#以书之名#
Author: Lin Xiaoye
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Released October 5, 1961)
Nowadays, there is a genre film in the film industry called "chick movies", but whether it is the plot, cast, influence, or even the theme song, it is difficult for the new generation of chick movies to surpass their originator - "Breakfast at Tiffany's"!
Today, the editor will talk to you about this classic starring Audrey Hepburn, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in front of and behind the scenes, peripheral anecdotes, lace scandals, and tell you something you don't know!
I.. The female lead actress expected by the author of the original novel was Monroe
Truman Capot (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984)
Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany's, was born in New Orleans on September 30, 1924, and was childhood playmates with writer Harper Lee.
"Dier" in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" was inspired by Truman Capote.
Right one: Dill from the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Breakfast at Tiffany's was published in 1958 and is Truman Capote's masterpiece. He has been selected as one of Time Magazine's Top 100 Romance Novels.
When this novel was released in China, it was the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami who wrote the introduction, and he commented-
Truman Capote confessed that as he wrote this book, he kept thinking of Marilyn Monroe.
He was so obsessed with Monroe that he said in an interview:
Truman Capote insisted that "Breakfast at Tiffany's" star Monroe, but his wish was ultimately disappointed.
II.. Neither the male or female lead actor is the first choice
In fact, neither the woman nor the man in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" were originally selected, and the first ones to be decided were Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis.
The two have just become a hot pair of CPs because of the comedy "Passion as Fire"!
《热情如火》Some Like It Hot（上映于1959年3月29日）
Monroe was a little hesitant at the time, and went to ask her acting teacher, Lee Strasberg, who said categorically:
First from right: Lee Strasberg (November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982)
Monroe immediately quit and decisively joined another crew - "On the Verge of Collapse".
In the new crew, Monroe also brought Mr. Li's daughter Susan as a personal guide. Every time the director shouts "click", Monroe must be approved by Susan behind the camera, and she will confirm her approval and continue to shoot the next scene.
After several times, George Cook, the director of "On the Verge of Collapse", finally collapsed!
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" was released by Monroe, and then Tony Curtis was also fired by the crew.
In his autobiography published in 2008, Tony Curtis declassified that he was originally invited by his friend and director of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Blake Edwards, but Hepburn's husband Mel Feller was angry and he didn't like his wife working with this young man.
Hepburn, like Monroe, was also quite persuasive, so the male lead was replaced by George Peppard.
George Peppard (October 1, 1928 – May 8, 1994)
III. Holly's cat, the Oscar star of the cats
In the film, although Holly's orange tabby cat is called, outside the movie, it is famous!
The cat actor's name is Orangey, and he won a cat Oscar, the Patsy Award, for his debut film "The History of Cat Catching and Laughing" in 1951
Rhubarb (1950)
After Olange's Breakfast at Tiffany's, he won another Patsy Award, which made him a double star!
The most legendary thing in this movie is not only Olange, but also its animal trainer Frank Inn, who says that cats have nine lives, and it is this animal trainer who really has nine lives in real life!
IV.. Frank Inn, the fateful animal trainer
Let's send a photo to show you the owner of Big Orange, Frank Inn! This is a Hollywood legend!
Legendary Beast Tamer: Frank Inn (May 8, 1916 – July 27, 2002)
Because of this old man, the editor found out that foreigners still have the surname "inn"?
Born in Indiana on May 8, 1916, Frank Inn broke into Hollywood at the age of 17, first as a maintenance worker at MGM.
One day, Frank Inn was running over by a truck while walking on the road, and he was pronounced dead by the doctors who arrived.
His body was sent to a funeral school for students to learn embalming. Luckily, an attentive student noticed that his heart was still beating, and Frank was rushed to the hospital.
While recuperating from his injuries, Frank finds a stray dog in the back garden of the hospital, which he names "Jeep". After recovering, Frank returned to work with his Jeep, just as MGM needed a puppy actor and took his Jeep with him, and the reluctant Frank took the initiative to train Jeep and embarked on the road of animal trainer.
Frank Inn has domesticated animals throughout his life, winning a total of 40 Patsey Awards!
