The Princess Diaries (2001) on Netflix
G20011h 55mComedyFamilyRomance
Mia Thermopolis, a shy San Francisco teenager, learns from her estranged grandmother Clarisse that she is heir to the throne of Genovia. Princess lessons begin, with three weeks to decide.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.4/10186,025 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes49%
Trailer
Plot summary
Mia Thermopolis lives with her single mother, Helen, in a San Francisco firehouse and gets through Grove High School largely unnoticed, apart from her best friend Lilly Moscovitz, Lilly's older brother Michael, and the teasing of Lana Thomas. A diplomatic visit brings Mia face to face with her estranged grandmother, Clarisse, who reveals that Mia's late father was crown prince of Genovia and that Mia is now its sole heir. Clarisse, Genovia's queen regent, wants her raised into a proper princess and arranges lessons. Mia is reluctant, but Helen persuades her to attend, on the condition that she may decide for herself at the Genovian Independence Day Ball. A makeover follows, along with Joe, the queen's head of security, who drives her limousine.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Princess Diaries (2001)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Garry Marshall almost turned the project down because a typo in the original treatment read "The Princess Dairies," leading him to mistake it for a movie about cows.
- Liv Tyler was considered the front-runner for the role of Mia, but director Garry Marshall's own granddaughters convinced him to cast Anne Hathaway instead because they felt she had more "princess-like hair."
- Disney paid author Meg Cabot just $4,000 for the film rights to her novel, despite some media outlets reporting she had been offered a "mid- to low-six figures" deal.
- Anne Hathaway auditioned for the lead role of Mia during a 26-hour layover in Los Angeles while traveling to New Zealand to film another movie, and got the part after Juliette Lewis turned it down.
- Julie Andrews's final-scene jewelry, on loan from Harry Winston, included half a million dollars' worth of diamonds, and a security guard followed her at all times to protect it and make sure it was returned each day.
- Anne Hathaway's real father, Gerald Hathaway, appears in the film as the photograph of Mia's late father and briefly plays the character in a flashback scene where he writes her a letter.
- Julie Andrews, semi-retired from acting at the time, was cast as Clarisse Renaldi after Marshall personally invited her to discuss the film; she called the director "the hook" that convinced her, and accepted solely on their conversations without reading the script.
- The producers decided to kill off Mia's father in order to expand Clarisse's role, a part for which they had wanted Julie Andrews cast from the beginning.
