I always thought that the book Breakfast at Tiffany’s and its film adaptation were two completely different works of art and, at some level, even opposite. Truman Capote’s book is deliciously immoral, sometimes cruel and has a heartbreaking ending. The movie is romantic, a bit conservative and has the typical Hollywood happy ending. I read the book imagining Marilyn Monroe, the actress who Capote really wanted to see playing Holly Golightly, but I understand that Audrey Hepburn fits perfectly the Holly imagined by Hollywood. Each one – the book and film – has its individual beauty. But they are definitely two distinct works.

I like this scene in which Holly sings and plays the guitar on the fire escape outside her apartment window. The song Moon River, by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, was tailored to Hepburn’s limited vocal range. Rumor has it that a Paramount executive hated the song and wanted to take it out of the movie at all costs. Audrey replied to the suggestion by saying: “Over my dead body!“. Moon River ended up winning the Oscar for best original song in 1961.

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