Trivia / Gigi

• Dawson Casting: Leslie Caron was 26 when she played Gigi in the film version. Audrey Hepburn was 22 when she starred in the stage play. And Vanessa Hudgens was 26 at the time of the 2015 Broadway revival.
• Fake Nationality: While most of the cast is actually French, Hermione Gingold (Mamita) and John Abbott (Manuel) are English and Eva Gabor (Liane) is Hungarian.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: The cat in the movie reacted violently whenever it was in a scene with Leslie Caron, but director Vincente Minnelli insisted on having that particular cat, so it had to be heavily drugged. This is especially obvious during "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight".
• Non-Singing Voice: Leslie Caron was dubbed by Betty Wand. According to Alan Jay Lerner, Caron made a point to be present at Wand's recording sessions. "She was there, she told André [Previn], to supervise the recording and to make certain that every line would be sung with her intention and her motivation," he said. Still, Caron was never pleased with Wand's interpretation. "To this day," she said, "the childish cuteness of Ms. Wand and her artificial French accent hurt my ears."
• Referenced by...: The cover of the film's vinyl soundtrack appears on the cover of the Pink Floyd album Ummagumma. Out of fear of copyright infringement, it was airbrushed off the cover in some regions.
• Troubled Production: Preview audiences were very negative to early screenings, and it endured an endless round of reshoots and edits to come up with a film that ended up being almost universally praised and enjoyed at the time.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Audrey Hepburn was supposed to reprise her stage role, but was unavailable.
  • Irene Dunne declined Vincente Minnelli's offer to play Aunt Alicia, preferring her retirement from acting and a new career as a special U.S. delegate to the United Nations. In addition, Dunne found the movie's subject matter distasteful.
  • Dirk Bogarde was considered for Gaston Lachaille.

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