IV: During the filming of the first scene, the lighting workers were almost electrocuted
In the first scene of the opening scene, Holly eats breakfast while staring at the jewels in the window, and the morning light on the street is shimming, everything is quiet and beautiful.
But in fact, during the filming of this scene, the surrounding area was crowded with onlookers, and the filming work fell into chaos for a while.
The most pitiful thing is that Hepburn didn't like to eat croissants in the first place, so he had to eat one after another with NG again and again.
At this moment, there was a scream from the crowd, followed by an exclamation, it turned out that the crew gaffer was pushed by the crowd, stepped on the power line and passed out.
Hepburn had to fight hard and concentrate on the filming work.
V.. Landlord actors have a lot of backgrounds
Mickey Rooney (September 23, 1920 – April 7, 2014)
Many fans don't like the landlord Aoki, yes, in the original book it's a Japanese.
The story of the novel takes place in 1943, a product of a specific era.
The audience mainly felt that "Aoki" lowered the appearance of the whole movie! In fact, this actor is very big.
He had been a star since 1924, even though he was only four years old!
Mickey Rooney's most famous identity is Ava Gardner's husband.
The two married on January 10, 1942, both for the first time, but officially divorced just a year later, on May 21, 1943.
Although Mickey Rooney has married seven more wives in his life, he still travels to London from time to time to visit Ava Gardner. Ava was the first to be given a ticket to a performance in London, and in the months leading up to her death, Mickey often stood guard at his ex-wife's hospital bedside.
Mickey Rooney is close friends with Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, who are also child stars. After Judy's death in June 1969, Mickey was chosen to be the funeral celebrant, but the plan was vetoed by Judy's daughter, Lisa, who said:
Mickey Rooney was a hard worker, and he had three films left before his death in 2014 at the age of 94.
Mickey Rooney holds a "Guinness World Record" for the world's longest acting career, and his acting career lasted for a total of 86 years from 1925 to 2011!
At the 55th Academy Awards in 1983, Mickey Rooney was awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award". Jim Carrey insisted on being the presenter because he was a fan of Mickey Rooney!
The 55th Academy Awards on April 11, 1983
It is said that actors who are born as child stars will have a very serious flaw when they grow up, that is, "excessive performance". But in my heart, the landlord Aoki's "Chaplin-esque" physical exaggeration in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is the result of the director's instructions.
Director Blake Edwards regretted taking his friend into the water, and he once thought that "Aoki" was a gift. When he first arrived in Hollywood, Blake and Mickey were roommates who had a good relationship.
Later in life, Blake recalled that if "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was to be remade, he would have to overturn and rewrite Aoki - "I'm willing to give everything to remake this character!"
Then let's talk about Blake Edwards, a director who is good at romance films, what kind of touching love story does he have?
VI. Director Blake is Julie Andrews' husband
Director Blake Edwards was born in Oklahoma on July 26, 1922, to a father who was a famous director of the silent film era.
In addition to directing, Blake also has two famous identities, one is "Bruce Lee's student", and the other is "Julie Andrews's husband".
Julie Andrews, the actress of "The Sound of Music", was privately evaluated by her peers as "very manly".
Probably because Julie didn't put too much energy into men, and her strength was not highlighted. Richard Burton, who once shared the stage with her, said of her:
Blake Edwards realized this at a party – Julie's wedding.
On May 10, 1959, Julie Andrews married the famous Hollywood set designer Tony Walton (the set designer of the 1974 version of "Murder on the Orient Express"). At this ceremony, Blake Edwards was deeply attracted to the bride, and Julie's British ladylike temperament was not comparable to those vulgar fans in Hollywood.
One day, many years later, Blake was invited to be interviewed on television. After the interview, he drove out of the TV station and met Julie driving in at the gate, he rolled down the window excitedly, waved his hand and shouted, "Hey, I said, are you going to the place I just been?" Julie nodded yes, smiling like a flower.
After that, Blake often said to those around him that Julie Andrews was too feminine, "She must have violets on her!"
