The Audrey Hepburn Story

I must admit that after reading all of the reviews to be horrified by JLH presentation as Audrey Hepburn. But I was somewhat surprised. I didn't think that she was the best actress available, I think Emmy Rossum should have played Audrey the entire movie, but JLH does an alright job. She doesn't do the perfect accent, but then I don't think that any actress could do the accent perfectly.

I never knew of the horrible things that happened to Audrey during her life and this movie made me cry, especially during Emmy's scenes. I have such respect for Audrey Hepburn now. The work she did made such a difference and it's sad that she is gone now.

Many actresses have "played" the ingenue role, but Audrey Hepburn "was" that role. Modern audiences tend to be rather jaded about such things, and for good reason. No sooner do we discover some seemingly innocent yet precocious girl on the screen, who wins our hearts, but her mug is in the tabloids, all painted up like a tart, and involved in some sordid situation. They pretend they aren't role models, just actresses "playing" role models, but Audrey Hepburn was what she was both off-screen and on.

To the "youth" audience of today, with its Winona Ryders, and for that matter Jennifer Love Hewett, an Audrey Hepburn must seem as remote and irrelevant as a Shirley Temple or Mary Pickford. Yet Audrey personified something sadly missing in these starlets of today - something decent and respectable, unwilling to appear cheap and sleazy. Perhaps through this excellent portrayal of her life, younger audiences will discover that, at least to Audrey, an actress could be "more" than just another painted-up, tinsel-town puppet.

The characterization of Audrey, as portrayed by Hewett, is so perfect that one wonders how anyone like that could ever have pulled it off. To the minutest detail of every look, word and nuance of Audrey Hepburn, she gives a thoroughly convincing rendition. Too bad some of the depth didn't rub off along with mastering the surfaces. The only critical comment is that the film was obviously made for television, with rather jarring breaks to allow for commercials. These are not there for the recorded version, and hence just when we get in the mood for one scene, we are jolted into another. The result seems hacked up and butchered. That's a minor complaint for an otherwise outstanding film, however.

No actress, regardless of how bad or good they are or if they're neutral, would have done a better than adequate job of playing Audrey Hepburn. She was simply too unique, for better as much as for worse, for anybody to portray her better than adequately.

Honestly, Jennifer Love Hewitt (who was 19 during filming) did no better and no worse than any other actress would've done portraying Audrey Hepburn, who Jennifer portrayed from 17 years of age and older. She did as adequate a job as Sarah Hyland, who portrayed eight year of age Audrey Hepburn, and Emmy Rossum, who portrayed 12 to 16 year of age Audrey Hepburn. Sarah Hyland was eight during filming and Emmy Rossum was 12.

But poor Jennifer is the one who got such flack for it. Sarah and Emmy were basically unacknowledged for it, probably because Sarah was eight and Emmy was 12.

The movie basically covers many aspects of Audrey Hepburn's life from late 1937 at age eight until her untimely death from cancer in early 1993 before she would've been 64. I won't go through the laundry list of them.

Just watch to find out what they are as I don't want to spoil the movie for Audrey Hepburn, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Hyland and Emmy Rossum fans who watch the movie. They're only people who should watch this movie, anyway.

Recommended only to Audrey Hepburn fans who are also fans of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Hyland and Emmy Rossum. The Audrey Hepburn Story was filmed in late 1998.

Don't listen to those nasty IMDB critics. They only would have been happy if Audrey came out of the grave and portrayed herself....

I think Jennifer Love-Hewitt did a wonderful, wonderful job here. If there is a fault to this movie, it's in portraying Audrey Hepburn as some sort of perfect, almost female Jesus Christ. Come on, she couldn't have been THAT perfect.

JLH obviously is a very dedicated fan of AH, and should be commended in helping bring about this movie, and capturing much of the Audrey Hepburn charm and sexy self-doubt. Let's face it, for we AH fans, NOBODY can compare to her. To compare AH and JLH is unfair. One is a memory, one is not. And people here have stooped to compare makeup and smile. Give me a break!

I've seen JLH's other movies, and read much about her. She is worthy of portraying AH in both heart and talent, and I'd bet AH would say so herself. This movie is well-worth seeing. Please don't pass it up due to negative comments.

Let me begin by saying that I am extremely biased when it comes to Audrey Hepburn therefore it is perfectly logical from my point of view that no one can play Audrey Hepburn but Audrey Hepburn. Miss Hewitt is (its been said before many times) too full when it comes to her bosom and she didn't flash a huge smile like Audrey did. Audrey's smile could light up a whole room (even better than Julia!) and Hewitt could barely light a candle in a corner so to speak. Her hair was pathetically streaked in the "Tiffany" scenes whereas Audrey's streaks blended perfectly with her natural brown tresses. Also, Audrey's hair was butched at the Oscar ceremony... Hewitt's was the same as it was during the filming of "Roman Holiday". As for the rest of the cast, Emmy Rossum was much better as young Audrey than Hewitt. Frances Fischer (of "Titanic" fame... she was Kate Winslet's self-righteous mother) was believable as Audrey's mother, Baroness Edda Van Heemstra. Eric McCormick was too contemporary to play Mel Ferrer, plus he didn't look a thing like him; the same applies to Gabriel Macht who played Bill Holden but Michael J. Burg captured the essence of Truman Capote to the button. The most embarrassing of all was Ray Landry as Humphrey Bogart; he had way too much makeup on him to look meatier where Bogie was a skinny, ugly railing. Plus, his accent was pathetically forced like he was trying way too hard to impersonate Bogie and he still couldn't do a good job. The film in short, should never have been made... no one can play Audrey Hepburn but Audrey Hepburn!