The Princess Diaries (2001) ft. Christine and Sarah Duncan

https://youtu.be/j4zvJ6iL3Cs

Guest:

• Christine Duncan

  • Wife of Dana, Mother of Tom

  • 20x guest

• Sarah Duncan

  • Sister of Tom, Daughter of Dana

  • @thenomadicarchaeologist on IG

  • 12x guest

Cast:

• Garry Marshall, Director

• Gina Wendkos, Writer

• Karl Walter Lindenlaub, Cinematography

• John Debney, Music

• Bruce Green, Editing

• Julie Andrews as Clarisse Renaldi

• Anne Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis

• Héctor 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

• Sean O'Bryan as Patrick O'Connell

• Sandra Oh as Geraldine Gupta

• Kathleen Marshall as Charlotte Kutaway

• Patrick Flueger as Jeremiah Hart

• Mindy Burbano as Anita Harbula, Mia's gym teacher

Background:

• The Princess Diaries was released on July 29, 2001.

• On a budget of $26 million, the film would gross $165.3 million to finish #27 at the worldwide box office.

• The Princess Diaries received mostly mixed reviews with the few positive accolades being the performances by Hathaway and Andrews.

• Nevertheless, a sequel was released in 2004 and a planned third movie is in development with Hathaway set to return.

• Elite Daily contributor Alana Altmann described the film as "a bonafide fave of '90s and 2000s kids alike".

• Writing for the same publication, Kristen Perrone called the film "an essential part of the childhoods of anyone who grew up in the early 2000s".

• Julie Andrews attributes the film's longevity to new generations re-discovering it approximately every seven years. The actress believes the film continues to resonate with audiences due to its strong morals about responsibility, obligation, decency, growing up, and self-discovery.

• Seventeen magazine ranked The Princess Diaries the 10th best "Best Teen Movies You Can't Grow Up Without Watching".

• The Princess Diaries currently holds a 49% among critics on RT, a 52 score on Metacritic, and a 3.7/5 on Letterboxd.

Plot Summary: The Princess Diaries follows Mia Thermopolis, an awkward San Francisco teenager who discovers she is heir to the throne of the fictional kingdom of Genovia. Her formal grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi, arrives to mold Mia into a proper princess, testing the girl's confidence and sense of identity. Balancing royal expectations with ordinary teenage struggles—friendship, first crushes, and self-doubt—Mia gradually learns that true leadership stems from authenticity rather than appearance.

Did You Know:

• The scene where Mia slips and falls in the bleachers was real. Anne Hathaway had slipped on a puddle while doing the scene, and director Garry Marshall thought it was so funny, he inserted it in the final cut.

• The picture of Mia's deceased father next to her music box is Anne Hathaway's real-life father (Gerald T. Hathaway). He also appears to be writing the letter to her while fishing.

• When Mia accidentally sets the man's arm on fire, the flames were supposed to go out when he puts his arm in the ice bucket, but they didn't. Anne Hathaway panicked and threw the glass of water on it, which was not scripted.

• Garry Marshall wrote the retainer scene after learning Anne Hathaway had worn a retainer when she was younger, but found it difficult to speak while wearing it. Hathaway brought in her old retainer for the scene.

• Anne Hathaway had to wear a thick clip-in hairpiece, to give her hair a much bushier appearance. The hairpiece became known as "the beast" by cast and crew. Her pre-makeover eyebrows took an hour to apply, as each tiny hair was individually glued on.

• One of the waiters in the dinner scene when Mia breaks the water glass says, "It happens all the time." The same actor played a waiter in Pretty Woman (1990), and said the same line when Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) flings the snail and the waiter catches it.

Best Performance: Garry Marshall (Director)/Anne Hathaway (Mia)/Hector Elizondo (Joe)

Best Secondary Performance: Julie Andrews (Queen)

Most Charismatic Award: Anne Hathaway (Mia)/Hector Elizondo (Joe)

Best Scene:

• First Day at Consulate

• Jewelry Box

• Princess Lessons

• First Formal Dinner

• Order of the Rose

• Beach Party

• Standing Up to Lana

• Last Softball Game

• Press Conference

Favorite Scene: Standing Up to Lana/Changing in the Limo/Order of the Rose

Most Indelible Moment: First Formal Dinner/Press Conference/Shut Up

In Memorium:

• Kaylee Hottle, 18, American actress (Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire)

• Brenda Fricker, 81, Irish actress (My Left Foot, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, A Time to Kill), Oscar winner (1990).

Best Lines/Funniest Lines:

Eduard Christoff Philippe GÈrard Renaldi, Prince of Genovia: [voiceover] Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.

Joe: I have never put on pantihose before, but it sounds dangerous.

Mia: Hey Joe? Can we park a block away from school? I really don't want to cause a riot with this hearse.

Joe: This is a non-riot hearse. And if it were a hearse there would be silence in the backseat.

Joe: Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Mia: I can't be a princess! I'm still waiting for normal body parts to arrive!

Gym Teacher Harbula: [PA announcement] Will the Feng Shui Club *please* stop rearranging the tables on the lawn.

Joe: This is between a waltz and a tango.

Mia: It's a wango?

Paolo: [removes Mia's glasses] Do you wear contact lenses?

Mia: Oh, I have them, but I don't really like to wear them that much.

Paolo: [he breaks her glasses in half] Now... you do!

Mia: [shocked] You broke my glasses!

Paolo: You broke my brush.

Paolo: I love your eyebrows. We'll call them Frieda and Kahlo. If Brooke Shields married Groucho Marx, their child would have your eyebrows!

Helen Thermopolis: This is getting us nowhere! Talk to me!

Mia: I can't talk to you right now; I'm late for a meeting with my guidance counselor.

Queen Clarisse Renaldi: I'm late for a meeting with Spain and *Portugal*!

Mia: Lilly! Just stop it, okay? Just because your hair sucks, get off mine!

Mia: You know, most kids hope for a car for their 16th birthday, not a country!

Lilly: The student body may be morally bankrupt, but that doesn't mean they're blind!

Mia: [on her green bathing suit] Okay I look like an asparagus.

Helen Thermopolis: But a very, very cute asparagus!

Helen Thermopolis: Where are you going?

Mia: I'm going up to straighten the royal bedchamber.

Mia: Someone sat on me again.

The Stanley Rubric:

Legacy: 8.25

Impact/Significance: 7.13

Novelty: 4

Classic-ness: 7.63

Rewatchability: 6.25

Audience Score: 6.6 (6.4 IMDB, 68% RT)

Total: 39.86

Remaining Questions:

• Why is this movie in San Francisco? Why are all the major Genovian government officials coming there?

• Why is Mia still friends with Lilly and why did she have to apologize to her?

• How did the dad have the book in advance and was he predicting his own death with the letter to Mia?

• Did anyone investigate Willie Brown for grift?