The words soon reached Julie's ears, and Julie liked it so much that she sent Blake a bouquet of violets and a greeting card.
Soon after, they began dating, and on December 12, 1969, the two officially married.
The two had a very happy marriage, not only gave birth to two babies, but also adopted two Asian girls. As Julie puts it:
Their marriage lasted until the death of Blake Edwards on December 15, 2010.
After his death, she did not remarry and remains widowed to this day.
VII.. What is the biggest change in the movie compared to the original book?
The character that impressed me the most in this movie is this rich woman, who signs a check, such a plot that can only appear in a domineering president novel, is finally seen in the movie.
The rich woman offered to offer that the actor should have a paid vacation, and wrote a check for $1,000 on the spot.
The $1,000 in 1961 is equivalent to $10,445.89 today, equivalent to $75,628.24......
It is said that the male protagonist of the film, Paul, a rich woman, is a character who was not in the original novel, and was specially set up for the movie.
Because in the original novel, Paul is a young man, and of course there is no result with Holly at the end.
At the end, I heard that Holly married to South America, and since then I have heard about her sporadically, and she has been in different countries around the world.
Paul's little fetishes couldn't be put on the table in the sixties, so he had to be set up with a girlfriend to escape the Hays Code!
VIII: Male lead actor George Peppard fights with the director
The rich woman's actor Padrisha Neill hates George Peppard very much, she is also an excellent actor herself, and later won the Oscar for Best Actress for "The Iron Man of the Field".
George was cold-mouthed throughout the whole process, and Padricia didn't look down on him.
It is said that the male lead actor George is a hated character in the crew, and the original Hollywood staff did not like "methodist" actors.
For example, Richard Harris, the actor of "Raven" in "Wild Goose Drones", which we are familiar with, did not take a shower for three months when he starred in "Rebel Ship Blood" in 1962, which caused complaints from the crew. Richard Harris argued: "I'm a sailor in the play, and that's what sailors sail on the sea!" Another notorious example is "My Left Foot" actor Daniel Day-Lewis, because he played the "born cerebral palsy and physically disabled" male protagonist Kitti, he needs to use a wheelchair to perform the whole time, but he asked the staff to put him in a wheelchair every day and carry him up to the fourth floor, and then carry him down after finishing work, God is angry!
Unfortunately, George Peppard, the actor of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", is also of this school, and he is quite stubborn and arrogant!
Director Blake Edwards was keenly aware that George wanted to use this performance opportunity to soar to the front line, and he was doing it all! He was deliberately imitating the A-list stars of Hollywood's golden age, such as Gary Grant and Gregory Peck, and so on.
The director tried to change George's acting style several times, but in exchange for several arguments, and once the two actually started fighting.
In fact, Hepburn was also very tired of working with George, and George and the director had several disputes that led to countless NGs, which obviously affected the pond fish, but Hepburn had a good temper and did not have a head-on conflict with George.
The polite Hepburn also gave George a good impression, in the scene where Holly whistled and called a taxi, Hepburn couldn't blow it anyway, George was kind and comforting on the side, in fact, the finished film we saw, the whistle did come from George's dubbing.
Hepburn never had a grudge against anyone throughout her acting career, and she didn't have a single enemy! Even Humphrey Bogart, who reprimanded her in public for being "talentless", Hepburn got along well.
Seeing this virtue of Hepburn, the editor often feels that only people who were hungry in childhood will have high emotional intelligence when they grow up, and they will cherish their blessings even more.
IX: Who sings "Moon River" in the film?
Holly sat on the windowsill and sang "Moon River", which became the film's signature scene.
As early as the eighties of the last century, it became a frequent visitor to the on-demand programs of major domestic TV stations.
At that time, Chinese audiences had fallen in love with the song before they knew what Hepburn was singing or even the title of the movie.
What is less known is that it was commissioned for Hepburn by composer Henry Mancini.
As early as 1958, Henry Mancini collaborated with director Blake Edwards on the American drama "Peter Gunn" (Peter Gunn), this time for "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
Henri Mancini said that he usually doesn't start writing until he has seen the whole dailies, but this time, he only saw the script and knew what kind of song the heroine Holly needed.
