Legacy and Final Thoughts

There's nothing like the American Express Platinum cart. Find out your welcome offer after you apply, which could be as high as one hundred seventy five thousand points Learn more and find out your offer at Americanxpress. com slash explorer dash platinum. Terms supply. It's going down I'm yelling Timba, You better move. You better dance. That's right. We're back. It's what went wrong, Your favorite podcast full stop that just so happens to be about movies and how it's nearly impossible to make them, let alone a good one, let alone a tragic party girl story that I didn't understand as a child. and we are so excited to get into it, Holly Go Lightly who ran so Kesa could stumble. Hey. Lizzie Bassett is here with me. No, I love Kesha. Yeah, you better not b smmerch Kesha. No, Kesa's great I was thinking about chandelier. I was thinking about timber, I was thinking about all my party girl anthems. I'm Chris Winbau, joined as always by my coost. Lizzy Bassett, Lizzy, what have you picked for us today? Let's get into it. Well, I haveve chosen breakfast at Tiffany's for us today. and I picked this because you know I knew we were kind of going into a bit of a truman compote hole here on what went wrong for a minute A dark place, but I was not Expecting this to be as interesting an episode as I think it is. Well, let's hear from you first, Christopher. Had you seen this movie before and what did you think about it upon watching it for the podcast? I had seen it before. I don't remember when, sometime in adolescence. And at an age when I did not appreciate this type of story, in particular, I was more into action movies Nor movies of this era. I was more into modern movies. And I have to say, with one element accepting, I actually really like this movie and I really enjoyed it. I thought the technolor aspects of it actually looked really beautiful. I think it's interesting. I think it's a little messy. I think the first two thirds works better than the last third. I really love the relationship between Holly and Fred, as it were, until it becomes romantic and then I become less engaged in the story. There's probably a reason for that, yes. Just my personal instincts. And I also love Patricia Neil. She's great. And I think she's the best actor of the three of them in my opinion. Y. And I like George Peppard in this movie and Audrey Hepurn's look is Unparalleled in many ways, It's so iconic, but Patricia Neil is like, Watch out, darling. I'll show you how to really do it here. comes into the room. She's so good. And I really actually feel that way about a number of the peripheral actors Martin Balsam as well. Martin Balssam as well. And so as the movie whittles away at the peripheral elements and just focuses on heroes and then their relationship becomes, I think, less interesting as it moves from an unexpected friendship into a very expected romance. And so I do still really like this movie, but for me, the first hour in twenty minutes really sings And then we just kind of get into a territory where I feel like, okay, you know, I've kind of seen this or it's not as interesting. It doesn't feel as capodiesqu. I haven't read the book. I don't know. And the last thing I'll present to you as a theory is at first I was thinking, oh, is George Peppard is Paul, Fred, Harper Lee and is Holly G Litely Truman Copodody. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. And then I just really felt like These are both Truman Capote. That's I really felt like he was just writing two angles of himself interacting with each other in like the first half of the film very much. And you can tell me what's right or what's wrong, but that was my interpretation. Anyway, all to say, really love the first hour and twenty minutes, really li this movie overall and the mister Unioshi Mickey Rooney section should be exised from the movie Lit on fire and buried in the ground. It's so rough. It is. We'll talk about it. And is there a weird meta element too, where they make reference to Andy Hardy, which is the character he played? I believe she says like, did you fall in love, Andy Hardy? Patricia Neels? I swear I heard her say that. Yeah, you're right That's the Mickey I believe that's who Mickey Rooney became famous for playing Andy Hardy in the Andy Hardy movies. And so it was like a weird meta quality to this movie. And I said, getet out of here, Ryan Reynolds. All right, go ahead, was he? Well We had a very different experience of this movie. I had never seen it. Really? You never seen. interestnteresting. That's so cool. I've seen a lot of movies from this timeiod. so I was kind of surprised that I hadn't seen it. and now I think I know why. So most of the movies I saw from this time period growing up I was exposed to because of my mom. And when I was thinking about this, I was like, why haven't I seen this? Because she loved Truman Capote. And this is obviously based on a Truman Capote novel or novella. So I decided to read the novella first and that was my mistake, I think. I loved it. I highly recommend everyone read it. It is really good. It's very complex. We're gonna get into a lot of the differences because boy are there a lot. And then when I watched the movie, you know, I knew about the Mickey Roononey stuff and obviously I've seen pictures of this movie, I'm very familiar with what it looks like and everything. and I was expecting the Mickey Rooney stuff to be you know offensive, so that didn't surprise me. What did surprise me is that they turned a really complex, fascinating character study and really a study of a friendship into something so Sacron and to me just unbelievably shallow I was left with such a bad taste in my mouth from this movie and we'll get into the reasons why and what they changed and everything, but I just felt like it was Fluff in the worst way. And you know, they Martin Balsom asks, you know, is she or isn't she? Is she a phony? And that is a line from the novel, but it plays so differently here because it's like, yeah, one hundred percent she's a phony in the movie. Everyone is. And that's not the case in the book. And I think I was just so like deeply disappointed that this had become a classic, I guess And I'm sure that that has to do with the fact that I read the novel first because I totally understand why people love this. I think in terms of the good, it looks incredible. The costumes, which we'll get into, two people are responsible for them, although one for the most famous ones, the way that it's shot, I love the color, you know, there's so much about it that I really do enjoy However, it's not the story. So let's get into it and let's talk about everything. And by the way, we've had this discussion many times. I'm sure people are gonna to chime in saying that, oh, you know, Mickey Rooney playing a Japanese character. That's just like that's just how it was done back then. and you guys don't need to look at it through, you know a modern lens. First of all That's not true. That's not how it was done. I mean, yes, there were actors performing in Yellowface, but this was, if anything parkening back by like twenty plus years to what people had been doing prior to World War two. My understanding is that I mean, this is fifteen years after the internment camps that happened during World War two. Well, it's important to draw a distinction between, you know, Alec Guinness and moreact, which is very different than this. Very different. We have to be able to distinguish between the two. Yes. Ale Guinness Again, you can still say, okay, now we know we wouldn't do that anymore. Okay, fine. But at the time, he's clearly attempting to bring a real person to life in the most dignified way possible. Yes, everyveryone in Lawrence of Arabia is. Mickey Rooney is is doing the opposite movie. God. Also the writer, the director. It's not just Mickey Rooney. It' everybody involved, you know? We'll get to that. Okay, well you tell me where I'm wrong. He's more responsible for it than you might think But I guess my point is that They're making a very distinct choice here. and it did not go unnoticed. and people did find this offensive when it came out, not everyone and not to the level that we do today. but it was like this was a big weird swing to put in this movie. And my understanding is that a lot of this caricature of Asians was pretty prevalent in like silent films and leading up through the thirties. But then when World War two happened, you've got the internment camps, you have actual photographs of the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki That put a bit of a damper on this kind of caricature and you started to see a little bit of difference happening over the course of the fifties. Now I'm not saying there weren't still white actors playing Asian characters. There absolutely were, but it was not this kind of caricature. So it's very interesting to me that they chose to put that in this movie, especially because it ain't present in the novel at Oh so Let's get into it. All right Breakfast at Tiffany' is directed by Blake Edwards. It has a screenplay by George Axelrood based on the Novella by Truman Capoti. It's produced by Martin Jerau and Richard Shepd, It was released by Paramount. It had a budget of just over two million dollars, which a lot. And it was released in October of nineteen sixty one. It stars Audrey Hepburn, George Peepard, Patricia Neil, Buddy Ebson Martin Balsom, Mickei Rooney, and more Now our main sources for today, among many, many others are Fifth Avenue five AM, Audrey Hepperurn Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Watson, and The Many Lives of Mr. Yunioshi, Yellowfacace and the Qeer Bzz of Breakfast at Tiffany's by Melissa Prouksahartp, which is a really, really interesting academic paper that I highly recommend people go read So, around the spring of nineteen fifty five, Truman Capoti, who was at this point a successful novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, could not get Holly Go lightightly off his mind. He later told Playboy Magazine,Qote, The reason I wrote about Holly outside of the fact that I liked her so much, was that she