The face that launched a thousand ships… Julia Roberts, early 90s
Hands down there was no bigger star in the ‘90s that Julia Roberts. Maybe Arnold Schwarzenegger but that’s arguable. Her big break came in 1990’s Pretty Woman where she played a sex worker who teaches Richard Gere about love and life but she almost didn’t star in the picture.
Three days after she was cast in Pretty Woman (originally titled 3,000) the production company backing the film folded. After Disney picked the film up and brought on Garry Marshall he agreed to meet with her as a courtesy, although he planned to cast a Hollywood A-lister in the role. Roberts explains the rest:
This small movie company folded over the weekend, and by Monday, I didn’t have a job. Garry Marshall came on, and because he’s a great human being, he felt it would only be fair to meet me, since I had this job for three days and lost it. They changed the whole thing and it became more something that is in my wheelhouse.