Why Richard Gere will never work with Julia Roberts again
The chemistry between the two leads is arguably the single most important element of any self-respecting romantic comedy, with director Garry Marshall lucking out in a major way when he cast Richard Gere and Julia Roberts as the stars of Pretty Woman.
Of course, the original script was a darker and dingier affair about the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles until it was rewritten into the beloved classic it would become, with writer J.F. Lawton revealing to Vanity Fair that it was viewed as the perfect place for a Scarface reunion in its nascent form. He said: “They had auditioned Al Pacino, they had auditioned Michelle Pfeiffer, and it would definitely have been a different movie if had it been Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer.”
Echoing the sentiments of everyone who launched Pretty Woman to $463million at the box office, an Academy Award nomination, and a Golden Globe win, Lawton conceded that the sparks generated between Gere and Roberts were the key: “The chemistry between Julia and Gere, it is palpable on the screen, it was palpable in auditions,” he said. “You can’t really see how it could end any other way, because they just light up with each other.”
The stars knew it, too, even if Gere took some convincing. When Roberts knew who she wanted starring opposite her, she admitted to Jess Cagle that she “kind of pleaded with him in a very real way”, sharing that “he had very specific thoughts about the movie and the part and what worked and what didn’t work for him”.
Things went so well, in fact, that the superstar duo reunited with director Marshall almost a decade later for Runaway Bride, which was marketed and sold almost entirely on the back of their inbuilt Pretty Woman baggage. Suffice to say, it worked a treat, and the rom-com reunion was a massive smash hit, to the extent you’d imagine Gere and Roberts have, at the very least, been sounded out over the years for a third bite at the cherry.
Whether it happened or not, though, Gere simply isn’t interested. As he shared with Us Weekly: “We have done two movies and they were both successful, so maybe we should just let it go at that”. He’d happily say, “there was something magical about her”, but apparently, the line is drawn at the mere mention of a third team-up.
As much as those with a soft spot for both Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride wished it wasn’t the case, the fact almost a quarter of a century has passed since their last star-crossed caper makes it pretty clear that Gere has stuck to his guns about turning down any and all opportunities for third Roberts rom-com, no matter how many times the subject has or hasn’t been broached behind closed doors.
