Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards from a screenplay by George Axelrod and based on the 1958 novella by Truman Capote. It stars Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, and Mickey Rooney. In the film, Holly Golightly (Hepburn), a naïve, eccentric socialite meets Paul Varjak (Peppard), a struggling writer who moves into her apartment building.
Development for the film began soon after the publication of Capote's novel, with several actors, including Marilyn Monroe, Shirley MacLaine, Kim Novak, Steve McQueen, Jack Lemmon, and Robert Wagner, considered for the lead roles prior to Hepburn and Peppard being cast. The screenplay, which deviates from Capote's novella, was originally completed by Axelrod and director John Frankenheimer, who was replaced by Edwards well into pre-production. Principal photography began on October 2, 1960, with filming taking place in New York City and at the Studios at Paramount in Hollywood, California. The film's music was composed by Henry Mancini and its theme song, "Moon River", was written by Johnny Mercer.
Breakfast at Tiffany's was released in the United States on October 5, 1961, by Paramount Pictures. It grossed $14 million worldwide and received critical acclaim for its music and Hepburn's style and performance, being nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Hepburn, and winning two (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Song for Mancini). The film also received numerous other accolades, although, Rooney's portrayal of I. Y. Yunioshi garnered significant subsequent controversy for being racist. In 2012, the film was preserved in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Fending off a date from the night before, Holly Golightly visits the Tiffany & Co. flagship store but her date finds her at her apartment building. Holly, who cannot find her keys, buzzes her landlord, Mr. Yunioshi, to let her in. Holly meets her new neighbor Paul Varjak as she readies to leave for her weekly visit to incarcerated mobster Sally Tomato. Tomato's lawyer pays her $100 a week to deliver "the weather report". Holly meets Paul's "decorator" Emily Eustace Failenson, a wealthy older woman, whom Paul nicknames "2E". That night, when Holly crawls out onto the fire escape to elude an over-eager date, she sees 2E leaving Paul money and kissing him goodbye.
Holly visits Paul and learns he is a writer who has not had anything published in five years, and has no ribbon in his typewriter. Holly explains she is saving money to support her brother, Fred, after he completes his Army service. The pair fall asleep but are awakened when Holly has a nightmare about Fred. When Paul questions her about this, Holly chides him for prying. Holly buys Paul a typewriter ribbon to apologize, and invites him to a party at her apartment. There, he meets her Hollywood agent, Berman, who describes Holly's transformation from a country girl into a Manhattan "socialite", along with wealthy Brazilian politician José da Silva Pereira and the wealthy American Rusty Trawler.
Some time later, 2E enters Paul's apartment, worried about someone loitering outside the building. Paul confronts the man who explains he is Holly's husband, Doc Golightly. Doc informs him that Holly ran away and he has come to bring her back to rural Texas. After Paul reunites them, Holly informs Paul the marriage was annulled and she declines to return with Doc. After drinking at a club, Paul and Holly return to her apartment, where she tells him she plans to marry Trawler for his money. A few days later, Paul learns a short story inspired by Holly will be published. On the way to tell Holly, he sees a newspaper headline stating that Trawler has married someone else.
Holly and Paul agree to spend the day together, taking turns doing things each has never done before. At Tiffany's, he has the ring from a box of Cracker Jack engraved as a present for her. After spending the night together, Paul awakens to find Holly gone. 2E arrives and calmly accepts when he ends their affair, realizing he loves Holly. Returning from a date with José, Holly learns Fred has been killed and trashes her apartment.
Months later, Holly readies to move to Brazil and marry José but is arrested in connection to a drug ring run by Sally Tomato. Berman pays her bail and Paul picks her up in a cab with all her things, including her pet, Cat, and a breakup letter from José. Holly decides to go to Brazil anyway, breaking bail, as Paul declares that he loves her. Resistant to being in a relationship, Holly chastises him and releases Cat into an alley. Paul storms out of the cab, leaving the engraved ring with Holly. After she puts it on, Holly runs back to the alley, where Paul is looking for Cat. After Holly finds Cat, she cradles it in her coat and, smiling, walks into Paul's embrace.
After Paramount producers Martin Jurow and Richard Shepherd optioned the film rights to Capote's novella, they hired Sumner Locke Elliott to write its screenplay. Although this was generally faithful to the source material, Jurow and Shepherd disliked it and he was replaced by George Axelrod. Axelrod, who previously made structural changes to the source material while adapting The Seven Year Itch (1955), worked with Jurow and Shepherd to deviate from Capote's novella. This included altering its plot and tone to be a romantic comedy, replacing its unnamed gay narrator with a named, heterosexual male love interest, adding new characters, and reducing the gay subtext.
Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe to play Holly Golightly: he considered Monroe to best reflect the character, with Axelrod required to "tailor" the screenplay to accommodate Monroe. Monroe declined to star in the film, opting for The Misfits (1961), after theatre director Lee Strasberg advised her that playing a "lady of the evening" would be bad for her image. The role was then offered to Shirley MacLaine, who turned it down in favor of starring in Two Loves (1961), and Kim Novak also turned it down.
