(PCM) There Is Always Time For Leading Man Richard Gere
While we can image Richard Gere as a dashing leading man, a stern corporate mogul, or other dramatic forces in the movies, a downtrodden guy does not quickly come to mind.
It also seems surreal that people never noticed the Hollywood star on the streets of New York for the film shoot because they never looked at him. They easily mistook Gere for a man who was down on his luck and living in the streets.
For his latest role in Time Out of Mind, Gere plays the role of George, a homeless man forced onto the streets who tries to connect with his estranged daughter. From director Oren Moverman, the haunting new film is about a man who allows the world around him to take center stage, and for he to simple be a part of it all.
The movie, which opens later this year and started the New York Film Festival, co-stars Jena Malone, Jeremy Strong, and Geraldine Hughes.
The 65-year-old Gere, whose film career has evolved over some 40 years, was honored at the festival among family and fans during a special tribute dinner and conversation event. “This is one of the great moments of my life, being here with you tonight,” he said.
The festival continues with a wide variety of new and classic films, documentaries, short films, premieres, as well as many special events.
The closing film, playing several times on Saturday, Oct. 11, is Birdman from Fox Searchlight Pictures, starring Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Ed Norton and Zach Galifianakis. The film was co-written and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu.
The film is about a washed-up actor who once played an iconic superhero must overcome his ego and family trouble as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim his past glory.
For Film tickets and information please go to: http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2014.
Or call: 212-721-6500.
Recently, at the New York Film Festival, this dramatic actor and leading man quietly delved into some of the values that guide both his life and his craft while talking candidly about his latest movie, Time Out of Mind.
How far did you go to get inside the head of a homeless man, like did you sleep in the shelters?
RICHARD GERE: No, but I visited a lot of the shelters. Over the last, like 8 or 10 years, of doing that.
And it felt like something that I knew; the details I was picking up. But I don’t think it’s hard for us to get it there. I think we all have a yearning to be known. And to be seen.
And we didn’t know when we started out, that this was going to work on any level. We just went in with what we decided to do.
Did you identify with your character of George in any way yourself?
RG: I think what I got into watching this, was that sense of yearning. I’m not this guy as a homeless guy anymore; I’m seeing him as us. And we’re all yearning. For love, for affection. To be seen. To be embraced. To be part of all those things. And all that is certainly highlighted and very clear, in a homeless person. Even if we see the substance abuse, we see mental illness, we see all these things. In a part of that population.
What else can you say about this?
RG: But I also can see how quickly we all can descend into that territory. When we are totally cut loose, from all of our connections to people, and love and affection. And just being well thought of. That kindness of someone looking and smiling. And thinking, oh we should have this. These guys don’t get that. And how quickly this ugly thing starts to happen. And that is dark and lost, deeply lost. And in our own lives, we make judgments [about] people without knowing anything about them.
How did you manage to make this portrait of a homeless man feel so real?
RG: I was very in tune with a bullshit barometer, in approaching this material. But it really came together quite quickly, and naturally.
So nobody recognized you running around like a homeless man on the streets of New York City?
RG: That was one of the most bizarre things about this! But I must tell you, there’s one interesting thing that I found out. I think there were two or three times, that people talked to me on the street. Once was a French tourist woman. She just totally thought I was a homeless guy, and gave me some food.
What else happened?
RG: The other two times were African Americans. And they just passed me and said, ‘hey Rich. How ya doin’ man!’ Nothing. Just, how ya doin’ man. And continued on. But white guys, white people, were very much in their capsules. We know where we’re going to, and we see little going between here and there. African Americans are much more in the moment. They kind of see the world around them, for whatever reason.
Wow, that is amazing!
RG: So that was a very interesting part of this process too. But in general, psychology, back story – not interesting to us in this movie. You know, it wasn’t about communicating where he came from. That makes it too easy, for a character like this. You have to live with him. So it’s not like, I don’t believe we’re seeing a homeless guy, by the way. We’re seeing ourselves. Our emotional, naked selves.
How did you go about updating this script from 30 years ago, into the present homeless reality?
RG: This isn’t so much about the details, but what it feels to be homeless. And that hasn’t changed at all, from when this script came up in the 1980s. And how one quickly one descends into really scary zones in consciousness. You know, when you’re invisible. How did becoming invisible for this role affect you personally, as someone very visible in the public eye as a star? It’s worse.
Please tell me more.
RG: I keep telling everyone; it’s actually worse when you’re invisible. It’s a dark world. You’re radiating failure, being homeless on the street. Nobody wants to know you. And for me, this was a really strange experience. We were filming one day in Starbucks, and nobody could see the camera. We wanted to see if this could work. And I’m someone who is still making movies, I’m still out there. So I was scared, actually.
There’s definitely a feeling in the movie, that if this could happen to
Richard Gere, it could happen to anybody.
RG: Seriously, this whole thing was predicated on that. For a lot of this movie, that I would be on the streets. Behaving as if I was who I was supposed to be.
And New York would just be passing me by.
Several Other New York Film Festival Offerings At A Glance:
Foxcatcher, 2014. The tragic story of fatally disassociated billionaire, John E. du Pont, (Steve Carrell), and the brothers and championship wrestlers recruited by du Pont to create a national wrestling team. The film also stars Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum. Friday Oct. 10 at 9 .m. and Saturday, Oct. 11 at 2 p.m.
Iris, World Premiere. The latest film from the great documentarian, Albert Maysles is a portrait of fashion maven Iris Apfel. Friday, Oct. 10, at 3:45 p.m.
Life of Riley, U.S. Premiere. The final work from Resnais, based on the British playwright Alan Ayckbourne’s Relatively Speaking. The film is a graceful and affirmative farewell to life from a truly great artist. Saturday, Oct. 11, 2 p.m.
Escape, 1948. In this film, Rex Harrison appears as a former RAF pilot who goes for a walk in Hyde Park one night and ends up being arrested and convicted of manslaughter. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 9:30 p.m.
The Honey Pot, 1967. This is a modern variation of Ben Jonson’s Volpone features Rex Harrison as a man who engineers an elaborate practical joke by inviting three women to visit him on his supposed deathbed. Co-starring Susan Hayward, Edie Adams and Capucine. Tuesday, October 14, at 6:30 p.m.
The post Time Out Of Mind: Richard Gere Interview also appeared on PCM Reviews.