The Richard Gere movie that shocked Stephen King: “I was startled”
The temptation with someone like Stephen King, who loves sharing his opinions on movies with the world, is to think his taste in film will always line up with the kinds of stories he writes. The man is the ‘King of Horror,’ right? So, it stands to reason that he will always gravitate toward genres like horror, science fiction, and maybe the occasional action movie.
However, despite our natural tendency to do this, it’s ridiculous to believe a person will only watch a particular kind of movie because that’s what they’re known for writing. Human beings are complicated, layered creatures who can appreciate all types of movies. If anything, it’s probably a welcome relief for people who work in storytelling to consume media that is as far removed from what they make as possible.
With this in mind, it becomes less surprising that King enjoyed the 2002 erotic thriller Unfaithful so much that he wrote about it on his website. Adrian Lyne directed the movie in his triumphant return to the kind of sexy, tense thriller he excelled at in the ’80s and ’90s, when Fatal Attraction, 9 1/2 Weeks, and Indecent Proposal made him one of the most bankable helmers in Hollywood.
The film starred Gere and Diane Lane as a New York City couple who find their marriage on the rocks when she begins an affair with a complete stranger whom she met entirely by chance. The film explored the uncomfortable idea that there is sometimes no underlying reason for someone to cheat on their spouse – no unhappy sex life, no previous infidelities, no abuse – and this gave the picture more dramatic tension than comparable films. “I wanted two people who were perfectly happy,” Lyne insisted. “I loved the idea of the totally arbitrary nature of infidelity.”
The film was a big hit at the box office and, though it received middling reviews, Lane’s performance as the guilt-ridden wife was widely praised. She was even nominated for the ‘Best Actress’ Academy Award, but lost out to Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours. However, King felt the acclaim for Lane overshadowed Gere’s performance, which he found startling in its realism.
“Good suspense and beautifully photographed,” King wrote about Unfaithful. “Everyone’s talking about Diane Lane, but I was startled by what a wonderfully understated performance Richard Gere turned in.”
King’s surprise at Gere’s ability to craft such an internal, nuanced performance that didn’t rely on his usual star quality or loud, dramatic monologuing speaks to something fascinating about the actor’s career. Despite Gere being the perfect leading man in beloved movies like Pretty Woman, An Officer and a Gentleman, American Gigolo, and Internal Affairs, he’s made so many missteps with his choices that his reputation as a genuinely good actor has tended to fly under the radar.
Over the years, it often seemed like most critics would allow Gere’s status as a good movie star, but wouldn’t necessarily equate that with being a good actor, and he’s never been recognised by the Academy for his work. Movies like Unfaithful had the potential to remind people of his talents, but yet again, he wasn’t the one nominated for an Oscar, and that’s a shame.
In the end, should King have been “startled” that Gere was great in Unfaithful? Probably not, just like we shouldn’t have been surprised that he watched the movie in the first place.
