Trivia / The Princess Diaries

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • Anne Hathaway mentioned having a retainer when she was younger, that gave her trouble speaking. So Garry Marshall wrote the retainer scene in, and had Anne bring her old one.
  • It was also Anne's idea to be wearing a pore strip on her nose when Michael visits Mia at her house, and for the brush to break in her hair as she's getting her makeover.
• Career Resurrection: Julie Andrews had dropped off the radar for a while, especially after a botched surgery left her without the use of her famous singing voice. The success of this put her back in the public eye, giving her film career a second wind. She enjoyed a new image—of a Cool Old Lady occasionally Adam Westing her more famous roles. Big roles in the Shrek and Despicable Me franchises followed.
• The Cast Showoff: Professional singer Mandy Moore (in the first movie) gets to sing.
  • Raven Symone and Julie Andrews have a duet in the sequel. Julie's performance however left the crew in tears- she had not sung since her botched throat surgery left her voice damaged.
• Corpsing: The part where Mia falls off the bleachers was accidental. Anne Hathaway's laughing is genuine and arguably in-character so they kept rolling. Heather Matarazzo breaks character briefly but the scene goes on.
• Creator-Chosen Casting: Meg Cabot was so delighted to learn that Julie Andrews had been cast as Clarisse Renaldi that she approved the change of killing off Mia's father so her role could be expanded. Garry Marshall claims that she was the only actress considered.
• The Danza: Many of the students and teachers in the first film are named after their actors, some with slight variations. For example, Joe Unitas plays Coach Joe Ewe.
• Defictionalization: Of a sorts—Heather Matarazzo now runs a podcast called "Shut Up and Listen", like Lilly's show.
• Deleted Scene:
  • Mia asks Queen Clarice what was her nickname in highschool.
  • Some shots of a puppet Mia being ordered about by Clarice which were inserted as Mia was late for her princess lesson.
  • Mia's history teacher visits Mia's house and gets paint on his jacket. As he takes it off, Mia catches him shirtless.
  • Michael chats with Mia on the school roof and removes an eyelash from her face.
  • Michael and Mia share a pizza with M&M's on it.
  • A scene that was supposed to show what the drunk man supposedly did at the last banquet-using a harp to slice eggs.
  • Josh tells Mia how everyone at the beach party was waiting for him to do something so they could mimic him. Josh starts inventing a banana dance in which everyone copies and starts doing.
  • Lana being exposed to the press for claiming she was Mia's best friend when she wasn't.
• Focus Group Ending: The film was originally going to end with Mia simply agreeing to fly to Genovia, but Garry Marshall's granddaughter wanted to actually see the castle. So Disney bought stock footage of a European castle with the Genovia flag added in.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The trailers for the sequel contained a reaction shot for Mia when Clarisse says "shut up!" in the courtroom ("Grandma said shut up?") that doesn't appear in the film.
• No Stunt Double: Julie Andrews performed her own stunt in the mattress-surfing scene in the sequel.
• Playing Against Type: Mandy Moore as an Alpha Bitch.
• Production Posse: Garry Marshall had directed Hector Elizondo, Kathleen Marshall, Patrick Richwood and Larry Miller in Pretty Woman.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Charlotte is played by Kathleen Marshall, who is Garry Marshall's daughter. His son has a cameo as a photographer when Mia is exposed at school.
  • The director's twin granddaughters Lily and Charlotte appear asking Mia for autographs.
  • Anne Hathaway's father appears as Mia's deceased father in the picture. Her mother appears as a choir director in the sequel.
  • Héctor Elizondo's granddaughter plays the Prime Minister's daughter who complains "I'm not allowed to go to the party."
• Star-Making Role: Everyone instantly knew who Anne Hathaway was after this.
• Throw It In!:
  • When Mia accidentally sets fire to a man's arm at the state dinner, the flames were supposed to go out when he put his arm in the ice bucket. They didn't, Anne Hathaway panicked and threw water on him. The take is used in the final film.
  • When Mia and Lilly are talking on the basketball court bleachers, Mia slips and falls. That was Anne actually slipping then staying in character, along with Heather Matarazzo's (and possibly Hector Elizondo's) real reaction to the fall.
  • Late in the sequel, when Mia and Andrew kiss, we cut to a shot of a goat... One that moos like a cow. According to the DVD Commentary, this was accidental, but kept in because such a thing, in Julie Andrews' words, would be okay in Genovia.
  • The relationship between Joe and Queen Clarisse was a throw-in by mutual agreement between Julie Andrews and Hector Elizondo, who felt that a romance between people over 50 was important to tell. When the sequel came around, it became a major plot point.
  • During production, the filmmakers found that cutting to Charlotte for a reaction shot was a good way to end several scenes. So in the credits, she's billed as 'Charlotte Kutaway'.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Jessica Alba, Christina Applegate, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Cameron Diaz, Kirsten Dunst, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Katie Holmes, Kate Hudson, Juliette Lewis, Eva Mendes, Alyssa Milano, Brittany Murphy, Christina Ricci, Alicia Silverstone, Tiffani Thiessen and Reese Witherspoon were all considered for the role of Mia, but turned it down. According to Anne Hathaway, the favourite choice before she was cast was Liv Tyler.
  • Helen Mirren was considered for Queen Clarisse Renaldi.

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