was such a symbol of all these girls who come to New York and spin in the sun for a moment like Mflies and then disappear. I wanted to rescue one girl from that anonymity and preserve her for posterity. Now, despite many, many women coming forward to claim that they had been the inspiration for the character of Holly, she didn't really belong to any one of them Though Capotody did pull elements of the character from real life. He was a fixture on the New York social scene. He really surrounded himself with wealthy, brilliant, beautiful female friends, better known and immortalized by Ryan Murphy, I guess as the Swans. I don't know if you saw feud Capote versus the Swans. I haven't seen it but I'm aware. It's good. It's interesting. There was Carol Marcus, Doris Lillily, Phoebe Pierce, Unna Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's wife Gloria Vanderbilt, of course, Anderson Cooper's Mummy, and Babe Paley, wife of CBS founder Bill Pailey, played by Naomi Watson and Capote versus the Swans, and she apparently had six closets just for her nightgowns. Now, some theorize that Capotody wrote goo lightly as sort of a fantasy of who Babe Paley could have been had she not been in a controlling loveless and sexless marriage, which she was, unfortunately. And this is one that apparently Truman Capotody told her to treat like a job. He was like, clock in, babe, you know? And then there was Capotody's own mother, born Lily May Fawk in Monroeville, Alabama Potody's mother had for a long period abandoned him to be raised by her extended family when she ran off to New York to be with a married lover. He would later join her in Manhattan, but it was during this time in Alabama that he met Nell Harper Lee. Her father was a lawyer. The two would watch as trials like they were at the movies. What does this sound like, Chris? To killarking To kill a mockingbird, of course, she would eventually write the classic novel and base the character of Dill, at least loosely on Kapote. If you want a little bit more detail on their relationship, go back and listen to Friday's episode on in cold Blood. And by the way, that also may have been what colored this for me. so poorly is that you we got to read in cold bllood and focus on that story and that adaptation and it's so remarkable. and I think the movie is really remarkable. And I kept wondering like Breakfast at Tiffany's just doesn't sound like a Truman Capoti story. It's ' this movie is not. But also in cold bllood wasn't exactly it was a little bit of a departure too. It was, but if you read Breakfast at Tiffany's, I guess that's what I mean. Well, because his writing still feels like his writing. Yes exactly. The way that he writes about people is the same Yes. So Lily May also changed her name to Nina to try and sound more sophisticated. Is this ringing any bells? Lula May to Holly. That's correct. Lula May Barnes is what Holly Go Lightly's birth name was. She of course ran off on her family, though in this case, they were stepchildren and she was a child bride. Yeah, softened to that one effectively, meaning easier to understand. she had a reason to leave? Yeah. she had a reason to leave. Pretty understandable. Yes Now the novella is told from the perspective of Holly's upstairs neighbor, a nameless narrator who she chooses to call Fred because he reminds her of her brother. He very pointedly shares the same birthday as Truman Capote, and though it's never explicitly spelled out that he's gay, it seems pretty heavily implied. Also there is no romantic relationship between him and Holly go lightly because again he is gay. You could definitely say he is in love with her though. He says so himself, but it's neither romantic nor sexual. In fact, he describes it as a kind of jealousy, which I think, given how Kapoti would later interact with and sort of betray his swans, feels very on brand for him Now, he had one full length novel, Other Voices Other Rooms under his belt before shopping around Breakfast at Tiffany's, and many short stories, articles, a couple of screenwriting gigs. He was quite well known, especially among literary circles, but I don't know that he qualified as like famous famous yet, in terms of across the country. In nineteen fifty eight, Harper's Bazaarre purchased the manuscript for two thousand dollars and planned to publish it in their July issue, but the editor who had originally greenlit the purchase was fired and replaced by a new editor who was clutching her pearls at the language Capote used in The Novella And it's pretty it is pretty shocking. L some of the words that are used in this, the way that she discusses what she's doing, I mean, she's a call girl. like for sure, she is a form of escort, maybe more of like the girlfriend experience than you know, something else. But it's pretty explicitly laid out. She refers to lesbians with a word that starts with D. There's a lot of commentary around race, although it's very complicated It' certainly not where it lands with Mr. Yunioshi. It's also nothing to do with that character at all So Harpers backed out of the deal and Capotody was pretty furious. But lucky for him, Asquire swooped in and offered to match the two thousand dollars plus a thousand more, and this would be about forty five thousand dollars today. So given what we know he was paid for in cold blood, that's he's obviously not at the level that he will get to for that In November of nineteen fifty eight, Esquire published the full novella and Random House published it as a book, and it's sold out immediately. So suck on that, Harper's Bazaar. Capoti referred to all the women coming out of the woodwork to take credit as the Holly Go lightly sweepstakes. But there was a major difference between Holly and the women in Truman's life, and that's that she was completely independent and she did whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. In fact, the most independent woman he knew was probably the least like Holly. It was Tomboy Harper Lee. Back in July of that same year, the reader report for the then unpublished brereakfast at Tiffany's had landed on the desk of Marty Jeraot, entertainment lawyer turned movie producer who had just inked a massive twelve picture deal with Paramount alongside his business partner, Richard Shepard And here's what the report said Well written, offbeat, amusing, but it is unfortunately too similar to Issherwood's work Goodbye to Berlin, dramatized as I am a camera. The type of character is the same, only the incidents and chronology are different. And in any event, this is more of a character sketch than a story. Not recommended. It's in all caps at the end in case you can't tell. Sprawling New Yorker shit. Man, I was saving that for later for you to dime in with. so save it Now, it's absolutely true that Holly Go lightly owes quite a bit to Sally Bowles. They are kind of the first two runs on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl ladder, but I don't agree that the work as a whole is too similar. Capoti's name was enough to pque Jureaot's interest and he decided that against his reader' judgment, they should go after breakfast at Tiffany's So his production company, Jerao Shepard, was very small, and they did not have a lot of money, but they did have a reputation for protecting their writers. They had recently gotten into it with what went Wong favorite, Sam Spiegel, over some casting and their adaptation of Tennessee Williams Orpheus descending, which would become the fugitive kind, and they had backed Tennessee Williams, and won Now, Jeron knew that Capote's greatest wish was for the film adaptation to stay faithful to the book. And Capotody actually had written at least one screenplay at this point. He had written Beat the Devil, co wrritten with John Houston, but he hadn't adapted any of his own work. And I think it's interesting that it seems like the assumption from the beginning was that he wouldn't adapt this Now, I don't know why he didn't fight harder to do that I have a very good idea why Marty Jeraot didn't want him to do it, which we'll get to So Jerao flew to New York to have lunch with Kapote, and it turned out Capotody had two very specific people in mind to star in the film already. Chris any guesses as to who he wanted for Holly Go lightightly. She was a huge star at the time She's blonde Marilyn? Marilyn. Really? He kind of wrote it for her. I mean, she's so physically different than Audrey Hepburn that it's hard to see now, but yeah, I can totally. That's interesting. There's such a sweet sadness to Marilyn Monroe that I think is much closer to what's in the book. Certainly, she was obviously not a callgirl, but the way in which she was treated as a piece of commercial property by, you know, studios, etceta. Definitely. M Any guesses for the mail lead? Holly's upstairs neighbor who shared Truman Capote's own birthday? Rck Hudson A German kaboti Oh. Oh, interesting. What's funny is George Pepard looks If you squint, he looks a little like German Capote. How hard are youquinting Chris? Squinting pretty hard. A b of him givees some glasses, but he's like blonde at least. you know, he's a little like thicker. But the difference is the voice. you need the voice. L that's, you know, and it's funny, Carla had never heard German Kapote speak. It's a tr. Yeah, was like, that's why was saying it feels like these are the two sides of Kapote to me obbviously, it's not it's his mother and these other women he knows. but No, I think you're right. I think he's part of both of them. And then she was saying, you know, well, she really associated him with true crime You know what I mean? And she was thinking like it was this brooding now, you know, guy and I was like,, you gott to see how to talk. He's funn. He's amazing. He's the funniest person. He's so funny. Actually,ah, you've mentioned a talk show. I want to play just a little clip of him on Dick Cavat talking about Yes how smart he was and the fact that he was actually tested as part of like a nationwide IQ test when he was a child. Please play this So I and my family were only too glad to see me go. North And I went up to Columbia to