From George Axelrod’s screenplay for BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, adapted from a story by Truman Capote.
Closeup of Paul Varjak’s typewriter. Frame from the film, photographed by Franz Planer for Blake Edward’s 1961 feature.
Watch the scene, in which Paul Varjak’s (George Peppard) writing is interrupted by the singing of his neighbor, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn).
Read all about the making of the film in Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman, by Sam Wasson. It is the first-ever, complete account of the making of the film. With a cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, director Blake Edwards, and, of course, Hepburn herself, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. immerses us in the America of the late ’fifties, before Woodstock and birth control, when a not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly raised eyebrows across the nation, changing fashion, film, and sex, for good. With delicious prose and considerable wit, Wasson delivers us from the penthouses of the Upper East Side to the pools of Beverly Hills, presenting BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S as we have never seen it before — through the eyes of those who created it.
Recommended: The author’s formidable knowledge of the filmmakers, and thorough research give the reader the context to appreciate the details of the writing and production of this remarkably influential feature film. Sam Wasson’s previous book was A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards.
Also: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion, by Sarah Gristwood, foreword by Hubert de Givenchy.