The Princess Diaries (2001 Film)

The Pricess Diaries (2001 Film)

The Princess Diaries (film)
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The Princess Diaries is a comedy-drama film and the screen adaptation of Meg Cabot's 2000 novel of the same name. The film stars Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis, a teenager who discovers that she is the heir to the throne of the fictional Genovia, ruled by her grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi, who is portrayed by Julie Andrews. It also stars Heather Matarazzo as Mia's best friend Lilly Moscovitz, Hector Elizondo as Renaldi's head of security, and Robert Schwartzman as Lilly's brother, who has a crush on Mia.

It was released to North American theatres on August 3, 2001 and peaked at number three on the box office chart. The Princess Diaries produced ticket sales well over its production budget.
 

Plot

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a fifteen-year-old tenth grade private school student who lives with her mother Helen (Caroline Goodall) and cat Fat Louie in a San Francisco firehouse; her father (who was divorced but in touch with her) died two months earlier in a car crash. Although she is an average student, she is very unpopular, but has two good friends: Lilly Moscovitz (Heather Matarazzo) and her brother Michael (Robert Schwartzman), who has a crush on Mia. Mia is regularly teased by her peers for her gawkiness and frizzy hair, mostly by Lana Thomas (Mandy Moore), a fellow tenth grader who is captain of the school cheerleading team, and her friends. Mia is jealous of Lana because she is in a relationship with Josh Bryant (Erik von Detten), a twelfth grader "Backstreet Boy clone" (as her mother describes him) whom she has had a crush on since grade school.

Shortly before Mia's sixteenth birthday, she learns from her mother that her paternal grandmother is visiting from Genovia, a fictional country in Europe (which bears some similarity to the actual Republic of Genoa). At first Mia does not want to see her, but agrees to after some persuasion. The next day, Mia meets her grandmother, Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews), for the first time, who explains that the reason she wanted to see her was because of a "life-changing" problem. Clarisse is the queen of Genovia and confides that the coming three weeks would result in whether the throne remained in their bloodline. Because her father died, Mia is the only heir to the Genovian throne. She is shocked to learn that she is a princess and exclaims "shut up!" to her grandmother's disapproval. Mia quickly leaves the house and returns home, after which she begins fighting with her mother for not telling her when she was younger.

Mia's mother and grandmother convince her to attend "princess lessons" in preparation for her introduction to the Genovian government. Under supervision from her new bodyguard, the head of Genovian security, Joe (Hector Elizondo), Mia begins to forget to help Lilly with her homework or watch Michael's band Flypaper perform at a nearby auto mechanic shop. To look more presentable to the Genovian government, Mia receives a makeover from Italian hairdresser Paolo (Larry Miller), after which Lilly confronts her for being so distant. When Mia tells Lilly that she is a princess, their relationship becomes stronger than before.

A couple of days later, San Francisco learns that Mia is the Genovian heir after Paolo tells the media so everybody will know that he is the one that made Princess Mia look like a princess. Although unimpressed, Clarisse opts to ignore the situation and prepares for the State Dinner, which Mia attends, though managing to somewhat humiliate herself in the process. The day after the State Dinner, Mia agrees to appear on Lilly's public access television program Shut Up and Listen and to watch Michael's band perform at a venue that Saturday night. However, Josh asks Mia to go with him to the Baker Beach Bash, the school's annual beach party, and she excitedly agrees. She remembers to tell Michael that she will watch see his band the following Saturday night, but forgets to tell Lilly of the change. The beach party goes well at first, but spirals out of control when the media learn of Mia's presence. Josh publicly embarrasses her by kissing her in front of photographers, and Lana helps them take pictures of her clad only in a towel. This causes a media frenzy and displeases Clarisse.

To reconstruct her friendships with Lilly and Michael, Mia invites them to the Genovian Independence Day Ball, where she must reveal whether or not she wants to accept her duties as a princess. Originally intent on running away to Colorado because she wants to avoid renouncing her throne with a speech[Mia is terrible at public speaking], Mia finds a sixteenth birthday gift and letter from her father, written before his death. After reading the letter, she changes her mind and makes her way to the ball, as it begins raining. Joe finds her drenched halfway to the event. Upon arrival, Mia makes a speech announcing her acceptance to the Genovian throne. She is happy to see that her friends attended, and kisses Michael in the garden. The film ends with the cast dancing informally, and Mia on an airplane arriving in Genovia as she narrates the coming summer's events.

Production

The film was directed by Garry Marshall and produced by Debra Martin Chase and Whitney Houston. Anne Hathaway was hired for the role of Mia immediately when she accidentally fell off her chair (which she does in the film as well) during her audition.[2] It was the film debut for singer Mandy Moore as the stereotypical cheerleader Lana Weinberger.

Hector Elizondo, who appears in all the films which Garry Marshall directs,[3] plays Joseph "Joe", the head of Genovian security. Garry Marshall's daughter, Kathleen Marshall, plays Clarisse's secretary Charlotte Kutaway. Charlotte's surname is mentioned only in the credits, and Garry Marshall says it is a reference to how she is often used in cutaway shots. In one scene, Robert Schwartzman's real-life group Rooney makes a cameo playing a garage band named Flypaper, whose lead singer is Michael, played by Schwartzman.

The book was set in New York City, but the film's location was changed to San Francisco because Marshall's granddaughters lived there. West coast radio personalities Mark & Brian appear as themselves.

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, the film's sequel, was released in August 2004.

Box-office

The film opened to $22,862,269 from 2,537 theaters in the U.S. and ended its run with $165,335,153 worldwide. Reviews were mostly mixed as rottentomatoes came up with a 49% rotten rating with 52 out of 106 critics recommending the movie.

Cast

Julie Andrews as Queen Clarisse Renaldi
Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis
Hector Elizondo as Joe
Heather Matarazzo as Lilly Moscovitz
Mandy Moore as Lana Thomas
Caroline Goodall as Helen Thermopolis
Robert Schwartzman as Michael Moscovitz
Erik von Detten as Josh Bryant
Patrick Flueger as Jeremiah Hart
Sean O'Bryan as Patrick O'Connell
Sandra Oh as Vice-Principal Gupta
Kathleen Marshall as Charlotte Cutaway

 
 Notes and references

1. ^ ^{a b} "Box office statistics for The Princess Diaries (2001)". BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b c} The Princess Diaries DVD commentary. A behind-the-scenes look at the film's production. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
3. ^ "Hector Elizondo: Humor, Eloquence & Bongos". Screen Actors Guild Foundation. July 30, 2002. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
4. ^ ^{a b} Differences between the film and novel. The Princess Diaries novel written by Meg Cabot and The Princess Diaries film directed by Gary Marshall. Retrieved October 9, 2006.

External links

• Official site for the film
• The Princess Diaries at the Internet Movie Database
• Filming locations in the Los Angeles area

Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Diaries_%28film%29