Capote was angry at the studio's eventual decision, remarking, "Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey". Hepburn was hesitant to star in the film, citing difficulty playing an extroverted character. Steve McQueen was offered the role of Paul Varjak, but declined the offer due to being under contract with United Artists, and Jack Lemmon was also approached, but was unavailable. Robert Wagner was also considered.
The film's original director, John Frankenheimer, worked with Axelrod for three months on the project before he was replaced by Edwards after Hepburn's agent requested a higher-profile director. Edwards also supported Axelrod's changes to the novella, stating the changes made were for "audience approval".
Filming began on Fifth Avenue outside the Tiffany & Co. flagship store on October 2, 1960. Most of the exteriors were filmed in New York City, and all of the interiors, except for portions set inside Tiffany & Co., were filmed on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood.
According to one report, the film's on-location opening sequence outside Tiffany & Co. was extremely difficult to shoot, due to issues related to crowd control, Hepburn's dislike of pastries, and an accident that nearly resulted in the electrocution of a crew member. However, another report claims the sequence was captured rather quickly, owing to an unexpected lull in city traffic.
During the film, Hepburn sang the film's signature song, "Moon River", written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. The song was tailored to Hepburn's limited vocal range and its sequencing was inspired by songs she performed in Funny Face (1957). On the Anniversary Edition home media release featuring audio commentary by Shepherd, he stated that after the film's test preview in San Francisco, Martin Rankin, Paramount's head of production, wanted "Moon River" replaced with music sung by somebody else. Shepherd claimed he and Jurow refused to replace it – a response attributed to Hepburn herself in another account.
According to Time, Mancini "sets off [the] melodies with a walking bass, extends them with choral and string variations and varies them with the brisk sounds of combo jazz. "Moon River" is sobbed by a plaintive harmonica, repeated by strings, hummed and then sung by the chorus and finally resolved with the harmonica." The soundtrack featured a score composed and conducted by Mancini, with several unreleased musical compositions not featuring in the final film. One piece, "Carousel Cue", appears in a deleted scene, while another piece titled "Outtake 1" also appears in a deleted scene. In 2013, Intrada Records released the complete score in its original film performance: as with many soundtrack albums from the time period, the album initially released alongside the film was a re-recording.
Breakfast at Tiffany's was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures on October 5, 1961.
The film was first released on home media in the 1980s, on VHS and DVD, and was one of the first films featuring Hepburn released on home video. On February 7, 2006, a 45th anniversary special edition DVD was released in North America, containing featurettes not included on the prior releases. These included a photo gallery, the film's theatrical trailer, a history featurette on Tiffany & Co., audio commentary by Shepherd, a making-of featurette with interviews from Edwards and Neal, and a tribute to Hepburn, which contained a letter written by Hepburn to Tiffany & Co. for their 150th anniversary in 1987.
On January 13, 2009, a remastered Centennial Collection version of the film was released, which added several new featurettes, including interviews by the cast, a documentary discussing the controversy regarding Rooney's portrayal of I.Y. Yunioshi, an interactive tour of the Paramount Studios lot where filming took place, and a tribute to Mancini. On June 29, 2011, the film was digitally restored in high-definition and released on Blu-ray to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
Breakfast at Tiffany's was a commercial success, grossing $14 million on a $2.5 million budget. The film was screened at Radio City Music Hall before its theatrical release, where Variety called it "a bright box office contender".
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 56 critics' reviews are positive, with an average score of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "It contains some ugly anachronisms, but Blake Edwards is at his funniest in this iconic classic, and Audrey Hepburn absolutely lights up the screen." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Time magazine noted "[Hepburn's portrayal] is not much different from Capote's [character]. She has kicked the weed but she is still jolly Holly who runs away to find some of the finer things of life." It also pointed out the differences to Capote's novella, stating "after that out-of-Capote beginning, Edwards goes on to an out-of-character end." Hepburn's performance received rave reviews, with it considered to be one of her most memorable and identifiable roles. Almost a half century later, Richard Corliss of Time emphasized the level of Hepburn's performance, stating, "Breakfast at Tiffany's set Hepburn on her Hollywood course" and argued her performance in the film influenced her later roles.
Tinee Mae of the Chicago Tribune also gave a positive review, saying, "In the wrong hands, the unconventional, disorganized, sophisticated, innocent, utterly contradictory [lead] character could be a tiresome idiot. Audrey makes her as sweet as she is silly, as appealing as she is affected, a playgirl without scruples, a moth who doesn't quite deserve to die in a flame." Mae also praised the "slick" and "perceptive" screenplay and the "fine" supporting cast, singling out Peppard, Ebsen, Balsam and Rooney. Henry T. Murdock of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "Breakfast at Tiffany's shines like a gem. Much of the iridescence comes from the richly impulsive performance by Hepburn as the scatterbrained, pathetic, fiercely independent lead. [Peppard] plays with understanding. Ebsen appears briefly, but to good effect [and] Rooney is too slapstick as the Japanese photographer. Edwards keeps things moving with a lilt." The film helped rejuvenate Ebsen's career, as it helped him land the role as Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971).