Henry Mancini (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994)
At the beginning of the creation of "Moon River", the name was "Blue River", and Henri Mancines thought about it and chose the more concrete "Moon River".
In order to ensure that the idol Hepburn personally sang this song, Henry specially wrote only an octave when composing the music, which is a karaoke-level popular that any ordinary person can sing.
Henry brought in several singers to perform the song at the time, and he insisted that Hepburn's version was the best!
However, "Moon River" was almost deleted by the producers because the audience did not respond enthusiastically to the song during the test screening in San Francisco. Hepburn overreacted when she learned of the producer's idea, and she exclaimed:
Meaning, if you want to delete Moon River, unless you step over my corpse!
Henri Mancini's "Moon River" was a huge success, winning two awards at the 34th Academy Awards in 1962 for "Best Original Song" and "Best Score for a Drama/Comedy"!
In addition to Hepburn's original song in the film, there have been more than 500 cover versions so far, which have endured!
In recent years, "Moon River" has been selected as one of the top 100 love songs of the American Film Institute, ranking fourth!
排在《月亮河》前面的分别是《绿野仙踪》主题歌《Over the Rainbow》、《卡萨布兰卡》主题歌《As Time Goes By》和《雨中曲》主题歌《Singin' in the Rain》！
X.. Hepburn was paid a sky-high salary
Truman Capote, the novel's author, received $650,000 in royalties, but he was furious when he heard that screenwriter George Axelrod had gotten more than he did.
But fortunately, Truman hasn't heard of Hepburn's remuneration, and Hepburn got a salary of $750,000 for "Breakfast at Tiffany's", which is equivalent to $7,784,097 and 56,356,862 yuan today!
This was the highest salary of a Hollywood actress in the early sixties, and Monroe was only 500,000 at the time.
Hepburn's salary level was crushed by Elizabeth Taylor of "Cleopatra" for $1 million until 1963, and was soon equaled by Hepburn of "My Fair Lady" in 1964!
My Fair Lady (released December 25, 1964)
XI: Hepburn's little black dress fetched a sky-high price
I don't know if you have noticed, this little black dress designed by Givenchy for Hepburn appears four times in the whole film!
On December 4, 2006, the little black dress worn by Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was sold for $807,000 at an auction house in London!
This makes it the second most expensive movie memoraba of all time!
The first is Vivien Leigh's famous green floral canopy dress in "Gone with the Wind"!
XII. What is the origin of the "Hepburn Little Yellow Diamond" in the film?
At the 91st Academy Awards on February 24, 2019, Lady Gaga appeared wearing the "Hepburn Little Yellow Diamond", and the editor's eyes were dark at that time!
In other words, there is really such a feeling of burning the piano and boiling the crane!
Isn't this big diamond Hepburn's?
Probably because I love Hepburn too much, my memory and emotions are both deviated!
In fact, in the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's", Hepburn never wore this diamond, and only appeared in some promotional materials!
It is said that Tiffany's was also very interesting back then, since it was founded in 1837, it opened on a Sunday for the first time in 124 years, just for the convenience of the crew of "Breakfast at Tiffany's"!
The diamond was originally a 287-carat rough stone discovered in 1877 at the Kimberley mine in South Africa. A year later, founder Charles Lewis Tiffany bought it for $18,000!
This famous stone, which is an inch wide, is a brightly cut stone in the shape of a mat and weighs 128.54 carats. It has 82 facets, 24 more than traditional finely carved stones.
Nowadays, the rich are rushing to grab the "Bird on the Stone" series, but they don't know that the raw material of the first "Bird on the Stone" is the "Tiffany Yellow Diamond"! It first appeared in the Paris Museum in 1995!
Since then, there has been no trace of snow claws and mud.
It wasn't until 2019 that it reappeared on Lady Gaga's neck, causing an exclamation in the world jewelry industry!
However, Hepburn was quite calm after wearing this diamond, and she sent a card to Tiffany to express her gratitude!
The card is a quote from the famous English poet Yeats - "Beautiful things are eternal happiness!"
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