something called a Horis Man School And just I spent about a year being a guinea pig, doing nothing but being given the most complicated, extreme, extraordinary intelligence tests and people used to come from all over from California, from London, from everywhere to give me this tests. Didn't you resent being tested and probed that? I was so happy to be out of Alabama I love that So inside, Marty Jeraot is like, Oh no, oh, no, no, no, no, no. But he smartly told Capote, quote, the role just isn't good enough for you. The male lead is just a pair of shoulders for her to lean on. You deserve something more dynamic. Though, I have to say, a truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, twohander would have been incredible. But Capote agreed, and they closed the deal for sixty five thousand dollars or about seven hundred forty thousand dollars today And great news for Capoti, Marilyn Monroe had already heard about breakfast at Tiffany's and she was interested Now they actually were good friends. and Chris, if you would like to see what this movie could have been, take a look at this picture of the two of them dancing at the Club Morocco in nineteen fifty five. Yeah, it would have been great. He's so small. Fral knows she's wearing heels and he's close to her height, but he seems much shorter than her. And he also seems exhausted, sweaty, barely keeping up. and Marilyn Monro is just like effortlessly looking at the camera. I know, she looks incredible. He's also holding her wrist. Yeah kind of thing. I don't know. I guess the guy in the background's kind of doing it too. I don't know. I love it. It's so like weird and awkward and's such a dichotomy between the two of them. It's very funny. But it turns out, Marty Jerau had not been entirely honest with Truman Capote in that lunch meeting because he had absolutely zero interest in casting Marilyn Monroe in and breakfast at Tiffany's And there are two reasons. The first, he just straight up thought she was wrong for the part and I can kind of see his reasoning here. He thought Holly had like a toughness to her and a spunk, and he really couldn't picture Marilyn making it on her own in New York City. I think that's unfair to Marilyn's talents. Apparently this man's never seen all about Eve, but you know, whatever. Now she was also known to be an absolute nightmare on set by this point. That's what I was wondering if that's where he's coming from Yeah She had just made the seven year itch with Billy Wilder, and Wilder had not been shy talking about what a problem she had been. They'd run behind because she required so many takes. and according to Wilder, quote, it's not that she was mean. It's just that she had no sense of time nor conscience that three hundred people had been waiting hours for her. Something they'd repeat on some like at h. Yes also. But still, Billy Wilder thought that Marilyn might be worth the gamble Jerot because she sold tickets. So Jeraot decided to think on it. she's a huge star I mean hge As big a name as you could hope to get for this movie, really? Yes. But just a few days later, he received a call from our friend the Bat, Marilyn Monroe's acting coach, Paula Strasberg. Oh yeah., saying, Marilyn will not play a Lady of the evening And that was the end of that By January of nineteen fifty nine, Jeroe and Shepherd realized that Marilyn might not be the only actress who would pass for this reason. So they needed a screenplay that could sanitize the raciness that is present in Capotody's novel. Right. fifty dollars for the powder room. Yeah inststead of. ye. Oh no, that's in the novel too. It's just very implied that she might be doing something in the powder room for those fifty dollars. I know. In this instance, it's like fifty dollars and they're not going in there. When you're like, how do I get this job? Yeah. And they figured it was going to be a hard book to adapt Chris, what is it? Sprawling New Yorkers shit. There we go, Thankk you. veryer good. There's no real three act structure. You know, we should get a soundboard and just program a couple quotes on it and one of them should be nicked Srawing Nework. Srawing New Yorkersit. David, please, can we get it? It's's sprawling New Yorker shit I think it's interesting that they keep harping on the novella having no plot, That's what they keep saying. I don't agree at all. In many ways, I actually think it has more of a driving plot than the film does. There's a lot more made of Holly's sort of accidental illegal courier activities with Sally Tomato and then her eventual downfall, plus she does get on a plane to Brazil at the end and eventually makes her way maybe all the way to Africa I wonder what they mean, though is that there's no central driving plot from a movie perspective, which is most movies focus on one binary like pass fail question. and in this instance, they're going to frame it as will they or will they not get together, right? Which I agree with you. I'm not interested in. I'm just saying it does have that. Okay. It's just not that relationship. It's focused on Holly. So if you had to define it, what is it with Holly? It's will Holly settle down or won't she? or like will Holly sort of get I mean, yeah, I understand what you're saying. I'm not saying you're wrong, I trust you. I guarantee you it's better and more interesting and it probably even as a direct adaptation would have made a better movie. I'm just saying having been in meetings like these you know, to discuss adapting things, et cetera. if you can't boil it down to that one sentence, it gets hard, I think, for studio executiv, et cetera to compute and say, we're going to give you a bunch of money to go make this thing Yes But also he's gay. That's it. I think that's it because like having read the novel, you know, something like The Devil Wars Prada, which really was that sprawling New Yorker bullshit, we about to talk about number two. Yes, we are. This was not really that. L I really do think that this has a lot more forward momentum than something like that does. Yeah. I think it's just that he's gay and there's no risk of them having sex. So Incept George Axelrood. Now, in nineteen fifty two, Axelrood had become a household name thanks to his Broadway play, The Seven Year Itch. It had become the longest running non musical of the decade with over eleven hundred performances. Axelrood had, by his own estimation, written over four hundred scripts for radio and TV prior to the Seven Year Itch, so while it was his big break, he was not inexperienced, and his big break got even bigger when director Billy Wilder called him up and said he wanted to turn it into a film Problem The seeven year Rich is about a married man who has an affair while his family is on vacation. Chris, any guesses what might have been a problem for them at this time in the mid fifties. I mean, HS Code? Yes. The Hes Code, also known as the MPAA Production code. Now, we've talked about this a bunch of other episodes. It was established in the nineteen thirties. It was a set of censorship guidelines, which were self imposed, which I actually didn't know, and agreed upon by the major studios Among them, adultery was a pretty big no no. We will get to why it was self imposed. Okay. I don't know if you knew this. I did not know this. It was actually established following a series of unsavory events that had happened in Hollywood, the most scandalous of which was the death of Virginia Rap Possibly due to some sort of sexual encounter or assault by Fatty Arbuckle. We still don't really know what the hell happened there. There's a great, you must remember this on this case. Arbuckle was eventually acquitted because there was not enough evidence to convict him, but it's very ambiguous as to what went down. Yeah. And there were a lot of potential protests of certain films by Catholic groups, especially in Pennsylvania. and I can't remember which theater camer was Lemley. I'm going to get this wrong and it might have been Warners, but one of the major studios had a huge hub of distribution based out of Pennsylvania at the time. And they just thought, we're going to get cream. That's it, you know, if we don't do something about this. Also the government. Yeah. Hollywood was basically like we gott to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves Because they know the government's going impose a stricter code than they might be able to impose on themselves. Yeah, it's better for us to do it to ourselves than somebody else to come in and mess with our thing. That's exactly right. So Wildder and Axergod had to figure out what to do because their main character could not consummate an affair in the movie. So they turned any actual transgressions or sort of like insinuated transgressions into fantasies. They are in the main character's imagination American beauty. Right. They American beauty it. They did American beauty it. So Axerod was deeply unhappy with the finished product because of this, and he decided to move to Los Angeles so he could keep a closer eye on any future screenplays of his. He also developed a habit of submitting a deliberately racey early draft that was designed to direct attention towards a character or plotline that he was actually totally fine with cutting It was a little bit of look over here so that the studio execs wouldn't look too closely at the parts that he wanted to keep. I love this. We used to do this in a particularly difficult writer's room that I worked in where we had to submit episode ideas and we would always put an unbelievably bad one in the mix on purpose so that the higher ups would have something to cut right away. It's risky though. madeade him feel smarter, Chris. bless their hearts. But it's risky because every once in a while. Why because they choose it they choose the b That's true. That's true. I'm just saying, it's a double edged sword. Make it really bad. So when Axel Rod heard about brereakfast at Tiffany's, he, in some ways saw a chance to write the wrongs done in the seeven Ye itch. And he went to Paramount, pitished himself, and they said No thank you, because he was considered a massive red flag with the