There’s no question that more than three decades after its release, Pretty Woman remains one of the best Julia Roberts movies. Not only is it a trademark classic romantic comedy, but after you’re done watching the movie, there are many interesting Pretty Woman behind-the-scenes facts to read about. Alas, this is not one of those rom-coms that later got a sequel, but Roberts did share what her and Richard Gere’s characters might be up to these days, and I didn’t expect her revelation to be so dark.
As is usually the case with rom-coms, Pretty Woman ended on a happy note, with Gere’s Edward Lewis instructing his driver to take him to the apartment of Roberts’ Vivian Ward rather than the airport. In the final minutes of the movie, Edward ascended up the fire escape of Vivian’s building just like the knight that Vivian dreamed of rescuing her as a child did, and they officially committed themselves to one another. However, in the year 2023, Edward is no longer with us, with Roberts telling CBS Mornings the following when asked if she thinks the two characters are still together:
I think he passed away peacefully in his sleep from a heart attack, smiling. And now she runs his business.
Well, that came out of left field, didn’t it? Sure, assuming Edward and Vivian are as old as the actors who played them, that means there’s a nearly 20-year age gap between them. Still, considering Richard Gere is 74 years old, I would have liked to think that Edward still had more years ahead of him. Going off Roberts’ comment though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the stresses of running his company finally caught up with him. Oh well, assuming he passed away recently, at least those two had 30+ years together, and it’s also good to hear Vivian is now running the company rather than it being sold off.
Of course, if a Pretty Woman sequel were to be made after all this time, I imagine that Julia Roberts’ premise wouldn’t be implemented since you’re eliminating one half of the leading duo that helped make the first movie so successful, along with things like Garry Marshall’s directing and J.F. Lawton’s script (although let’s not forget that Pretty Woman was originally going to be a much grittier film). At the very least, I could envision Gere’s Edward appearing at the beginning of the movie, then dying, and the rest of the story would pick up some time later and follow Vivian trying to find love again at an older age.
Those of you now in the mood to stream Pretty Woman can do so on AMC+, whether you’re subscribed to the platform directly or as an add-on to your Amazon Prime Video subscription. Netflix subscribers can now watch Julia Roberts in Leave the World Behind, which has been quietly racking up positive notice.
