How a typo about cows led to a $165 million Disney box office hit.
In short: When director Garry Marshall first received the script for The Princess Diaries, a typo in the title nearly caused him to reject the project. He initially assumed it was a film about cows. Instead, he created a sleeper hit that launched Anne Hathaway and revitalized Julie Andrews' storied career.
The 2001 film adaptation of Meg Cabot's novel was a deliberate effort by Disney to re-establish its brand for live-action family entertainment. Producer Debra Martin Chase secured the rights after recognizing the story's potential as a modern, female-led 'rags-to-riches' narrative. While the book was written as a diary, the screenplay by Gina Wendkos underwent significant changes, including moving the setting from New York to San Francisco and making the grandmother character, played by Julie Andrews, significantly kinder than her literary counterpart.
Casting was a pivotal process that relied heavily on intuition. Anne Hathaway, then eighteen, was cast as Mia Thermopolis after a single audition during a layover in Los Angeles. Her natural clumsiness—specifically falling out of her chair during the meeting—convinced Marshall she was perfect for the role. The production was a family affair, with Marshall casting his own granddaughters, wife, and daughter in minor roles. The set was designed to be collaborative, with many scenes, such as the state dinner fire incident, featuring genuine improvisations that were kept in the final cut.
The film's aesthetic was defined by meticulous attention to detail, particularly regarding the royal wardrobe. Costume designer Gary Jones collaborated with Harry Winston to secure half a million dollars' worth of diamonds for Julie Andrews, requiring a dedicated security guard on set at all times. In contrast, Hathaway's tiara was crafted from cubic zirconia. Despite industry skepticism regarding the film's G-rating and its focus on a female protagonist, it grossed $165.3 million worldwide. Today, the film is remembered for its themes of self-discovery and its role in establishing Hathaway as a bankable star, while the costumes and crowns remain preserved in the Walt Disney Archives.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: The Princess Diaries (film)
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