production codes thanks to the seven year itch. Plus, according to Axel Rod, Muddy Jerau apparently didn't think he was uptown enough I don't know what that means. He's like a low class writer. Oh, a dirty poor. Well yeah, well, you said, you know, radio, television. He's not an A list features writer. It doesn't sound like at this point. He's not. So in January of nineteen fifty nine, they hired Australian novelist, playwright and television writer, Sumner Locke Elliott. Elliot, who was not out at the time, was gay and was New York based. So maybe they thought he could bring some of the Truman Capote flare that they needed, to which I say again, why not hire Tran Capote I mean, I know why they wanted to change his entire novel. And by April, Elliot turned in his draft and Richard Shepherd wrote the following memo to Paramount Suffice to say we are all immensely disappointed in Elliot's efforts. Disregarding its length and its peculiar physical format, we are most disturbed by its episodic, disjointed, fluffy and even ephemeral tone. Elliot to our way of thinking has seriously failed to capture the warmth, the zest, the humor, the beauty, and more important, the basic heart and honesty that is Holly go lightly. The young Man he is written is petty and unattractive in character, borders on the effeminate, which we all dest And as is the case with Holly and the whole piece, it is almost totally devoid of the humor and contemporary flavor that is absolutely vital for this picture. Most important, however, a dramatically sound storyline in point of view is either non existent or certainly not clear So it sounds to me like this person actually adapted Germanook. say he adapted the book Yeah. Why is the man's voice so high? It's ridiculous He goes on to explain that they are all one hundred percent convinced that it should be a rom com in which the boy gets the girl in the end and they needed to hire a new writer who would be more capable of jamming Kapodi's character study into a traditional three act structure, in which his very gay narrator is no longer very gay and is now a man's man man manan who falls in love with Hollico lightly, you know, some light changes. So Jero and Shepherd drew up a new list of screenwriters and down at the very bottom was George Axel Rod They asked every writer to pitch their idea on how to solve their problem. And if the pitch was good, they said, we'll skip a treatment, you can go straight to the screenplay. And lucky for them, Axel Rod had to solve. He figured the whole problem wasn't that Holly was afraid of being alone, it's actually that she was afraid of commitment, which was pretty unusual for a female character at the time. Now this much is present in the Novella But now they're turning it into a wrong com had to figure out why Holly and this guy don't just sleep together and move on She clearly has no problem hooking up with people, but that would be a code, no no. So his solve was the reason that these two don't just bang it out right away is that he's a jiggleo too which I gotta be honest Totally guessed Like, is it just that I don't know. what do you make of this update? That's one of the elements I like about the movie quite a bit, actually. I like it too. I just don't know that I like under Like, what is it? Is it just that he sees himself in her and then doesn't want to engage with her in the same way that he engages with other women? or You're saying why doesn't he try to hook up with her right away? Yeah, that's what they're like, why dont these you know, why don't these two just get together? No, it's just why doesn't she hook up with him? The decision making is unidirectional in this, then let's be straight Good point The women make the choice. men he's like, if Holly in the first scene had been like, canan I get in bed and kissed him? they would have had sex. one hundred percent. Good point. It's like in Tina Face says in Thirty Rock, you can smell like cabbage and you can still find a manand to have sex with you. It's completely true. What I liked about it is that it shows that they're both transactional people, they're striving, you know for something else in slightly different ways I like that it makes it so that it puts him in a nice position where he is not judgmental of her, nor should he be judgmental of her, which I really like. That's also true. goodood point. And I like the power dynamic between him and Patricia Neil. I think that's really interesting. I wish there was more of it, which we'll get to. I agree. orr their friendship. I love all those nontraditional elements much more than what we eventually get. All right, thank you for clarifying that. I agree with all that. Jerao and Shepherard also agreed they loved this and they hired him right away. And Axel Rod removed a few major plot points from the novel immediately. So the whole dynamic between Mags Wildeood, who is barely in the movie and Holly is totally excised. In the book, they have this very funny, competitive, bitchy thing going on. She's a really weird, funny character Also, Holly has an unplanned pregnancy and a miscarriage. those are totally removed. as is the entire beginning of the novel. So what happens at the beginning of the novel is that The narrator discovers from his neighbor, mister Yunyoshi, who, yes, is a Japanese man and a photographer, but he's a human. He's a normal important human being that Holly, who had disappeared at the end of the novel on a plane to Brazil, may have made it to Africa. And they discover this because Yunyoshi visited a village and they show him a sculpture of a head that looks exactly like Holly go lightly, and they describe a woman having come into the town. So it's this realization that she has made it you know, all the way to Africa and may have perhaps found love there. Andy added a lot, in particular, the relationship with T, Ty, the older woman bankrolling our narrator, now Paul's life in the building And remember Axel Rod's strategy of really launching it up in one area to distract from another? He does that here by making the sexual encounters between T and Paul more explicit in order to distract from the character of Holly. And for the most part, this worked. There was a lot of back and forth with the production code administration in terms of what could stay and what could go. They didn't completely ignore Holly, but Jero and Shepard had a very clever way around this. In the book, the narrator, as we said, pretty clearly gay. So if they didn't at least imply that he was sleeping with women in the movie, people might assume he was gay and there was nothing more horrifying than that. And the production code was like, you're right But they did draw one major line in the sand. Holly and Paul could not sleep together in the movie. And this concerned Axel Rod because he was starting to feel like it was the seven year inch all over again So casting for the lead actress became even more important. She really had to walk the line between being just suggestive enough, but not so suggestive that anyone would think that she's a freak in the sheets. Shirley McLean was considered, but she was booked elsewhere. She' have been good. So were Jane Fnda, who I would argue, is maybe a little too hot, and they also thought too young. Yes, yeah. And Jane Fnda projects older to me than she is. L I don't want this to be crashed, but she projects more sexually mature I think she was at her age versus McLan and Hepburn feel very young That's interesting because they're both older. I know, but they feel more bright eyed and naive is the wrong word, but I don't know. I would argue they feel less sexual. Although Sirley McLean, I think can walk that line a little more than Audrey Hepburn does. Sure. By the way, though, Jane Fonda was closer in age to Holly's age in the book. Holly's nineteen in the book, and Audrey Hepperurn's in her thirties in this movie. Yeah, that's what I thought. I knew she'd been acting since the early fifties, I thought Yeah. Also considered were Rosemary Clooney. and then they start looking at the biggest box office stars at the time and it's Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, Sandra D, like none of these work. Yeah, I was wondering about like Doris Day and Rock Hudson they were doing all their, you know hobbies. and Elizabeth Taylor, who I think is too old, Elizabeth Taylor would rip your dick off Yeah. Well you know Elizabeth Taylor could have played the Patricia Neil part, I think. She could have played T E. I don't think she was old enough. I think she's like, this is Cleopatra era. Yeah, but maybe in terms of vibe, she could have played. T E. Yeah, Twy does have a dick ripping off vibe. Yeah. I love Patricia Neil in this movie. And I think she is gorgeous. She is gorgeous. I don't know if I love her hats. They didn't do wear any solids with those hats, but she looks great. Doesn't bother me So keepeep your hat on fine with me where rolled doll beats you up. She beat rolled doll ups be. I hope so Guys, Lizzie and I don't always agree. There's a specific franchise that she thinks is a masterpiece that I Let's just say don't. But we do agree that housing is expensive. 