High Gere: The actor finds the elusive encore

Richard Gere in "Runaway Bride."

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(July 30, 1999) -- Richard Gere and Julia Roberts always wanted to repeat the Pretty Woman experience. After all, the 1991 romantic comedy was a $455 million megahit -- launching Roberts into orbit and jump-starting Gere's then-drifting career.

Plus, Gere says, they also wanted another chance to work with Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall, the veteran comedy filmmaker whose credits also include the creation of TV's Happy Days.

The secret, though, was finding a follow-up that was both the same -- and different. Gere says they found it with Runaway Bride. While Pretty Woman was an across-the-tracks romance of social contrast, Runaway Bride is an adversarial romance between a young woman with a fear of commitment and a newspaper columnist who disses her in print.

"Clearly, this is a different movie," Gere says. "Part of the joy for us was finding something that was different, but utilizes what we did successfully in the first one, which was to bubble at a charming romantic comedy level.

"The biggest change in the dynamic was Julia, because she really was a kid and was pretty new when we did the first film. And she'd only done a couple of films, including Mystic Pizza.

"She's grown up in public, which is not easy for anybody. There's a wealth of experience there that makes her a richer person now."

As the more veteran actor, Gere was happy to now have somebody with more experience working opposite him.

"That was the thing that drew me to this, because it's a very balanced piece. It's about two people who really go at it and they're very well-matched competitors. So we could just lay back and slug at each other and have fun with it."

Gere has had a wide range of experiences, from romantic comedy to hard-core drama such as Internal Affairs on film and Bent onstage.

Though Runaway Bride is obviously in the Tracy-Hepburn or Cary Grant tradition, Gere says he didn't feel a need to study those films as he prepared. "Actually, I think it's in the genes. Those movies are all in our DNA at this point. If you create the right atmosphere and set your compass in the right direction, it just kind of happens."

As one who has had his share of tussles with the tabloids, Gere admits he also was enticed by the idea of playing a somewhat-reckless columnist in Runaway Bride.

"It was fun, but I wasn't thinking in terms of revenge. Though," he adds, with a laugh, "as a journalist you have pretty free rein to hassle somebody.

"I think in this (movie) situation, it's done from both sides. She gives it back. And that makes it delicious and great fun."

Gere, who turns 50 next month, grew up on a farm near Syracuse. After two years at the University of Massachusetts on a gymnastics scholarship, he quit to pursue an acting career. After a few years in repertory companies, a stint at a music commune in Vermont, and success on the London stage in Grease, he nabbed a few choice supporting roles before making major waves in Days of Heaven in 1978.

Key roles followed in Yanks, American Gigolo, An Officer and a Gentleman and The Cotton Club, though his career began to slip. Then, in 1990, he bounced back with a one-two punch, receiving strong attention for his corrupt cop in Internal Affairs and the romantic lead in Pretty Woman.

Gere also has become increasingly vocal as a Buddhist, especially in his support of the exiled Dalai Lama, and in opposition to the Chinese oppression of Tibet.

Gere is excited about the just-announced news that he and actress Carey Lowell are expecting a baby.

"Actually, the media is correct about that," Gere says, with mock surprise.

Now, he admits, "I'm in training to never be able to sleep again."