Lot Essay
Taken during the wild party scene in Holly's New York apartment, these striking shots utilise slow shutter speed to capture Hepburn's Holly as the focal point amongst the swirling chaos of the guests circling around her. The scene was filmed over seven days on a Paramount soundstage and improvised on set by director Blake Edwards. According to Sam Wasson in Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M., Edwards led his partiers through sixty cartons of cigarettes, 140 gallons of tea and ginger ale, replaced with real champagne on the final day of the shoot, and even brought in a bee smoker to create the smoky ambience, racking up $20,000 in production costs. Everyone was specifically picked by Blake Edwards, producer Richard Shepherd recalls, ...All the extras were actors or actresses he knew, or friends. Miriam Nelson, who played one of the party guests, remembered We just walked around seeing what kind of crazy madness we could create.