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Join the membership for where you live at joinbuilt. com slash wrong. That's jOi nBLt dot com slash wrong. Make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you One thing I love about my husband, David is that this man cannot pass up a good deal. As soon as he sees a yard sale, it's like a tractor beam is pulling him in and he cannot resist. And his deal hunting obsession has rubbed off on me, except I'm not pulling my way through cobwb covever yard sales, I'm on whatnot Whatnot is the number one live shopping app in the US where shopping happens in real time with real people, real conversations, and incredible deals. Seriously, I cannot emphasize enough how great the deals are. You almost never pay full price on name brand perfume, clothes, makeup, handbags, jewelry, and so much more. Plus, it's fun. You're connecting with sellers and other shoppers. It's like hanging out and shopping with friends I just got an amazing Goodfellass t shirt from Treasure Chest TX for nine dollars that I can't wait to wear and a vintage Gucci cross body bag from the Don's luxury that I picked up for like half the price of other retailers. I am obsessed with it. Everything arrived so quickly in an excellent condition. Download Whatot today and get twenty dollars off and free shipping on your first purchase Search What notot W H A T N OT in the App store, sign up and start finding the best deals on the products you love with twenty dollars off and free shipping on your first purchase M So this led them in a pretty different direction, and they thought, why don't we cast totally against type more aggressively and look at Audrey Hepburn? Audrey Hepburn was born in Brussels, Belgium in nineteen twenty nine to a British father and a Dutch baroness. And beginning at age five, she was obsessed with ballet. Now herer parents divorced one year later around age six and she went to live with her mother, herer mother moves them to the Netherlands Her father kind of exited the picture at this point. And of this, Hepburn said, it certainly stayed with me. My father leaving us left me insecure for life, perhaps While the Netherlands had seemed like a safe bet to Hepburn's mom, thanks to the Nazis in World War twoo, it turned out they very much were not. Now it should be noted that her mother was an early and rather avid Nazi sympathizer. That did change after the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands when she saw firsthand what they were capable of, including murdering her brother in law, Audrey's uncle But her mothererss early supported the Nazis was something Hepbin was very embarrassed about for her entire life And Audrey was not a sympathizer. In fact, she would actually ferry messages to Brits and Americans who had been shot down over Holland, and she delivered the Dutch resistance newspaper to fellow resistance fighters. She was very young and she was an active part of the Dutch resistance. This was an extremely difficult time, coupled with the Hunger winter famine or hunger winter of nineteen forty four to nineteen forty five, which left Audrey severely malnourished and it actually weakened her to the point where she could no longer keep up with her dream of being a professional ballerina So after the war, she pivoted to some small acting roles in London's West End and then eventually some small film roles, where her relatively unusual features got her noticed pretty quickly She was cast in the title role of the original Broadway production of Gigi, though she would not star in the film. And then of course she broke out big in nineteen fifty three with What film opposite Gregory Peck Roman holiday. Roman holiday, which I love is very cute. It's a great movie and then Sabrinah She actually won the Oscar for Roman holiday. Yeah, I did not remember that. William Weiler, right? He directed that one? Yes, William Weyler. Yeah, it's a great movie. And then one year later, in nineteen fifty four, Paramount called up French designer Hubert de Givonchy, asking him to dress Miss Hepburn for her upcoming film, Sabrina. Now they had a pretty adorable meet cute. He actually thought they had meant Catherine Hepurn. So when little tiny Audrey Hepurn walked in, he was like, E what is this? But she managed to win him over and they ended up becoming each other's kind of great loves over the course of their lives To be clear, Giivvenonchie was gay, which I think Audrey Heburn clocked right away. They continued working together and by the time breakfast at Tiffany's rolled around, it was actually in Audrey's contract that her costumes had to be designed by Guvonchie and a little bit more on that later She was also one of the highest paid actresses in the world, but she was actually looking to step away from Hollywood. She had married Mel Ferre in nineteen fifty four, and in June of nineteen fifty nine, while Axel Rod was working on the screenplay, Audrey had miscarried. and sadly, it was not the first time According to Audrey, children were, quote indispensable for a woman's life and happiness. So this was really quite devastating for her She was trying to focus on building a family and had actually turned down both Westide Story and Cleopatra and had pulled out of a hitchcock film, which would never end up getting made because he had added a rape scene last minute and she was like, I'm not doing it Doid you know who in Westide's story would have been Maria? Maria. Okay. Yeah. That's what I was wondering. Does Audrey Hprince sing? I don't remember her singing. She did. She sang a little bit in Fny Face and of course she sings in this movie, which we will talk about, but she's not like Iant like a big no Broadway singer. Not at all In nineteen fifty nine, she became pregnant again. And later, Jerau fle out to the South of France to meet with a very prerag' Audrey and try to sell her on breakfast at Tiffanyy's, But she said, quote, You have a wonderful script, but I can't play a hooker However, Jeraot kept at it, and her agent promised her she would not be confused for the wild childild up on the screen, and she eventually agreed because quote, I was nothing like her, but I felt I could act, Holly. That was a revolutionary thought for me after so many movies I no longer felt like an amateur, I knew the part would be a challenge, but I wanted it anyway And the seven hundred fifty thousand dollars salary probably didn't hurt That is eight point five million dollars today. But she did remain concerned about her image in connection with Holly. She would later tell the director, quote, When you publicize this unusual role, please make it clear that I do not play a trollop And fun fact, this is actually why so many of the press materials featured Holly withith a cat was because a cat lady couldn't possibly be a trolop. But she went back to focusing on her family and she happily gave birth to her first child, Sean Ferre in July of nineteen sixty. And everyone was thrilled that she had signed on except for What's the one person who probably wasn't super stoked about this? Truman Capote. Truman Capote. He said, Paramount double crossed me in every way and cast Audrey. He told Playboy Magazine, The book was really rather bitter, and Holly Go Lightly was real, a tough character, not an Audrey Hepburn type at all. The film became a mowkish Valentine to New York City, and Holly, and as a result, was thin and pretty, whereas it should have been rich and ugly It bore as much resemblance to my work as the Rocketets do to Yulenova. The Yulenova there refers to Galina Yulenova, who was considered one of the greatest ballerinas of all time, so he's simultaneously shitting on breakfast at Tiffany's and the Rocketets Nice trimman He didn't love it. Someone else who probably wasn't too thrilled about Audrey's casting was director John Frankenheimer, who had been attached to direct until Audrey or her agent. Oh really?. They said she would not work with him. Interesting. So he got fired. Yeah. We haven't covered well, I guess we kind of covered a Frankenheimer film a little bit with Island of Doctor Moreau, but he was a combative presence on film sets. Yes. And that could have been part of it. He also wasn't super well known at this point. Others said it may have been that his existing work was a little too dark for her. whatever it was. She said no. And then Hepperurn's agent promptly handed Jero and Shepherd a list of more suitable directors and every single one was booked. So they had to start calling the ones not on the list, and this included Blake Edwards. Right. At this point, he was best known for directing Operation Petticoat, which would not stand the test of time, but but would be remade into a television show. Really? Yeah. o. It did make a boatload of money for Universal though, and it starred Care Grant, an actor who was notoriously obsessive and required a strong hand from a director They figured if he could handle Grant, he could handle Audrey. So Edwards got the gig at a cut rate, I'm sure. And he came quite late to the party, so he didn't have that much to do with the screenplay. nor did he get his way when it came to casting the male lead. Edward's first choice to play Paul was Tony Curtis. I think Tony Curtis would have been so good in this role. So think actually For me, the reason the first hour works well is that George Pepard is the blandest of bland toasts. I guess what I mean is that he doesn't read as sexual. Yeah. And so if you're not gonna to play him as gay, playing him as a sort of more sexless friend character, I think is really interesting. And I like then the dynamic between him and Patricia Neil, where she really commands the scene. She can dominate him Right in a way that I don't know if she could Tony C if you're sure she could, she's a wonderful actress. Anyway, all I say is I think that the love story doesn't work with George Pepard and it may have worked better with Tony Cur. But I think the non love story actually works pretty well with George Pepard. Okay. Just my t But it was Mel Ferre, Audrey's husband, who shut this one down So Edwards tried Steve McQueen, at least he's hot, if not funny. too hot It's too hot. She's like, let me get to your bed just for a minute. And it's like, come on. It's like that Mike Nichol story, right? He's casting the graduate. Robert Redford wants the role, and he says, Well, you know, Robert's like, when you strike out with a girl, and Robert says, what do you mean? Yeah, exactly. But he was actually under contract elsewhere. He was not available Instead, the producers brought George Pipard's name to the table. Now he was a very serious actor, trained at the actor's studio in New York. He'd spent two seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a wonderful Shakespeare Festival. And he was also A The worst, just ask his ex wife, Elizabeth Ashley would later say, quote, George was never one of those actors who believed his job is to take the money, hit the mark, and say the lines. He felt that as an above the title star, he had the responsibility to use his muscle and power to try and make it better. and that has