Roman Holiday – reloaded
The iconic 1950s movie and how it translates into modern Roman holidays
Something that you’ve probably seen by now when you follow us on @sistermagpatterns Instagram is our new “Roman Holiday”-inspired collection. It’s the iconic film with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, that informed the shooting for our sisterMAG 19 issue in 2015. Already 9 years old, those patterns stood the test of time and we wanted to share them with you all.
However, what inspired me most about the relaunch of the collection was the movie itself. I think many of us have seen iconic scenes from the movie and kind of know the basic storyline, however, have you seen the film recently? No? Same here! Thus, I embarked on a deep-dive journey into the movie and fell in love … with it ;-)
Roman Holiday is a 1953 American romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler. The film is considered one of the most romantic films in cinema history.
The story centers around Audrey Hepburn as royal princess who rebels against her royal duties and restraints by escaping for a tour of Rome. There she meets Gregory Peck as American reporter who takes her around and eventually they fall in love – a love between heart and crown.
The movie made Audrey Hepburn a star literally overnight with her winning the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Don’t be discouraged by the oldschool feel of the film in black-and-white and the total lack of modern animation. The story is so quick and witty and the actors so full of charm and beauty that it masters the test of time. And there are quite a few tidbits surrounding the film that I found very interesting during my research:
It’s the first Hollywood movie that was shot completely outside of the US.
The Italian Ministry of Tourism originally refused permission for the movie to be filmed in Rome in fear the movie would “degrade Italians”.
Because of the shooting in Italy, the budget was slashed. Thus, the movie had to be done in black-and-white instead of Technicolor.
Also the director had to be creative with casting, e.g. the people in the ball-scene were real-life aristocrats who donated their salaries to charity. Same is for the reporters in the final scene.
Due to the intervention of the English crown, director William Wyler also had to shoot an entire scene for the film just to make it clear that Hepburn’s character is not a British princess. This was due to the “love scandal” around Princess Margarete and Peter Townsend.
Also, the writer of Roman Holiday, Dalton Trumbo, was blacklisted as a member of the Hollywood Ten for his communist sympathies, so he couldn’t receive a credit for the film. He was only reinstated decades later.
The movie also marks the beginning of the “Hollywood on the Tiber” phase, a period in the 1950s and 1960s, where Rome emerged as a major location for international filmmaking. It was overall a very special time in the history of Rome where the city and the whole country of Italy embarked on a rapid development journey after WWII. Rome became the meeting point for actors, writers, screenwriters, directors and journalists from Italy and the whole world – contemporary witnesses describe it as Paris in the 1920s reloaded. Everybody met at Via Vittorio Veneto, “La Dolce Vita” in reality.
So last year on our trip to Rome we embarked on a little Hollywood on the Tiber search. Not much is left of the “Hollywood on the Tiber”-feeling in Via Veneto. The iconic cafés and bars are closed and only some yellowed newspaper articles and photos remind the onlooker of its glorious times.
However, we found our own iconic Rome places that made up our Roman holiday experience:
Classic Rome Tour in the sisterMAG Patterns 15-2 Lampshade skirt
Via Veneto and the Villa Borghese in the 19-6 Vacanze dress
EUR neighbourhood with Fendi HQ in 13-1 Skirt with 68-2 DIY Wrapping Belt
Thank you for following me along my Roman Holiday journey!
Yours, Toni