Editing Roman Holiday (section)

==Casting==
{{multiple image
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| footer    = [[Gregory Peck]] and [[Audrey Hepburn]] as Joe Bradley and Princess Ann
| image1    = Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday trailer cropped.jpg
| alt1      = Peck
| image2    = Audrey Hepburn Roman Holiday cropped.jpg
| alt2      = Hepburn
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Wyler first offered the role to Hollywood favorite [[Cary Grant]]. Grant declined,<ref name=Jaynes-Trach>Jaynes, Barbara Grant; Trachtenberg, Robert. [https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/76185 ''Cary Grant: A Class Apart'']. [https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/76185]. Burbank, California: [[Turner Classic Movies]] (TCM) and [[Turner Entertainment]]. 2004.</ref> believing he was too old to play Hepburn's character's love interest, though he would do so ten years later in ''[[Charade (1963 film)|Charade]]''. Other sources say Grant declined because he knew all of the attention would be centered on the princess.<ref>DVD special feature</ref> Peck's contract gave him solo [[billing (film)|star billing]], with newcomer Hepburn listed much less prominently in the credits. Halfway through the filming, Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing—an almost unheard-of gesture in Hollywood.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fishgall |first=Gary |title=Gregory Peck: A Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJId3XPaeR0C&q=peck%20hepburn%20%22roman%20holiday%22&pg=PA174 |date=2002 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-6848-5290-4 |page=173 |access-date=30 November 2022 |archive-date=November 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127195536/https://books.google.com/books?id=NJId3XPaeR0C&q=peck%20hepburn%20%22roman%20holiday%22&pg=PA174 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Wyler had initially considered [[Elizabeth Taylor]] and [[Jean Simmons]] for the princess role, but both were unavailable.<ref>"Remembering ''Roman Holiday''", special feature on the DVD</ref> On 18 September 1951, director [[Thorold Dickinson]] made a screen test with Hepburn and sent it to director [[William Wyler]], who was in Rome preparing ''Roman Holiday''. Wyler wrote to Dickinson, saying that "as a result of the test, a number of the producers at Paramount have expressed interest in casting her."<ref>[https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/letter-made-audrey-hepburn-star BFI Film Forever, January 22, 2014: ''The letter that made Audrey Hepburn a star''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019033824/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/letter-made-audrey-hepburn-star |date=19 October 2021 }}. Retrieved April 20, 2015.</ref> ''Roman Holiday'' was not Hepburn's first acting role, as she had appeared in Dutch and British films from 1948 and on stage, but it was her first major film role and her first appearance in an American film. Wyler wanted an "anti-Italian" actress who was different from the curvy Italian stars of that era: She was perfect; his new star had, in words attributed to Wyler, "no arse, no tits, no tight-fitting clothes, no high heels. In short a Martian. She will be a sensation."<ref>{{cite book |last=Levy |first=Shawn |title=Dolce Vita Confidential |year=2016 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-1-4746-0615-8 |page=112}}</ref>