Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast At Tiffany's, And The Dawn Of The Modern Woman (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
This was a jewel of a book. I've always been a massive Audrey Hepburn fan, and have eaten breakfast in front of Tiffany's more than once, but I didn't know a great deal about the making of the 1961 movie, nor the juicy details that went along with it. Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's as a very bitter story with a tough heroine, which is not at all the basis for the film, which is essentially a love letter to New York City with a lovable, quirky heroine. Audrey certainly was not his first choice for Holly Golightly (he thought Marilyn Monroe would have been much better!) and he had a really hard time with diva George Peppard. This book delves into several different branches of narrative - how the book became a screenplay, how the characters from the book were translated for film, and later cast, what kind of director Blake Edwards was, and how "Moon River" came to be, among others.You'll want to watch BAT immediately after reading this, or, in my case, WHILE you're reading this. Even though I enjoyed the overall story, and learned a few things about the making of Breakfast at Tiffany's and Audrey Hepburn, I had several large issues with this book. It felt very biased and under researched to me. Audrey Hepburn was the MOST wonderful and MOST charming and was SO sad with her insecurities, while her husband was the MOST evil and MOST manipulative. The throwaway nature of many of the comments and tiny stories coupled with the writing style made me really question whether these were true facts or hollywood rumors. Based on the title, I expected more analysis about how this movie and Audrey Hepburn changed "the modern woman", and it was pretty much left with, it made black dresses cool. It's a shame, the story is an interesting one, and it likely did change regulation about sex in movies and changes in style and taste, however it never gets beyond the surface values of any of these.
What do You think about Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast At Tiffany's, And The Dawn Of The Modern Woman (2010)?
so clever and witty and overall a fantastic look at the powerhouse that breakfast at tiffany's was
—Jordyn
A quick but informative and well-accounted read of one of my favorite movies.
—SerenaDiamond
simple and charming for fans of miss golightly.
—Competa
