Roman Holiday

For other uses, see Roman Holiday (disambiguation).

Roman Holiday
Promotional poster for reissue
Directed by	William Wyler
Produced by	William Wyler
Screenplay by	Dalton Trumbo Ian McLellan Hunter John Dighton
Story by	Dalton Trumbo
Starring	Gregory Peck Audrey Hepburn Eddie Albert
Music by	Georges Auric Victor Young
Cinematography	Henri Alekan Franz Planer, ASC
Editing by	Robert Swink
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	August 27, 1953 (1953-08-27)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million

Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. 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.

In the 1970s, both Peck and Hepburn were approached with the idea of a sequel, but the project never came to fruition. The film was remade for television in 1987 with Tom Conti and Catherine Oxenberg, who herself came from a European royal family.

Plot

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

Ann (Hepburn) is the crown princess of an unspecified country. She is on a widely publicized tour of several European capitals, including Rome. One night, she is overwhelmed by the strenuous demands of her official duties, for which her day is tightly scheduled. Her doctor gives her a sedative to calm her down and help her sleep, but she secretly leaves her country's embassy to experience Rome by herself.

The sedative eventually takes effect and she falls asleep on a bench, where Joe Bradley (Peck), an expatriate American reporter working for the Rome Daily American, finds her. Not recognizing her, he offers her money so that she can take a taxi home, but a very woozy "Anya Smith" (as she calls herself) refuses to cooperate. Joe finally decides, for safety's sake, to let her spend the night in his apartment. He is amused by her regal manner, but less so when she appropriates his bed. He transfers her to a couch without awakening her. The next morning, Joe hurries off to work, leaving the princess still asleep.

When his editor, Mr. Hennessy (Hartley Power), asks why he is late, Joe lies to him; he claims to have attended a press conference for the princess. Joe makes up details of the alleged interview until Hennessy informs him that the press conference had been canceled because the princess had suddenly "fallen ill". Joe sees a picture of her and recognizes that it is the same young woman who is in his apartment. Joe immediately sees the opportunity before him and proposes an exclusive interview for $5000, Hennessy agrees but bets Joe $500 that he will not succeed.

Joe hurries home and, hiding the fact that he is a reporter, he offers to spend the day with Anya, showing her Rome. He also surreptitiously calls his photographer friend, Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert), to tag along to secretly take pictures. However, Anya declines Joe's offer and leaves.

Enjoying her freedom, on a whim, Anya gets her hair cut short in a barbershop. Joe follows and "accidentally" meets her on the Spanish Steps. This time he convinces her to go with him, and they spend the day seeing the sights, including the "Mouth of Truth", a face carved in marble which is said to bite off the hands of liars. When Joe pulls his hand out of the mouth, it appears to be missing, causing Anya to scream. He then pops his hand out of his sleeve and laughs. (Hepburn's shriek was not acting—Peck decided to pull a gag he had once seen Red Skelton do, and did not tell his co-star beforehand.)

Joe and Anya on a Vespa ride through Rome—a ride that ends at the police station

Later, Anya shares with Joe her dream of living a normal life without her crushing responsibilities. That night, at a dance on a boat, government agents finally track her down and try to escort her away, but a wild melee breaks out and Joe and Anya escape. Through all this, they gradually fall in love, but Anya realizes that their relationship cannot continue. She finally bids farewell to Joe and returns to the embassy.

During the course of the day, Hennessy learns that the princess is missing, not ill as claimed. He suspects that Joe knows where she is, and tries to get him to admit it, but Joe claims to know nothing about it. Joe decides not to write the story. Initially, Irving plans to publish his photographs, but then reluctantly decides not to do so.

The next day, Princess Ann appears at the postponed news conference, and is alarmed to find Joe and Irving among the members of the press. Irving takes her picture with the same miniature cigarette lighter/camera he had used the previous day. He then presents her with the photographs he had taken that day, discreetly tucked in an envelope, as a memento of her adventure. Joe lets her know, by allusion, that her secret is safe with them. She, in turn, works into her bland statements a coded message of love and gratitude to Joe. She then departs, leaving Joe to linger for a while, contemplating what might have been.

Cast

Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley

The role was originally written with Cary Grant in mind. Grant declined, believing he was too old to play Hepburn's love interest (though he played opposite her ten years later in Charade.) 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 Smith')

This role was originally written for Elizabeth Taylor. Hepburn was cast after a screen-test. After she had performed a dignified, subdued scene from the film, the director called "cut", but the cameraman left the camera rolling, capturing the young actress suddenly become animated as she chatted with the director. 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 Anya's costumes and even cutting her own hair (referring to a scene in the film). Roman Holiday was not Hepburn's first American acting job—she appeared on a 1952 CBS Television Workshop production of Rainy Day in Paradise Junction—but it was her first major role, one which introduced her to the general public.

Joe, "Smitty" and Irving alfresco, just before Joe flips Irving's chair to silence him.

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
Paola Borboni	as the Charwoman
Laura Solari	as Secretary

Joe shocks his royal friend, pretending to have lost a hand to the Mouth of Truth.

Awards

Wins

• Academy Award for Best Actress (Audrey Hepburn)
• Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Edith Head)
• Academy Award for Writing (Motion Picture Story) (Dalton Trumbo)*
• BAFTA Award for Best British Actress (Audrey Hepburn)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress — Drama (Audrey Hepburn)
• New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (Audrey Hepburn)
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy (Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton)

* Award was initially given to Ian McLellan Hunter, since he took story credit on 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.

First slated for production on the backlot, Rome location took color film from the budget

Nominations

• Academy Award for Best Picture
• Academy Award for Best Director (William Wyler)
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Eddie Albert)
• Academy Award for Writing (Screenplay) (Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton)
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Hal Pereira & Walter H. Tyler)
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Franz Planer & Henri Alekan)
• Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Robert Swink)
• BAFTA Award for Best Film from any source
• BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor — (Eddie Albert)
• BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor — (Gregory Peck)
• DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (William Wyler)

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 Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions - #4
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - #4 Romantic Comedy

Tributes and references in popular culture

• The film inspired the lyrics of Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's", but the author, Todd David Pipes, thought that one of Hepburn's other films would make a better song title.
• At least two different orchid cultivars share this name, Epc. Joseph Romans 'Roman Holiday' and Blc. Empress Worsley 'Roman Holiday'.
• The "Mouth of Truth" scene was shown in the 2006 film You, Me and Dupree, with Dupree stating that the trick always gets him even though he knows it's coming. The joke is also used in the film Only You and the 2007 film National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The scene was replicated in many Indian language films, the noteworthy being director S. Shankar's Tamil blockbuster Kadhalan, which was a loose adaptation of the film itself.
• In the Japanese anime series .hack//Sign, the character Tsukasa reenacts the Mouth of Truth scene, and comments that his mother was fond of the movie.
• In the Japanese anime movie Paprika, the chaotic dreams of Detective Toshimi Konakawa are represented by quickly changing film scenes, one of which is the iconic fight at the dance with government agents from the film.
• In the Japanese anime series Strike Witches (season 2), the movie is heavily referenced over the course of the episode "My Romagna", including the Mouth of Truth scene.
• In 2011 Korean romantic-comedy drama, My Princess the female and male lead, Lee Seol and Park Hae Young both are watching Roman Holiday outside of her pension house with the "Mouth of Truth" scene appear in the background. It is shown in the 2nd episode of the drama.

External links

• Roman Holiday at the Internet Movie Database
• Roman Holiday at AllRovi
• Roman Holiday at Metacritic
• Roman Holiday at Rotten Tomatoes