never stopped him. He was unrelenting about it to the point where a lot of directors and executives came to feel he was a pain in the ass I'm sure Blake Edwards had heard some whiffs of this, but he tried to keep an open mind and went to see Pipard in a recent film. And his reaction, quote, After coming out of the film, I dropped to my knees on the sidewalk to the producers and begged them not to cast him But he did not get his way and Pipard got the role. Unfortunately, he did get his way in the casting of mister Yunioshi. He insists on Mickey Rooney because the two had worked together. and you know, Rooney was funny. That's so weird. I assumed it was some sort of big name stunt casting thing. No, actually, Mickey Rooney was kind of down and out at this time. I know. Yeah. Similarly with Pipard, I was just looking at his filmography He was only in a few I mean, he was nobody compared to Patricia Neil and compared to Audrey Hepburn. Well, that could be part of it. They were expensive. So if they don't have a ton of money left in the budget. But the Mickey Rooneyy thing, I kind of think this was Blake Edwards doing him a solid because Rooney had had fallen on hard times. I think he'd struggled with some addictions and I think like less than a year later would file for bankruptcy I'm not sure anyone knew what these two had in mind until they got to set, but a little more on that later Patricia Neil, as we mentioned, then wife of Roll Dahl was cast as Ty after a three year break in acting. I agree with you, I think she's great in this. I wish she was in it more. And they had to hold auditions for the cat, Chris. And since cats do whatever the hell they want, they had to have multiple identical cats, each with their own specialties. According to cat trainer Fank Inn, quote, I have a sitting cat, a going cat, a meowing cat, a throwing cat, and so on Each one is specialist and all the same color you'll notice A throwing cat. I don't know about that one Now, as for old Truman, he was pretty much out of the picture for the remainder of production, and he was not happy about it, especially since George Axelrood got paid more for his adaptation than Truman had for selling the rights. Acording to Axelrood, quote, Truman didn't have much to do with the film. Again, it's such a loose adaptation. I tried to keep the gene pool of the Novella. I couldn't use the structure at all because it's the same story as I am a camera Just a homosexual or asexual man observing a sexy girl. You can't make a love story out of that and they wanted a love story It's so interesting to me that they keep saying these are the same story. They are not the same story. It is just a gay man a friendship with a manic Pixie Dream girl, I think the dynamics are different. The motivations of the character in Breakfast at Tiffanyyss are different. He's a lot more active, I think, than in goodoodbye to Berlin. You can have more than one gay man who' friends with a woman, just a thought. Now remember Hepburn's contractual obligation to Givonchie? This had already been causing problems for years for legendary costume designer Edith Head, who was under contract at Paramount. pissed that Givonchy would swoop in and design just for Audrey, which he did on Sabrina and Funnyface. Now Heed tried to fight it on Breakfast at Tiffany's, making the very good point that Hollywood have neither the money nor the access to French high fashion, so how would she get these clothes? But it didn't matter. And Heed got pushed into the role of costume' supervisor, providing costumes for Pipard and all the minor players while Givonchie took care of Audrey and the gowns, which I think means he was dressing some of the other women as well this is pretty fucked up. Edith Head was a legend. She's one of the greatest costume designers like ever to live. And I understand Audrey Hepburn's connection to Givonchie and that it was wonderful. and obviously the dresses in this are beautiful. It's one of the most iconic black dresses of all time, but it does suck that like This is Edith He's job It's her whole job and she doesn't get to do it They also needed a song for Holly Go Lightly to sing, but everyone, including Audrey Hepburn, was pretty concerned because she did not have the most amazing voice. In particular, her range was very limited According to the Financial Times, Australian critic Clive James once described Hepburn as having, quote, the vocal range of a mouse trapped under a cushion Rude But Henry Mancini, who scored the film, had written Moon River alongside lyricist Johnny Mercer, specifically for Hepburn's limited range. It was actually Blake Edwards who pushed this over the edge and insisted that it had to be Audrey singing, not Marnie Nixon, infamous vocal artist who dubbed both Natalie Wood in Westide Story and later on, Audrey in My Fair Lady His argument was that she shouldn't really sound that good. It's kind of the Sally Bowles' argument. She's just a regular manic Pixie dream girl with her guitar and they usually don't sound like Marnie Nixon. And finally everyone agreed So cameras rolled in New York City first, and things were immediately not off to a great start. Hepburn was away from her ten week old baby and not loving that. She was also not loving the Danish she was supposed to be eating as she walked up to the window of Tiffany's becausecause it turns out she hated Danishes. She asked if it could be an ice cream cone, and Edward said Absolutely not. To which I say, why not? giveive her the damn ice cream cone She's away from her baby and she hates Danishes. Also, Patricia Neil had just had a baby too. Oh. Patricia Neil had a baby in August of nineteen sixty. So around the same time. Yeah. That's interesting. Forer third child. Their age difference isn't that big, is it? Patricia Neil was born in nineteen twenty six. That's three years. Yeah. okay. Yeah. interestnteresting. Yeah. Her voice, she has that smokey low register. and I think that makes her seem so much older. Well, yeah, and they're dressing her as an older woman too But Hepburn was not having a great time. She didn't really like the process of acting all that much. She would later say, quote, It gets harder and harder. I really die a million deaths every time. My stomach turns over, my hands get clammy. I do suffer, I really do. I wasn't cut out to do this kind of thing. I really wasn't The exterior sequence was a paid in the ass to film anyway because they had to clear out by seven thirty AM when Nikita Khrushchev's motorcade was going to come through. and the scene shot inside of Tiffany's was an absolute nightmare This was the first time a film crew had been allowed inside of Tiffany's and it happened because Hepburn agreed to wear the gigantic yellow diamond for the promo photos. It had taken Jerose six months to get Tiffany's to agree to this, but Chris Tiffany's has a lot of windows, An thoughts on what might have been a problem. Passersby looking through, changing light, reflections The light, all of the above. It's a nightmare. Yeah. The DP, Franz Planer set up thirty two yellow gelled spotlights all around the store and had to put filters on the windows because apparently actually technicolor made natural daylight look bllue So since they were dealing with natural light, as you pointed out, it kept shifting throughout the day, making the constant setup just a disaster. But finally, once Planer had everything set up and ready to roll, Audrey delivered her first line in the scene, Isn't it wonderful? And she was cut off by a blood curdling scream? Because Chris, Planar was laid out on the floor He had been electrocuted Oh my god An untethered cable had given him a two hundred and twenty volt shock That's bad. Yeah Yep, if you have a two hundred twenty hookup in your house for like, you know, an electric stove or your EV or something like that, I do. A lot more charge than than your typical outlet. R. I will not stick my finger in it. Yeah Fortunately, he was okay, but the whole ordeal meant further delays for everyone. I she had superpowers after Yeah In October of nineteen sixty, after only one week in New York City, the shoot moved to Paramount stududios in L.A. And despite someone having just been literally electrocuted The biggest problem on set was not live wires, but George Pipard. He constantly pushed for script changes that would make his character bigger. According to Patricia Neil, quote, he didn't want my character to make his character look bad. My character was dominant, you know? And before George got to the script, I had a really excellent part, but he didn't want that. So he fought to have my dialogue cut, cut, cut Much of it he actually managed to get cut because Blake had no choice but to give in. But luckily he didn't get away with all of it. Yeah, this is crazy because you know, Patrition Neil will win her best actress Oscar, I guess, not until nineteen sixty three, but she'll go on to win twowo years later. yeah. My point is she's one of the best actresses working. Yes. George Pipard is two Regional theater, George Part Sit down. No offense to the Ashland based Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is wonderful. but yeah, come on, man, this sucks. It does suck. She's great. And also the scenes are better when she is in the position of power. Correct. It just makes for a more interesting dynamic. Yeah, he's more interesting. According to Patricia Sneow, Blake Edwards then wife, quote, on one occasion Blake and George almost had a fist fight We were trying to block a scene and George wanted to change everything that Blake had planned, and George got so terrible that Blake almost hit him. I got them to stop, but I think George got his way. I hated him from that moment on. Snell basically said George just had like zero social skills and also didn't put in the work. And Roll Dahl hated him to bootch and made that known And Edwards had another problem, another husband, Audrey's husband, Mel Ferre Ferre showed up and disrupted filming a lot. And Edward started to suspect with good reason that Ferre may have been directing Audrey at home, contradicting what Edwards was asking for. He