Molly RIngwald Turned Down ‘Pretty Woman’ Because She ‘Felt Like There Was Something Icky About It’

etcanada.com:

“Pretty Woman” is the movie that catapulted Julia Roberts to superstardom, yet she wasn’t the first actress that producers had in mind for the role.

In a new interview with The Guardian, Ringwald reveals that she was offered the role of a prostitute who falls in love with a dashing billionaire (Richard Gere) — but turned it down. “Julia Roberts was wonderful in it, but I didn’t really like the story,” Ringwald admitted. “Even then, I felt like there was something icky about it.” READ MORE: Molly Ringwald Is Apprehensive About Watching Her ’80s Movies With Her ‘Woke’ 12-Year-Old Daughter While Ringwald had racked up an impressive string off Hollywood blockbusters including “Sixteen Candles”, “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink”, she revealed that she wound up losing out on roles that became hits for other actresses.

One of these was “Working Girl”, which cemented the career of star Melanie Griffith. According to Ringwald, director Mike Nichols felt she simply wasn’t right for the part. “‘She really needs to be at that moment where you feel the pain,'” she recalled Nichols telling her. “‘You have your whole life ahead of you — nobody’s going to believe that of you.'” READ MORE: Molly Ringwald Remembers Being Fired At 12 Years Old: It ‘Was Kind Of Hard’ In addition, she also lost out on the role of Clarice Starling in “Silence of the Lambs”, which ultimately went to Jodie Foster. “I didn’t really feel like darker roles were available to me,” she said. “The ones that I wanted to do, I didn’t get.