Top Gere
He may have matured in his approach to life but Richard Gere still manages to incite raw emotions. Richard Mowe catches him in a state of siege in Rome
utside the Hotel de Russie in Rome there's an army of screaming women interspersed with Roman youths feigning curiosity. Film star
Richard (‘iere appears mildly astonished at the state of
siege. You suspect that all this attention could not fail to flatter his vanity. Iixcept you'd be wrong. He doesn't appear to have any.
Gere. 57. has become the antithesis of the Hollywood star. except nobody has told the citizens of Rome. When I ask him how it feels to continue to rate as one of the most handsome males on the planet he has a ready quip: ‘Plastic surgery. At least once a month. If you come to New York I will give you the name of my plastic surgeon. He's a genius . . . Look. I do not know how much time is left before I become old and ugly. So I’m making the most of what I have while I can.‘
Gere is in Rome with his young family (actress wife Carey Lowell and their seven-year-old son Homer James) to talk about his new role in Lasse Hallstrom‘s
The Hoax as Clifford Irving. the writer of the spoof
biography of reclusive multimillionaire Howard Hughes. which plays on Gere's qualities of inbuilt charm and persuasion to hide the unreliable shark underneath. His performance is definitely worth an Oscar nod. Later this year he will be seen as a journalist in the comedy thriller Spring Break in Bosnia opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Terrence Howard and as one of several representations of Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' I'm Not There.
18 THE LIST 2—9 Aug 2007
‘I WILL GIVE YOU THE NAME OF MY PLASTIC SURGEON'
(iere and l-Iallstrom are neighbours in upstate New York. The actor had known The Hoax script was out there a long time before it came his way. ‘I.asse
called me up and told me to read the latest version of
the script. but at that point I could not see what I could do with it. Then I had another think and suddenly I could see exactly where to go with it. I thought that it would really be fascinating as an actor to play someone who's lying all the time.
‘Hughes is like a mythical creature who lives in our imagination but no one knew him. Irving invents stories but I think they become real for the audience as well.’
Gere finds it intriguing to compare such a notion with his craft. ‘()bviously as actors we are in the game of manipulation. We pretend to be in the middle of a story and our job is to make the pretence believable enough that people will take the voyage with us.~
Gere's private predilections have been the object of
much media speculation over the years. notably the rumour that he was gay. He may once have been enraged at the perpetrators but now he has emerged on a higher plateau. 'What difference does it make what anyone thinks if I live truthfully and honestly and with as open a heart as I can‘." he says. Clifford Irving would not be amused.
The Hoax is on general release from Fri 3 Aug. See Also Released, page 20.
Ilit >l<
THE BEST FILM 8 DVD RELEASES
5.: Flanders Bruno Dumont returns with this ‘love and war as hell' parable set partly in a small French rural community and partly in an unspecified war torn Middle Eastern desert. In its own quiet lingering way Flanders says more about the brutality of war and venality of man than just about anything else this year. See interview, opposite and Also Released. page 20. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 3 Aug.
* The Hoax Richard Gere is at his slimy best as real-life hack Clifford Irving who in the 19703 claimed that he had interviewed Howard Hughes extensively for an autobiographical book. See interview. left and Also Released. page 20. General release from Fri 3 Aug.
3!: Brief Encounter David Lean's stilted but still accessible 1945 illicit liaison drama is the second film to be shown in the Summer of British Film series which sees some classic UK flicks digitally projected into various national cinemas at the same time. GFT, Glasgow 8 Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Tue 7 Aug.
* The Terence Davies Trilogy Welcome screening of Terence Davies' 1976 debut film — a three film portrait of one man’s life from birth to death taking in a Liverpool childhood. closeted homosexuality and Catholicism along the way. The screening of this film coincides with the recent release of a brand new print of Davis' seminal 1988 film Distant Voices, Still Lives. GFI'. Glasgow. Sun 5 Aug.
>l< Some Like It Hot Billy Wilder's wonderful 1959 screwball comedy gets an outing to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death. GFF, Glasgow, Sun 5 Aug.