also had a habit of openly chastising Audrey in front of the cast and crew. Edwards remembered dinner one night at a Japanese restaurant where Audrey had the audacity to put her elbows on the table. which point Ferre jabbed his fork underneath her elbows and said, ladies do not put their elbows on the table, loud enough for everyone to hear Despite Audrey maybe not having such a fun time on this shoot, pretty much everyone said she was a genuinely delightful person. Richard Shehepard said everythingverything you have read, heard or wished to be true about Audrey Hepburn doesn't come close to how wonderful she was. There's not a human being on Earth that was kinder, more gentle, more caring, more giving, brighter, and more modest than Audrey. She was just an extraordinary, extraordinary person. everyveryone should know that Now, Blake Edwards may not have had a ton of control over the script, or George Ppard, but he did get his way in two parts of the film. Let's talk about the good one first Party sequence. Oh yeah. It's really fun. You can see what he'll do, you know, like I always think of him with Panther movies. Right. And you can see the comic energy that he wants to bring. And that's why he I think that's the misguided idea behind the Uniosan character. He's trying to bring some more slapstick screwball energy to the movie. Yes. It works in the party sequence very well. That's a really fun choreographed sequence. It's one of my favorite parts of the movie. It might be my favorite part of the whole movie It took a week to shoot. It was almost entirely improvised. He insisted on hiring professional actors, not just extras. Yeah, they're all really good. Yeah. He wanted to be able to just really throw things at them and have them react in real time. The actress who's laughing and crying in the mirror is, she's great. It's great. It's Faye Menzie. She's in like a lot of Westerns with Jean Autrey. He actually set fire to a hat behind her to try and make her laugh and he didn't realize that she's so nears sighted she couldn't see it So there was like no reaction. I'm glowing. Yeah. Also when that woman screams, when Pipard puts his drink, it's I think it's actually because he pinched her ood times. Thanks, George. Yeah,ks. And then George. Over the course of a week, Edwards went through one hundred and forty gallons of tea replacing alcohol and sixty cartons of cigarettes. Yeah, and they didn't replace the cigarette. You don't need to replace the cigarettes. Real ones. Yeah. On the last day, he did replace the tea with actual alcohol, though, they had a pretty good time. Thats fun The end result is really fun, and it does lift the movie up, I would say, unlike the other thing Blake Edwards added to this movie, which is, of course, Mickey Rooney's performance as mrter Yunyoshi Now, I don't want to entirely blame Edwards since the studio also really took this casting and ran with it. They actually announced the role, and this is before filming had even started by saying that the character of mister Yioshi would be played by Japanese comedian Ohio Arigato, which is, of course, good morning and thank you in Japanese Press releases detailed his supposed background that he'd demanded a bigger part and a sword dance sequence that he required Axelrod to add to the script to make him happy. Oh, he also had leased his geisha home, Chris in order to go to Hollywood. And they announced that he'd been spotted at the worldor sereries in the Bleachers, gambling his salary away. Then they plant a story that a photographer had recognized Mickei Rooney on the set under all the prosthetics, and they make an even bigger fuss out of the whole thing, saying that Rooney would be receiving coaching from Minoli Mokeda, wife of the director of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in LA who would be serving as a technical advisor on the film I cannot figure out if there was any truth to this. She's real and her husband, Katsuma, Mukeda, were definitely real fixtures in LA, but I don't see her listed anywhere in the film's credits. I don't know. it's very weird. It's gross. Yeah, it seems like an attempt to backpedal a little bit after maybe your really weird I think fromal strategy maybe backack fired or didn't seem to work. I agree Honestly, what it seems to me is like they said, who knows somebody that's Japanese?ight. Oh, totally. Like in a meeting and they said, the Chamber of commmerce guy, like, okay, let's get his what, You know what I mean? You make, I don't know. Thaty. To me, this feels like a really bad marketing department series of decisions. I also wonder if what happened is that somebody did actually figure out it was Mickey Rooney and then they like get ahead of it and they plann. That's what I'm saying. It's like cascades in a bad way. Yeah ye Internally, people were also not super stoked about this performance, especially George Axelrood, who really hated it and had from the beginning. Well, it also breaks the reality of It's really weird. It's like you jump into these like bad minstrel show slapstick components when the movie actually tries to take some more somber turns when you learn Loua May's history and whatnot and those don't work in conjunction with Mr. Yunyoshio No it's really So totally jarring. It's very, very strange. And again, like there is no indication in the novel that this either tone should be in the movie or that this character would be like this. It's just gross. And Axelrood pointed out Each time Yunyoshi appeared I said, Jesus, Blake, can't see that it fucks the movie up? He said, We need comedy in this and Mickey's character iss funny Axelrood did not give up. He actually had an enormous fight with Blake Edwards where he was advocating that they remove all of the character's bits except for the one or two necessary ones where Yuniyoshi interacts with Holly Go lightly. By the way, that's a totally different character in the book. It's a woman who has the issues with the noise of Holly. So there's no reason to have had this be Yuniyoshi. Axelrood actually went so far as to arrange for Audrey Hepperurn to come back to set after they were done to reshoot those couple of scenes with a totally different actor so they could axe Brunie from the film. And Hepburn agreed to do this for zero dollars. so I'm guessing she also was not stoked about the Mickey Rody stuff. You know, I wonder if the original sin here in some ways is the Pepard hiring because you know He's not funny, right? I mean, and I like him in portions of this movie quite a bit, but he's not funny. Nope, that's why I'm saying Tony Curtis. So Hepburn has to generate all the comedy in those interactions. And then does Blake Edwards feel like he needs to, you know what I mean, find some other sources of levity throughout the movie when she then becomes a heavier character again? So you know, let's just blame Pipard for all of it. Sure. I think we can blame Blake Edwards ini We'll blame all of them. Yeah. Also it should be noted Blake Edwards did continue doing, you know, there's also, I think there's Peter Seller dressing as like an Indian character as pointson. Yeahah. so this is not unfamiliar territory to him, although it never was as offensive as this, I don't think. But according to Axelrood, quote, Blake violently disagreed, so Mickey Rooney' still in the picture, boy to the great detriment of the picture Blake said, I love it. It gives a big lift to the picture. It's the one laps and taste in the picture Bakfast at Tiffany's held a preview at Stanford University with Audrey and her lovely husband, Mel Ferre in attendance. And according to actress Fayy Mackenzie, when they all walked out of the screening, Ferre turned to Hepurn and said loud enough for everyone to hear, I liked your hat. Don't worry they got divorced in nineteen sixty eight after both had affairs. It seems really fun. By the way, at one of the previews, the head of production at Paramount decided that he hated Moon River and said That fucking song has to go. And then depending on who you ask, either Audrey Hepburn or Richard Shepherd screamed back over my dead body. I'm inclined to think it was Richard Shepherd, but I love the idea of Audrey Hepburn being held back by Mel Ferrere screaming The film premiered on october fifth, nineteen sixty one and pretty much everyone loved it, except for Heath back, Drewan Capoti. Capote explained to Lawrence Grobble in conversations with Capote, quote, It was the most miscast film I've ever seen. It made me want to throw up. And Al although I'm very fond of Audrey Hepburn, she's an extremely good friend of mine, I was shocked and terribly annoyed when she was cast in that part. It was high treachery on the part of the producers. They didn't do a single thing they promised. I had lots of offers for that book from practically everybody and I sold it to this group at Paramount because they promised things They made a list of everything, and they didn't keep a single one. The day I signed the contract, they turned around and did exactly the reverse. They got a lousy director like Blake Edwards, who I could spit on. Do it, Truman George Axel Rod was nominated for B Adapted screenplay, but he lost to judgment at Nuremberg. Best original score and song did go to Henry Mancini, and critics were generally favorable on the movie, though several pointed out for better and for worse how different it was from the source material. And again, yes, people did find Mickey Rooney's performance pretty abhorrent all the way back in nineteen sixty one, several critics called it out as being potentially offensive, and so did Truman Capoti, saying, quote, It made me want to throw up Like Mickey Rooney playing this Japanese photographer. Well, indeed I had a Japanese photographer in the book, but he certainly wasn't Mickey Rooney Didn't bother Mickey Rooney, though. accccording to him who would later say in two thousand eight that at the time, quote, never in all the more than forty years after we made it. Not one complaint. Every place I've gone in the world people say you were so funny. Asians and Chinese come up to me and say, Mickey, you were out of this