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Richard Gere Press Event - Hollywood Film Festival
How was it working with Lasse Hallström?
“Oh, Lasse is a genius. Lasse is a really interesting, creative person because he's not a dominant personality. What he does is almost invisible. His wife and I were talking about this and we were laughing because there are some directors who are huge personalities and are basically like, 'Okay, this is what we're going to do. The camera is here. You're standing there.' That's not his way at all.
He's very soft and he basically creates an environment where innate creativity flourishes. Now if it does get off for whatever reason, he'll come up and we'll start talking and we'll maybe in the middle of a difficult scene and he'll say, 'What kind of tea do you like?' 'Green tea.' 'Green tea. Chinese or Japanese?' 'Japanese.' 'Japanese. Yeah, I do too. Okay, do it again.' Something happened in the process there that puts you back on track. He's as invisible as that, and for me it works perfectly. I like the space, the creative space, and trust and the sense of confidence. I mean, that's what he lends to you. And at the same time he knows exactly what movie he's making, even when it gets off.”
Having worked with so many great directors, do you ever want to direct?
“No. I don't have the time with all the things that I do in the world. I can't take a year and a half away just to work. So I think it's a peculiar type of man or woman that can focus like that for a year and a half on one thing.”
You and Alfred Molina were so convincing as best friends onscreen. Have you kept that relationship since the film has long been over?
“No. We've seen each other a couple of times since then and we're always happy to see each other, but he works even more than I do. He's doing a play right after this and he has a couple of other movies that he was doing. He's a total workaholic.
He's very much like me in the sense that his preference is to move into a character very slowly. Lasse is the same way. I don't like to come in having made decisions. We very quietly get to know each other and find a certain comfort level. You're not worrying about this kind of, 'I don't know this person. What are they thinking?' It's just building a comfort level and as you build that comfort level, you're little by little building a character. You're reading the script, but not getting very serious about it. You're trying a few things, laughing, coming up with some ideas. So the broadness of the creativity starts to emerge. It's not too narrow because you haven't made too many conscious decisions. That's the last thing that you want to do, for me, starting with conscious decisions. Subconscious is just much more reliable as a place to work from. Whatever feeds that process is good, and Alfred works the same way.”
What's the secret to being a sex symbol?
“Oh, gosh. I'm going to start blushing. That whole thing, I've never been comfortable with that whole thing. So I'm going to duck that one.”
With your other films coming out soon what other avenues or challenges have you been able to explore?
“I'm always surprised. The movies we're discussing right now, I didn't set out to look for them. They just kind of came through and we decided to do them. As I said, it was a kind of peculiar year in that there were enough scripts that I felt I hadn't done before with good people that I hadn't worked with before and places that I hadn't been before, that I felt compelled to work. That doesn't happen all the time.”
You mentioned seeing the 26-year-old you onscreen earlier. How did he think that his career was going to go and how do you think it's gone?
“Well, I keep saying that when I actually grow up I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life. So I guess I'm still that 26-year-old or 12-year-old or 20-year-old in that way. It's hard for us to know how we've matured, I think. And taking stock of one's history, the important moments of one's life, is not something that we do in the course of our lives. So in those few times that you do it, it's kind of – one thing I find is that I'm very gentle with myself.”
Has your son been bitten by the acting bug?
“No. He's like me, actually. He's very shy. I was also equally shy when I was a kid.”
Does he get what you do, that you're in the movies and as big as you are?
“Yeah, I think he has a sense of that. It's not a big deal. It's more like it's my job. 'That's my dad's job. He makes movies.' Some of the other fathers do other things. He knows that sometimes people make a fuss about me, but I think he's quite balanced by it.”
Is that a tribute to your wife [actress Carey Lowell]?
“Everything in my life is a tribute to my wife – everything. It doesn't work without her. Nothing does. She's incredible. She has to flow with a lot of stuff all the time and be tender-hearted and be strong and be loving, and all those things that people want to be and she does it.”
How did getting married and having children change the roles you selected and how you approached them?
“I'm sure it gave me a different point of view, being a father than playing one. I'm not pretending. I have a lot of experience in that territory, having a young child, a lot of experience, so I think it radically changes. I really play the piano so I'm going to sit at the piano differently in a movie than someone who's pretending to play the piano. It's as simple as that. Probably you relax into it more. When you're not pretending to be something, you tend to have more of an ease.”
Who would you like to play you in a biopic?
“Oh God, I don’t want a biopic. My life is strange enough as it is. People kept asking me, ‘How does Clifford feel about this movie?’ How can you imagine feeling about someone doing your life and reducing it to two hours, written by someone who doesn't really know you. You're not going to be too happy, so I don't think I would be too happy with a movie about me.”
Didn't Clifford want the attention?
“Yeah, for complex reasons, for sure. But I don't.”
Maybe this wasn't flattering enough for him.
“I don't think it was his self vision. Again, it's what I'm saying. I don't think anyone else would fulfill our self vision other than us in our dreams.”
