Maybe I Do: Richard Gere admits fear about return to acting for first film in six years
“This is the first interview I have done on this movie, so it’s completely fresh – from here on out, I will have said everything.”
That’s how Richard Gere started our chat about his latest film, Maybe I Do.
Refreshingly honest, the star known for hit romcoms including Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride hasn’t done a film since 2017 and is candid about how strange it was returning to set.
“Whenever I start a project, I kind of question whether I know what I’m doing at all,” Gere admitted.
“And after three years of not making a film or working in the theatre, I think I had this feeling of, ‘do I know how to do this? Did I ever know how to do this?'”
“But I think it is like riding a bike – you pretty much remember how to do it.”
The break Gere took was largely due to the pandemic.
A way back
Instead of working, Gere spent lockdown and the period afterwards with his wife and children, waiting for the right opportunity to lure him back to acting.
“I just stayed at home with my family… I mean, the protocols for making movies in that period were so daunting that I didn’t really want to go through it,” he said.
“So it loosened up a little bit and the script came through – Michael Jacobs, a really nice guy, wrote this fun script.
“[I thought] this is a way to get back into the working world with something adult but fun, with actors I knew and had worked with before and trusted.”
‘She knew my movies better than I did’
The film is called Maybe I Do and is about a couple considering marriage who get their parents together, only to find they already know each other well.
His daughter is played by Emma Roberts – the niece of Julia Roberts, who Gere teamed up with for both Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride.
Emma Roberts plays Richard Gere’s daughter. Pic: Signature Entertainment/Prime Video
“Oh, it was funny,” he said about working with Emma.
“I even forgot the movies – she knew my movies better than I did, the ones I had done with Julia.
“And there was a certain irony to that.”
Roberts told Backstage she only got round to telling her aunt she was working with Gere after it had happened.
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“I actually only just told her recently, and I was like, ‘I forgot got to tell you, I worked with Richard,'” she said.
“I love Runaway Bride, I love Pretty Woman, so it was really fun to get to work with him as well, and he’s so sweet.
“It’s like full circle, him playing my dad after him and my aunt working together so much.”
‘She was lovely then, and she’s lovely now’
The cast also features Susan Sarandon, William H Macy and Diane Keaton.
Gere says it was great to be reunited with the latter after first working together decades ago in the 1977 film Looking for Mr Goodbar.
“We had communicated a few times over the years… She was at the beginning of being the biggest actress in the world at that point, and I was just starting to make movies,” he said.
“But she was lovely then, and she’s lovely now.”
Richard Gere stars alongside Diane Keaton, William H Macy and Susan Sarandon. Pic: Signature Entertainment/Prime Video
“You know, she’s witty, and she’s fun and works hard and always finds her own way through doing things – it’s not the obvious, and it’s not the predictable.”
Gere’s character in the film is somewhat jaded, fed up about getting older.
‘Silly not to engage’ in growing old
The actor says it’s not something he himself worries about.
“I have a two-and-a-half year old and a three-and-a- half – almost four-year-old and a ten-year-old, so I don’t have really the luxury of thinking about time or getting older,” Gere laughed.
“Getting older is inevitable. I mean, it would be silly for people not to engage [with] it and even early on to just think about it, you know?”
“But I get – at best – a finite number of years, and it might be a lot shorter based on health and accidents and all kinds of other things, so it certainly is inevitable.”
For Roberts, working with such a stellar cast was a golden opportunity.
But she admits it did put the pressure on.
“I feel like I always come to work prepared, but I was definitely quadruple prepared for this set.” She said.
“But I remember there was one scene where it was like four and a half pages long, and I had the most dialogue and at one point I just forgot my lines because all I could feel was everyone’s eyes looking at me.”
“And even though I’ve obviously been working for a long time, to work with such a huge calibre of talent in one room, it was really amazing.”
Maybe I Do is streaming now on Prime Video.
Entertainment
MasterChef presenter John Torode says allegation he used racist language upheld in report
Entertainment
Gregg Wallace: Over half of allegations against MasterChef presenter substantiated, including one of unwanted physical contact
An investigation into Gregg Wallace’s “inappropriate behaviour” on MasterChef has found that more than half of the allegations against him have been substantiated, including one of “unwanted physical contact”.
MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK shared a summary of its report into historical allegations of misconduct against the 60-year-old presenter, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin over seven months.
The report also said the number of sustained allegations made Wallace’s return to MasterChef “untenable”.
The investigation heard evidence from 78 witnesses, including 41 complainants.
There were 83 allegations against Wallace, and 45 of them were substantiated. All were related to MasterChef.
While the majority of the substantiated allegations related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated.
One allegation of unwanted physical contact was substantiated.
Nearly all the allegations against Wallace were related to behaviour which is said to have occurred between 2005 and 2018, with just one substantiated allegation taking place post-2018.
Wallace and Anne-Marie Sterpini in 2014
Ahead of the publication of the summary, Wallace had said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
Additionally, the report summary found that there were also 10 standalone allegations about other people between 2012 and 2018/2019, two of which were substantiated. Those people were not named in the summary.
The investigation found that complaints had previously been raised with the production company between 2005 and 2024.
Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
While the report flagged inadequate reporting procedures prior to 2016, when Endemol merged with Shine ahead of Banijay acquiring Endemol Shine in 2020, it said there were significant improvements to HR processes and training after 2016.
While the investigation said some formal action was taken by the BBC in 2017, it also noted the corporation held no information regarding concerns raised over Wallace centrally, resulting in issues being addressed as a first offence.
Sky News has tried to contact Gregg Wallace for contact today.
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