Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 Richard: He`s not asking her to spend a weekend with him at a motel in Asbury Park, New Jersey; he`s asking her to lunch!
Maurice: I have the car right here, sir!
Richard: I`ve got it! Of course, it means we`ll have to start all over again, but that`s not too serious. We`ve only got eight pages.
Richard: Now then, the mysterious stranger. Who is he? What does he do? What suffering, what torment caused the deep sadness that lurks behind his eyes? And why, while we`re asking questions, didn`t I listen to my father and learn some sort of useful trade?
Richard: Cut to the Eiffel Tower. The main title. The trumpets segue into the inevitable title song. Maybe we can get Sinatra to sing it.
[Frank Sinatra begins to sing]
Richard: I`ve got an idea. I`ve got an idea! First good one I`ve had in four months. No, that`s not true. A few weeks ago I had an idea to give up drinking, but it didn`t photograph.
Richard: You really like it, don`t you.
Gabrielle: What?
Richard: Life.
Gabrielle: Oh! Every morning when I wake up and I see there`s a whole new other day, I just go absolutely ape!
Richard: [about the screenplay`s main character] Now, I suppose we`ll have to describe him.
Gabrielle: Yes, I suppose so.
Richard: He`s American, of course. I can write him better that way. Now let`s see, what else.
[looking in the mirror]
Richard: I see him as rather tall, rather suntanned, rather handsome athletic-looking with a rugged, but... curiously sensitive face.
Richard: And this guy you`ve got a date with on Bastille Day, is he part of the growth process?
Gabrielle: Oh no, he`s just a friend, a struggling young actor.
Richard: [outraged] An actor!
[disgusted]
Richard: Eww. A tragic relation to begin with. I only hope he`s not one of those method actors that who scratches and mumbles and pauses a lot, thereby destroying the impeccable rhythm of the author`s prose.
Richard: Take a note. For the textbook which I will someday write on the art of screenwriting: never play 13, 31 and the corners there of for any seriously length of time for any serious amount of money. It doesn`t work.
Gabrielle: What`s the story about?
Richard: It`s an action/suspense, uh, romantic melodrama with lots of comedy, of course. And, uh, deep down underneath, a substrata of social comment.
Richard: You call the canary Richelieu because you always wanted a cardinal.
Gabrielle: [laughs] That`s very funny!
Richard: No, it isn`t. Just one of the hazards of being an international wit, which I am. You have to keep trying all the time.
Gabrielle: It`s quite all right, really. I once worked for an American novelist who could only write in the bathtub. I`m used to anything.
Richard: You can unpack -
[surprised]
Richard: in the bathtub?
Gabrielle: Yes. On the second day, I gave him a packet of bubble bath and from then on we got along swimmingly.
Richard: I see.
[pointing to the name on the birdcage]
Richard: Uh, does that imply that the bird`s name is Richelieu?
Gabrielle: Oh, it`s inferred, I believe, rather than implied.
Richard: [pause] "Swimmingly." Interesting figure of speech.
Richard: [showing Gabrielle the apartment] This is it. The office there, I live up here, and uh, the terrace is out there. That rather grotesque object looming so formidably on the horizon is the Eiffel Tower. I had it moved there to remind me what town I`m in. If it offends you, of course, I`ll have it taken away again.
Richard: [knock on door] Yes?
Gabrielle: Mr. Benson?
Richard: You are, I assume, the young lady from the typing bureau?
Gabrielle: I am.
Richard: In that case, if we are to have a happy and harmonious relationship, I beg of you, never answer a question with a question. Is that clear?
Gabrielle: Did I?
Richard: There you go again, answering a question with a question. My original yes when you opened the door was a question, question mark implied of course. You do know the difference between implied and inferred?
Gabrielle: Isn`t that a question?
Richard: [pauses] Yes.
Gabrielle: Well, you just answered my question with a question. To imply to indicate without saying openly or directly, to infer is to conclude from something known or assumed.
Gabrielle: You`re not middle aged, Mr. Benson. In fact I think you`re remarkably well preserved.
Richard: As chilling a compliment as I`ve ever received, Miss Simpson.
Gabrielle: Actually, depravity can be terribly boring if you don`t smoke or drink.
Trivia
Tony Curtis agreed to a guest role in the film as a favor to George Axelrod, because William Holden was forced to enter an alcoholic clinic in the middle of filming.
French actor Raymond Bussières is post-synchronized in English by another actor but he post-synchronized himself in the French version.
Another Hepburn movie to be mentioned is "Breakfast at Tiffany`s", mentioned at the beginning of the masquerade scene.
According to her son Sean Ferrer`s memoir, this was Audrey Hepburn`s least favorite of the films she made during her years as a star, this despite the fact she called it "a joy to make". Ferrer wrote that it taught Audrey a lesson, "just because the film was easy to make doesn`t mean it`s going to be very good."
The Dracula sequence was the last one completed for the film. It had to be shortened because William Holden smashed his new Ferrari into a wall and wound up in a splint.
Hubert de Givenchy was the first to receive a screen credit for a scent. He got screen credit for Audrey Hepburn`s perfume.
During one scene, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden compare Frankenstein to My Fair Lady (1964), the latter of course being the film Audrey would soon star in. Charade (1963), Hepburn`s next produced film, also contains a reference to My Fair Lady (1964).
Cameo: [Mel Ferrer] Hepburn`s husband appears as a police driver near the end of the movie.
Tony Curtis was a last-minute addition to the cast, apparently added to the film in much the same way in which he suddenly appears in the screenplay.
Filming ended only two days before production began on Hepburn`s next film Charade (1963). The small park with its Punch and Judy puppet stage, seen during the opening credits, appears in both films.
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Audrey Hepburn
(as Gabrielle Simpson | Gaby)
with William Holden
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