Richard Gere is one of the actors whose career is closely linked to romantic comedies. Pretty Woman from 1990 was also formative for this. Although it was also seen in other genres before and after, it was the RomComs that shaped his career. He actually wouldn’t have seen himself in such films before.
Richard Gere didn’t want to make romantic comedies
Richard Gere discovered his love of the stage at school and composed his own music shows in high school. His path then took him to the theater and even to Broadway, while from 1975 he also appeared in films. He had his first major success with A Man for Certain Hours in 1980. This was followed two years later by An Officer and a Gentleman, both a commercial and critical hit that received several Oscar nominations. Towards the end of the 1980s, Gere’s success declined.
In a 1993 interview with Movieline Magazine (via Newsner), he spoke at length about his decisions and a certain haphazardness in the development of his career:
Pretty Woman is something I would never have done otherwise. Neither is An Officer and a Gentleman. I had no interest in these scripts at all […] By the time of Pretty Woman I had been out of it for a while. I had consciously said, ‘I’m leaving to do other things,’ and I’ve screwed up my career so muchthat people no longer said: ‘Okay, then we’ll get Gere to do it.’
It was only the persistence of some colleagues that convinced him to agree to these projects.
This could also be interesting:
Julia Roberts first had to convince Richard Gere
That’s why he took on roles, which he wasn’t necessarily convinced of. One of them was the thriller Internal Affairs. Another was Pretty Woman. Both led to a revival of his career in 1990.
Julia Roberts in particular had an important influence on Pretty Woman. In a video from the Today show from 2015, the main actors met each other and reminisced.
Here you will find external content from YouTubewhich complements the article. You can display it and hide it again with one click.
Gere and Roberts also talked about how they were sitting at a table together and talking when Gere got a call from director Garry Marshall.
To be honest, I didn’t know if I would do this film. She sits across from me, we get to know each other, we flirt – flirt, are nice – nice. And [Marshall] calls and asks: ‘How’s it going?’ And I say, ‘Yes, yes,’ and she takes a piece of paper. She turns it over and puts it in my hand. It said: ‘Please say yes.’ It was so sweet. And I said, ‘I just said yes.’
This little note perhaps saved Richard Gere’s career and gave us one of the most iconic RomComs of all time. Richard Gere seems to make the same decision too I haven’t regretted it to this day and was then able to warm up to filming more comedies.