A.H. Weiler of The New York Times called the film a "completely unbelievable but wholly captivating flight into fancy composed of unequal dollops of comedy, romance, poignancy, funny colloquialisms and Manhattan's swankiest East Side areas captured in the loveliest of colors". Weiler called Hepburn "a genuinely charming, elfin waif who will be believed and adored when seen" and further praised the performances of Peppard, Balsam, Rooney, Neal and Ebsen. Capote infamously disliked the film and Hepburn's performance for deviating from his novella. Capote's biographer, Gerald Clarke, characterized the film as a "valentine to free-spirited women, [not] a cautionary tale about a little girl lost in the big city". He later labelled the film "a sugar and spice confection" and claimed Capote praised it as an independent work, but not as an adaptation. In later years, American Film Institute ranked the film No. 61 in 100 Years ... 100 Passions and "Moon River" as No. 4 in 100 Years ... 100 Songs. The film was also ranked No. 486 on Empire's The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time list.
The success of the film helped revive George Peppard's movie career after The Subterraneans.
The image of Hepburn with her hair in a high chignon and carrying an oversized cigarette holder is considered one of the most iconic images of 20th century American cinema. The sunglasses worn by Hepburn, another popular item, were designed and manufactured in London by Oliver Goldsmith. In 2011, the sunglasses were re-released to mark the film's 50th anniversary. One of three dresses designed by Givenchy for Hepburn to use in the film sold at auction by Christie's on December 5, 2006, for £467,200 (~US$947,000), about seven times the reserve price.
The little black dress designed by Givenchy and worn by Hepburn is cited as one of the most iconic clothing items of the twentieth century and was described by Glamour as the most famous little black dress of all time. A second little black dress by Givenchy, which was styled with a wide-brimmed hat, influenced the comic book design for Catwoman by artist Adam Hughes and later inspired the costume for the character in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
A diamond necklace at Tiffany's that Hepburn's character scorns as too flashy was the Tiffany Yellow Diamond, which Hepburn wore in publicity photos for the film. Tiffany and Co.'s established profile as a pre-eminent luxury retailer was further boosted by the popularity of the film.
Since the 1990s, Rooney's portrayal of I. Y. Yunioshi, which featured makeup and a prosthetic mouthpiece, has been subject to controversy and labelled as a caricatured approximation of a Japanese man. In the Bruce Lee biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993), Breakfast at Tiffany's is used as an illustration of Hollywood's racist depiction of East Asians: it is implied that Lee and his future wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, walked out of a screening of the film upon viewing Rooney's performance.
Promotional materials released by Paramount for the film between October and December 1960 did not reveal Rooney to play Yunioshi, with press releases stating that an upcoming Japanese comedian named "Ohayo Arigatou" ("hello" and "thank you" in Japanese) would play the character. Other press releases featured false quotes, written in phonetically broken English, attributed to the fake comedian. Rooney eventually revealed his involvement in Breakfast at Tiffany's in a statement while wearing the makeup and prosthetic mouthpiece seen in the film.
Shepherd later claimed that he wanted to cast a Japanese actor to portray Yunioshi, but that Edwards overruled him. He also stated he did not believe "[Rooney] didn't play the part well". Shepherd later apologized for Rooney's casting and performance, saying, "If we could just change Mickey, I'd be thrilled with the [film]." Although Axelrod expanded the role of Yunioshi in the screenplay compared to the novella, Edwards sought to use the character for comic relief and hired Rooney, his old roommate. Axelrod clashed with Edwards regarding the placement of Yunioshi in the film and convinced Hepburn to reshoot scenes for free in the hope that scenes featuring Yunioshi could be edited out, but was overruled by Edwards. Edwards later stated he "would give anything to recast [Rooney]" and he "wished [he] had never done it" but stressed it was not something he could "undo".
In a 2008 interview, Rooney said he was "heartbroken" regarding the criticism, saying, "Edwards wanted me to [portray] the character because he was a comedy director. We had fun doing it. Never [since] we made it [has] there been [any] complaints. Every place I've gone in the world people say [I] was so funny." Rooney later said that he would not have taken the role if he thought it was offensive.
The film continues to draw criticism for the character, with film historian Robert Osborne calling it "such a racial slur. I blame Edwards. The caricature was totally embarrassing". It has also been the subject of censorship and petitions against its contemporary screening or labelling as a "classic". In 2011, a group of viewers opposed a screening held by SyFy and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation to commemorate the film, and in 2022, the broadcaster Channel 5 (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global) aired the film in the UK with the scenes featuring Rooney removed.
In 2004, a musical adaptation of the film made its debut at The Muny in St. Louis. In May 2009, Anna Friel starred in a London stage adaptation that opened in September 2009 at the Haymarket Theatre. In March 2013, a new stage adaptation made its debut at the Cort Theater in New York City, starring Emilia Clarke.