The risk that revived Richard Gere’s failing career: “That could have been such a piece of shit”
By now, Richard Gere has been in so many hit films that it’s hard to say exactly which one made him the icon he is today. It could be his leading turn in American Gigolo. It might be his role as the love interest in Pretty Woman. Or maybe it was solidified by his theatrical, scene-stealing performance in Chicago. Gere isn’t sure himself, but he knows none of it almost happened.
Despite now being a true legend of the game, Gere will be the first to admit that he handled his career terribly at the start, or at least felt like he did. He wanted to be an actor, so he followed the classic wannabe-actor path, starring in theatre shows and trying to break into the film world. He did some forgettable B-movies, and then it happened: a big break.
Well, almost big. Gere starred in Looking for Mr Goodbar alongside Diane Keaton. Again, it’s rather forgettable in the grand scheme of the filmography he would go on to create. But back then, this was the moment that suddenly made him a face of note. This was the moment when casting directors started paying attention and offers started coming his way—and they came in fast.
For the next few years, Gere was booked and busy. He got his lead role in American Gigolo and became one of the first male actors to go nude on screen. He then used that move to book more daring but also more seductive roles as he’d officially achieved heartthrob status.
But under it all, the actor felt like he had no idea what he was doing. Maybe that’s the issue with being boxed in as a sex symbol; the serious actor he wanted to be under it all was getting smothered and confused. By the time the 1980s ticked over into the 1990s, he was lost and felt like he was fucking it all up.
“I had been kind of out of things for a while,” he admitted, “I consciously [had] just said, ‘Going off to do other things’ and I fucked up my career to the point where [people weren’t saying], ‘Well, let’s get Gere to do that.’” Suddenly, he was in need of a shake-up when two scripts landed on his desk.
Internal Affairs and Pretty Women. Both hits, released the same year, starring Gere and projects he was utterly reluctant to do. “Pretty Woman is something I never would have done,” he admitted, almost turning down the hugely successful movie. “I had no interest in these scripts whatsoever,” he said, with his issue being a double-edged sword of not knowing what to do for so long that he hadn’t done anything, and now not knowing what the right move was to start again.
So he took a chance, he said yes to both, despite his personal feelings towards the movies. “Doing Internal Affairs, for instance, was a very difficult decision for me to make because, potentially, that could have been such a piece of shit,” he said, knowing that there’s always a chance a project could completely flop. It was a worry he was all too tuned into at that time, but he broke through it. He said yes, revived his career, and then carried that attitude forward, continuing to say yes to risks from then on.