world Oh buddy. In nineteen ninety three, Bruce Lee's bioic showed Lee and his wife leaving the theater disturbed by Rooney's performance, and this is kind of the first mainstream critique of the character on this level. And then people really started to revisit the film through a different lens and the character became harder and harder to stomach. By two thousand six, Shepard was apologizing in the forty fifth anniversary DVD commentary, saying, quote, If we could just change Mickey Rooney, I'd be thrilled with the movie Dctor Blake Edwards also said, Looking back, I wish I had never done it. I would give anything to be able to recast it, but it's there and onward and upward. Indeed, Edwards would move onward and upward, as we said, he became best known for directing and writing the Pink Panther series, starring Peter Sellers as Inspector Clusso, which I do enjoy. Yeah greatreat series. Although there are some unsavory things in that as well, but as you pointed out, you can really see the kind of bonkers like physical comedy in the party scene that would evolve into the Pink Panther In two thousand eight, the film was pulled from a free screening in Sacramento and replaced with the obvious choice, Ratatui Mickey Rooney responded, I don't know why they replaced it with Radity, but they did. Mickey Rooney responded, quote, It breaks my heart. Blake Edwards, who directed the picture wanted me to do it because he was a comedy director. They hired me to do this overboard and we had fun doing it. I don't think you should pull the movie. I think I don't know the circumstances, but I think it's just talk about all of it. There are so many wonderful things about this movie like so many movies and there's so many things I didn't know about from the book that you mentioned that I wish they had done differently, but I understand why they did them The way they did, and there are some things where I just think, whyy didd you put the rake down? You're gonna step on it. Yeah rightight in front of you. like the Mickey R thing. That's why I like this podcast.' like we can, you know, still watch these movies and talk about these movies, talk about all of it. Well, And that's what happened in twenty eleven. I think there was like a sci fi screening of it that people tried to pull. and instead of doing that, they actually brought in a panelist produced by the media actction network for Asian Americans to talk about it and then still screen the movie. I agree. like still show it. and talk about it. Don't just erase it And this has continued. It's been a real struggle for fans of the film as to whether it's appropriate to show it publicly or not. And pretty much everyone involved has publicly apologized for it. But as Melissa Prookseschart, a scholar of an Asian American film and assistant professor at the University of Michigan wrote in her really fascinating paper, quote, this genuine flelection at the altar of anti racism has become the de facto response for recuperating the film, its lauded cast and crew and its eager viewers This discourse of aberration suggests that the problem of racism could be solved if the film, or merely Rooney's unioshi, simply disappeared. But neither the outright banning of the film, nor the offhand acknowledgement of its racism has truly mitigated the discomfort of its existence She goes on to say, the character of Mr. Yunioshi is not an exceptional aberration, rather he fits quite nicely into a film preoccupied with masquerade, phoniness, and fakery Hm I agree Even though I really did not care for this movie, I would like to end on something positive Sam Wawson points out in his biography that prior to this film, sex or at least the implication of it was reserved for the bad girls and they always ended up getting punished for it. He said, quote, but in breakfast at Tiffany's all of a sudden, because it was Audrey who was doing it, living alone, going out, looking fabulous, and getting a little drunk didn't look so bad anymore. Being single actually seemed shame freeed So I guess Carrie Bradshaw can thank Holly goo lightly as can everyone else. but really we should all thank Triman Capoti, who had the guts to write a character who was far more true to life than what we got on screen. His Holly was single, fabulous, funny, daring, flighting, insecure, sexy, mean, and he didn't judge her for any of it And that wraps up brereakfast at Tiffany's. Great job, Lizzie. Thanks for walking us through it. It's been a long time coming on this show Well, I guess I'll ask you what went right? Oh, Chris, you go first. So I would like to give mine because I've kind of been obsessed with her since we covered Willy Wonk and the Ch chocolate Factory. I'd like to give mine to Patricia Neil.ice who I think is an extremely interesting person. I also want to flag her son when he was four months old in December of nineteen sixty. So they may have still been shooting the movie. I don't know if they had rapped or not was hit by a car And yeah, and had intense brain damage Roll Dahl ended up inventing a form of tube to relieve brain pressure for kids suffering my go forms of encephalitis, I think. And Patricia Neil was also dealing with this then In nineteen sixty two, her seven year old daughter, Olivia, Died No from complications from measles, encephalitis again. And then Patricia Neil had a cerebral aneurysm while she was pregnant in nineteen sixty five She delivered the baby. I believe she lost the ability to speak Roll Dahl, who in many ways was not a good partner, but in this way was, they basically said she will never function the way she did before. And he said, fuck that. And he instituted a drraconian rehabilitation schedule and she got back to nearly full function. and ended up basically returning to acting they did eventually divorce. I think he was also having affairs Her life is incredible. You guys should look her up. She is wow, an incredible actress. She also had such a complicated love history before Roalll. Yeah, Gary Cooper, right? Yes. And then she briefly may have entertained exploring something with Kirk Douglas after she and Gary Cooper had kind of split and then Gary Cooper hit her after that and then she got pregnant with Gary Cooper's child and had an abortion. very, very, very complicated legacy complicated person She incredible actress and I think she's so good in this movie and she makes all of her scenes sing. and now that I know how much of a dullred and bore, as Audrey would say, George Pipard was, I really appreciate how dynamic Patricia Neil is in those scenes. and I'm bummed that we lost the even more interesting version of her character. I agree. She's such a unique talent. So I'll get mine to Patricia Neil Well, we need a movie about Patricia Neil. I think they made a TV movie about her. We need a movie years and years ago. Yeah, we need like a real good one. Yes. Somebody. getet on it. All right, well, you know, I will give mine to Audrey Hepburn because I find the way that the character is written to be so unappealing in this movie. And with anyone else in this part, I think it would have been unwatchable. But she really does manage to walk the line of being genuinely cute and sweet and funny. and God, she looks great. And I was so happy to find out that she was a genuinely person that it seemed everyone really loved. And she had a hard time and she was dealing with a really, you know, garbage boring husband and a garbage boring co star. And she still managed to really shine at the middle of this. So was she the Holly Go lightly that Truman Capotody wrote? No, but there's a reason everyone really loves this movie and I think it's her So I will give it to Audrey All right, Chris, if people would like to support this podcast, how can they go about doing that? Aew easy ways to do it, tellell a family member or friend, hey, check out what went wrong. You can also leave us a rating and review on whatever podcatchter you are listening on. those help us with visibility. If you are interested in going a step further and you'd like more from us, you can sign up for one of our subscription feeds For five dollars a month on Spotify or Apple, you get one, at least one bonus episode a month. These are typically more reviews of newer release movies. We just did at the top of this month, Douil Wars Prod two. We got a couple more coming this way. We got a lot coming this summer. We got Anne Hathaway summer that we're just in the midst of knee deep in Anne Hathaway's films, as it were If you are interested in even more, you can head to our patreon wWWot patreon dot com slash what Wrong podcast for five dollars, you get the bonus episodes. You also get an ad free RSS feed, ands just a bunch of bonus content from us articles, homework on what you can read and watch ahead of upcoming episodes, et cetera. And for fifty dollars, you can get, I mean, take your pick, a Holly Go lightly or I would prefer a Truman Capote shout out. I dare't do a Truman Capote shout out Just like one of these Nate Ashley. You know those days when you get the mean Reds, Beatrix Eirhart, the cast and crew of Winner Tp to Brown Town. Mark Bertha, Mariposas's humans Frankenstein. Angeline Renee Cook You mustn't give your heart to a wild thing Evan Downey, Jose Emilano Sulto Dl Giorgio, Amy Elgishchlager McCoy, Julie Hill Piper, Felicia Jean, Scott Osheida, Karina Canaba. Gracious. Do you think she's handsomely paid? James MclBoy, Cameron Smith, Suzanne Johnson, Ben Schindelman, the Provost family, The O's sound like O's Galen and Miguel the broken glass kids. If I had her money, I'd be richer than she is David Friscalanti Film it Yself. Chris Zucker, Kate Ellrington, M. Soodia. C. Grace B, Blaze Ambrose, Rol Joe, Nate the Knife, Lenna L.J, Half Grey Hound, Brittney Morris, Darren and Dale Conkling Matthew Jacobson, Grace Potter, JJ Rapido. Lazy Freddie. Sadie, just Sadie. Brian Dononna Hue. Brian, it's use for being top banana in the shock department. Adrian Pencoreia, Chris Leil, Kathleen Olson Brook Steve Winterbauer, Don Schyel, Rosemary Southward, Tom Kristen, Jason Frankl, Soman Chinani, Michael McGrath and Lydia Howes. Thank you all so very much.