 1948; and on stage, including the title role in a Broadway adaptation of Gigi) but it was her first major film role and first appearance in an American film. Wyler wanted an "anti-Italian" actress who was different from the curvy Italian maggiorate like Gina Lollobrigida, and said that "She was perfect .... his new star had no arse, no tits, no tight-fitting clothes, no high heels. In short a Martian. She will be a sensation".[8]

Joe, "Smitty" and Irving al fresco, just before Joe knocks over Irving's chair to silence him.

Supporting cast

Eddie Albert as Irving Radovich
Hartley Power as Hennessy, Joe's editor
Harcourt Williams as the Ambassador of Princess Ann's country
Margaret Rawlings as Countess Vereberg, Ann's principal lady-in-waiting
Tullio Carminati as General Provno
Paolo Carlini as Mario Delani
Claudio Ermelli as Giovanni
Paola Borboni as the Charwoman
Laura Solari as Secretary
Alfredo Rizzo as Taxi Driver
Gorella Gori as Shoe Seller

Filming locations

The film was shot entirely in Rome and in the studios of Cinecittà:

Reception

The film earned an estimated $3 million at the North American box office during its first year of release.[9]

Due to the film's popularity, both Peck and Hepburn were approached about filming a sequel, but this project never got off the ground.[10]

Awards

Wins

* Award was initially given to Ian McLellan Hunter, since he took story credit on blacklisted Trumbo's behalf. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences later credited the win to Trumbo. In 1993, Trumbo's widow Cleo received her late husband's award.[12]

The film was first slated for production in color on the backlot, but the filming in Rome was so much more expensive that it had to be done in black and white.

Nominations

Accolades

In 1999, Roman Holiday was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

American Film Institute included the film as #4 in its AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions, and as #4 in the romantic comedy category in its AFI's 10 Top 10.

Adaptations

The film was remade for television in 1987 with Tom Conti and Catherine Oxenberg, who is herself a member of a European royal family. An unofficial Tamil-language adaptation, titled May Madham, was released in 1994.[13]

The Richard Curtis film Notting Hill has been likened to "a 90's London-set version of Roman Holiday".[14] There are a number of allusions to it in the film, in which the princess character is replaced with "Hollywood royalty" and the commoner is a British bookshop owner.[15]

Paramount Pictures has since licensed three adaptations of Roman Holiday into musicals:

  • In 2012, a musical stage version, following the plot while using the songs of Cole Porter, was presented in Minneapolis. The book adaptation was done by Paul Blake (Beautiful: The Carole King Story).[16] It was scheduled for a run in San Francisco in summer 2017 before going on to Broadway.[17][18]
  • Another version was staged in 2004 in Rome under the title Vacanze Romane using the Cole Porter score, supplemented with music by Italian film composer Armando Trovajoli. This production is performed annually at the Teatro Sistina in Rome and on tour in Italy and Spain.[19]
  • A version entirely in Japanese with a completely different score was produced in 1998 by Toho [Japanese Theatre Company].[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Writers Guild of America (December 19, 2011). "WGA Restores Blacklisted Writer Dalton Trumbo's Screen Credit On 'Roman Holiday'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ Cheryl Devall, Paige Osburn (December 19, 2011). "Blacklisted writer gets credit restored after 60 years for Oscar-winning film". 89.3 KPCC. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  3. ↑ Verrier, Richard (December 19, 2011). "Writers Guild restores screenplay credit to Trumbo for 'Roman Holiday'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  4. ↑ Jaynes, Barbara Grant; Trachtenberg, Robert. Cary Grant: A Class Apart. Burbank, California: Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Turner Entertainment. 2004.
  5. ↑ DVD special feature
  6. ↑ "Remembering Roman Holiday", special feature on the DVD
  7. ↑ According to Wyler's daughter, the producer Catherine Wyler, in the DVD's special feature "Remembering Roman Holiday".
  8. ↑ Levy, Shawn (2016). Dolce Vita Confidential. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 112. ISBN 9781474606158.
  9. ↑ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1953', Variety, January 13, 1954
  10. ↑ "Roman Holiday (1953) - Articles - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  11. ↑ "NY Times: Roman Holiday". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
  12. ↑ McLellan, Dennis (2011-01-12). "Christopher Trumbo dies at 70; screen and TV writer whose father was blacklisted". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  13. ↑ "சுட்ட படம்" [Stolen film]. Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). 19 March 2016. Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017. (subscription required)
  14. ↑ Derek Elley, Variety, 30 April 1999
  15. ↑ Peter Bradshaw, "My Guilty Pleasure:Notting Hill", The Guardian, 17 March 2014
  16. ↑ "Roman Holiday".
  17. ↑ "Stephanie Styles, Drew Gehling, Jarrod Spector, Sara Chase to Star in Roman Holiday". TheaterMania.com. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  18. ↑ Hetrick, Adam. "Broadway-Bound 'Roman Holiday' Musical Sets Complete Cast" Playbill, April 6, 2017
  19. ↑ "VACANZE ROMANE
    dal 21 ottobre"    .
  20. ↑ "Musical Adaptation of Roman Holiday Coming to Tokyo Oct. '98 - Playbill".
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