'There was something icky about it': Molly Ringwald reveals why she didn't take up Julia Roberts' 'Pretty Woman' role
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘Pretty in Pink’ star Molly Ringwald, 55, revealed recently in an interview her reasons behind turning down the iconic role in the movie ‘Pretty Woman’ and passing it onto Julia Roberts. The 'Sixteen Candles’ star remarked, "Julia Roberts was wonderful in it, but I didn't really like the story.”
Talking to The Guardian, the ‘Riverdale’ alum further said, "Even then, I felt like there was something icky about it." The film that ultimately featured Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in lead roles revolves around the story of a prostitute being hired by a businessman to be his date.
Earlier in a Reddit AMA in 2012, the mother-of-three recalled giving the movie a miss, "I think I saw an early draft and it was called $3,000. I don't specifically remember turning it down," before adding, "The script was okay, but I gotta say, Julia Roberts is what makes that movie. It was her part. Every actor hopes for a part that lets them shine like that." Indeed, the movie went on to become a huge hit earning Roberts an Oscar nomination.
‘I didn’t feel comfortable with that level of stardom’
In the same interview, ‘The Pick-Up Artist’ star also talked about how she was the face of the ideal American girl and the pressure that accompanied that moniker, “It’s hard to grow up under that. I don’t want to overdo this – and boohoo, I fully recognize my privilege – but I needed to get out from under all that scrutiny,” before adding, “I just wasn’t cut out for it in a way that certain other people are. Some people are really good at it. Taylor Swift is amazing! But I didn’t feel comfortable with that level of stardom.”
She also mourned how the "darker” and more serious roles were unavailable to her, “I didn’t really feel like darker roles were available to me. The ones that I wanted to do, I didn’t get. I was too young for certain roles. I was at this weird in-between stage.”
When she was 20 in 1988, Ringwald recalled how she could not land a role in Mike Nichols’ comedy about a young woman struggling in the corporate world — ‘Working Girl’ — as the director said to her, “‘She really needs to be at that moment where you feel the pain',” and added thereafter, “‘You have your whole life ahead of you – nobody’s going to believe that of you'.”
‘Because I feel like I understood her’
The actress, who has since then written a novel, has now translated the memoir of Maria Schneider, ‘My Cousin Maria Schneider’, by Vanessa Schneider. Talking about the project, which she initially rejected, gave the reason, “I felt my experience as an actor would only bring more to the project. Because I feel like I understood her.” However, she later changed her mind and went on to take up the translation work.