“My best”: The role Richard Gere knew he could never top
Is your first effort your most definitive or your least refined? It is a predicament that has puzzled creatives for years, wrestling between a sense of raw originality and matured orthodoxy.
Throughout this struggle, there are also folks who say that writers only ever write one or two stories in differing variations, trapped by a sense of writing in their own individual, inescapable mode. Richard Gere is certainly a fellow who feels rather haunted by this latter sentiment when it comes to acting.
In his view, he peaked with his debut by virtue of the fact that it captured his core. Days of Heaven arrived in 1978. At this stage, Gere had popped up in the background of the odd movie and made a few producers take notice thanks to TV roles in the likes of Strike Force and Kojak. But the lead in a big-screen Terrence Malick picture seemed like something that he could’ve only dreamed of.
It had been five years since Malick had made Badlands, ironically, a debut that many would argue the director has never topped. Huge anticipation was attached to the follow-up. The relatively unknown Gere taking on the lead role felt like a risky move.
Thankfully, the pressure of such an in-at-the-deep-end plunge didn’t perturb him, and he never looked back. At least he never looked back from a career perspective. However, he often dwells on whether he will ever be able to better the beloved picture. The tale of striving for comfort and peace in a life of misfortune, shot in Malick’s trademark expressionist and sepia tone style, is a defining film, capturing the dynamism of Gere’s captivating mix of wistful moments and erratic turns.
If Malick’s never topped Badlands, the Gere’s stirring performance in Days of Heaven certainly ensured that he’s run it damn close. “It’s probably, unfortunately, my best film. It’s very hard to follow up on a film like that,” Gere said of the movie.
The reason for this is not only that it solidified his own acting outlook, but it also captured Malick at his most Malick, like Pablo Picasso with ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’, he had found his mode. As the silver-haired Gere explained, “It was the first film that Terry Malick made that kind of became Terry Malick in that movie.”
While the masterpiece Badlands had come five years before it, Days of Heaven proved that he could apply his golden hour ways to a diverse range of gritty stories. It proved very successful in the process, too, fetching an unexpected box office bounty for such an indie-inclined film. That proved vital for both of their careers.
In fact, Gere happily admits that it changed his life. Very few actors get such a chance so early in their portfolio; fewer still get a shot to express themselves in a way that would become their trademark, thanks to a director known for allowing creativity to flourish.
“It also was the first film of mine at the Cannes Film Festival. So, everything about that film kind of was important to me as an actor and as a person,” Gere told Rotten Tomatoes, reflecting on the sudden fame it thrust him towards.
Now, over 60 films later, it remains the Philadelphia-born actor’s favourite film that he has starred in. The likes of American Gigolo that followed may have established him as a Hollywood sex symbol, and Pretty Woman might have illuminated a new, lighter side, but in his view, his first established his class.
In fact, there is even a line in the film that helps to capture his dichotomous dynamism on screen: “Nobody’s perfect. There was never a perfect person around. You just have half-angel and half-devil in you.” He’s applied that depth to every character he has ever played. But even half a century later, he still wonders whether any of those characters come close to Bill – we never do learn his surname.
