How The Improvised Scene In Roman Holiday That Frightened Audrey Hepburn Was Conceived
Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953)
When shooting a film there’s only one chance to get a genuine reaction for a scene that is not in the script.
In director Willy Wyler’s 1953 film Roman Holiday there is an improvised scene that star Audrey Hepburn was not told about.
Who came up with the idea to improvise is open to debate; director Wyler or co-star Gregory Peck.
In Jan Herman’s excellent biography A Talent for Trouble: The Life of Hollywood’s Most Acclaimed Director, William Wyler (Putnam) 1995, two versions are given for the genesis of the famous scene:
Wyler’s ability to improvise infused Roman Holtday with a playful allure. In his hands, the airily thin story also acquired an earthy flavor. He mixed the romance with realism, poignance with belly laughs. “It was Willy’s picture all the way,” Peck said. “Willy invented so many bits from day to day that work seemed more like a game.”
A case in point is the now classic scene at the “Mouth of Truth,” an ancient stone monument of a pantheistic, round-faced god at the entrance of an old church. Legend had it that a liar would lose his hand if he dared to put it in the god’s mouth. A truthful person, however, had nothing to fear. Wyler took his daughters sightseeing one day and came across the monument. To amuse them he stuck his hand in the mouth and pretended his whole arm was being tugged in to the elbow. When he pulled it out, he hid his hand up his sleeve. “It scared them to death,” Wyler recounted. “So I thought there must be a place for this in the picture, especially since it’s a story of two people who lie to each other.”
Peck recalls the origin of the “Mouth of Truth” improvisation somewhat differently. He says he suggested the idea to Wyler as an old Red Skelton bit: “Willy said to go ahead and try it, but don’t tell Audrey.”
Keeping her in the dark is what made the scene work, of course. Her startled look of surprise leaps off the screen. She screams, then dissolves into laughter. It is one of the most candid and indelible moments of Roman Holiday.
In the immediate aftermath forgetting for the moment the camera is rolling, Hepburn’s words to Peck are not clearly picked up by the microphone. As you can see Hepburn is so discombobulated by Peck’s stunt, her shock, fear, anger, relief and finally laughter all take place within twenty seconds of film magic.
It’s not acting, but it is a brilliant addition to a classic film, regardless of whose idea it was.
If this was improvised, how was the scene originally written, and what purpose would it have without the improvisation? Did the script originally have both of them putting their hands in, then saying “Oh, that was interesting, so want to go get some pizza?” I don’t see how it advances the plot otherwise.
Good point. Without seeing the original script it’s hard to say for sure. But since they are both “liars” at this point in the film concealing their identities from each other, maybe the scene was originally written with a very different conclusion, that we never got to see. The only way of knowing for sure would be to get your hands on one of the original shooting scripts.