Richard Gere

Richard Gere

Richard Tiffany Gere (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, and came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol. He went on to star in several hit films including An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, and Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Best Cast.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gere is a descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims Francis Eaton, John Billington, George Soule, Richard Warren, Degory Priest, William Brewster and Francis Cooke. Gere's mother, Doris Anna (née Tiffany), was a homemaker, and his father, Homer George Gere, was an insurance agent for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and had originally intended to become a minister. Gere has three sisters and a brother. In 1967, he graduated from North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled at gymnastics and music, playing the trumpet. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship, majoring in Philosophy, but did not graduate, leaving after two years.

Gere first worked professionally at the Provincetown Playhouse on Cape Cod in 1971 where he starred in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Gere's first major acting role was in the original London stage version of Grease in 1973. He began appearing in Hollywood films in the mid 1970s, co-starring in the thriller Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977) and playing the leading role in director Terrence Malick's well-reviewed 1978 film, Days of Heaven. In 1980, Gere appeared in the Broadway production of Bent. His acting career took off that year with the film American Gigolo, followed by the romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman, which grossed over $100 million in 1982. Subsequently, he was the first man ever to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine.

However, after 1982, Gere's career was dogged by several box office failures. His career was somewhat resurrected after the release of both Internal Affairs and Pretty Woman in 1990. Gere's status as a leading man was again solidified, and he went on to star in several successful films throughout the 1990s, including Sommersby (1993), Primal Fear (1996), and Runaway Bride (1999) which reunited him with his Pretty Woman co-star Julia Roberts.

People magazine named Gere the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1999. In 2002, he appeared in three major releases: the horror thriller The Mothman Prophecies, the drama Unfaithful, and the Academy Award-winning film version of Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe as "Best Actor - Comedy or Musical". Gere's 2004 ballroom dancing drama, Shall We Dance, was also a solid performer which grossed $170 million worldwide though his next film, 2005's Bee Season, was a commercial failure.

Gere was Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals' "Man of the Year" for 2006. In 2007, he starred co-starred with Jesse Eisenberg and Terrence Howard in The Hunting Party, a comic thriller in which he played a journalist in Bosnia. The same year he also starred with Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Cate Blanchett in Todd Haynes' semi-biographical film about Bob Dylan, I'm Not There.

Most recently, Gere co-starred with Diane Lane in the romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe, released in 2008. The film was widely panned by critics (even making The London Times' Worst Films of 2008 list), but grossed $84 million worldwide.

Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. In 2002, he married actress Carey Lowell. They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in 2000 and is named after Gere's father.

Gere was raised by Methodist parents; his interest in Buddhism began when he traveled to Nepal in 1978 with the Brazilian painter, Sylvia Martins. He is a practicing Buddhist and an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. Gere is also a persistent advocate for human rights in Tibet; he is a co-founder of the Tibet House, creator of The Gere Foundation, and he is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Campaign for Tibet. Because he strongly supports the Tibetan Independence Movement, he is permanently banned from entering The People's Republic of China. Gere was banned as an Academy Award presenter in 1993 after he used the opportunity to condemn the Chinese government. In September 2007, Gere called for the boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to put pressure on China to make Tibet independent. On the March 14, 2008 The Situation Room, Gere spoke against China's crackdown on the uprising in Tibet. He also starred in a politically themed pro-Tibet Lancia commercial featuring the Lancia Delta.

Gere campaigns for ecological causes and AIDS awareness. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Healing the Divide, an organization that supports global initiatives to promote peace, justice and understanding, and he also actively supports Survival International, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights and lands of tribal peoples throughout the world. He helped to establish the AIDS Care Home, a residential facility in India for women and children with AIDS, and also supports campaigns for AIDS awareness and education that country. In 1999 he created the Gere Foundation India Trust to support a variety of humanitarian programs in India.

In June 2008, Gere appeared in a Fiat commercial for the European market, driving a new Lancia Delta from Hollywood to Tibet. The commercial concluded with a tagline of "New Lancia Delta: the power to be different". The commercial was reported in Chinese newspapers, and Fiat apologized to China. Branding expert John Tantillo argued that Fiat had foreseen the controversy the ad would cause and hoped to benefit from press coverage it would receive, labeling it a case of adpublitzing.

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Unfaithful (film)

Unfaithful is a 2002 American erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne, and adapted by Alvin Sargent and William Broyles Jr. from the French film The Unfaithful Wife (La Femme infidèle) by Claude Chabrol. It is about Constance (Diane Lane) and Edward (Richard Gere), a couple living in the suburbs of New York City whose marriage goes dangerously awry when she indulges in an adulterous fling with Paul (Olivier Martinez), a mysterious book dealer.

The filming proved to be challenging for the actors who had to endure smoke being piped in during scenes for 18 to 20 hours a day. During the film's demanding sex scenes, Lyne would film repeated takes often using up a magazine of film at a time. While Diane Lane had no problem with being nude for these scenes, Olivier Martinez was not comfortable with being naked on-camera. The two actors had not met each other before filming and did not get to know each during, mirroring the relationship between their characters.

Based on his experiences with Fatal Attraction, Lyne shot five different endings. The studio did not like his original ending which did not pass moral judgment on the characters; they imposed their own ending, which angered Richard Gere who fought for Lyne's version.

Unfaithful grossed USD $52 million in North America and a total of $119 million worldwide. It received largely mixed to negative reviews, though Lane's performance was much praised. She would go on to win the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Constance (Diane Lane) and Edward Sumner (Richard Gere) are a couple who live in suburban New York City, whose marriage is solid and loving but a little lacking in passion. One day, Connie journeys into the city, but finds herself caught in a windstorm. As she chases after taxis, she bumps into a stranger (Olivier Martinez). They both fall and Connie scrapes her knees. The stranger offers to let her use his apartment to clean herself up. At that moment, an empty cab goes by, but Connie accepts the offer instead of heading back to the train station. The stranger introduces himself as Paul Martel, a Frenchman who buys and sells used books. Constance becomes uncomfortable and decides to leave when Paul makes small advances toward her. He lets her go but gives her a book of poetry, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, as a gift.

Later that night, Constance tells her husband about the incident but does not elaborate. The next morning, after Edward and their son Charlie (Erik Per Sullivan) leave, she picks up the poetry book. Paul's business card falls out. She then takes the train into the city again and calls him from the Grand Central Station. He invites her over for coffee. When Constance enters Paul's apartment, he asks her to dance. She obliges and they begin flirting with each other. As the record they are dancing to begins to skip she decides that what they are doing is a mistake. Paul tells her, "There is no such thing as a mistake. There is what you do and what you don't do." Connie replies, "I can't do this," and starts to leave the building. But when she has to come back into the apartment for her coat, Paul grabs her and kisses her.

Constance and Paul begin a passionate sexual affair. Edward soon suspects something when his wife increases the frequency of her visits to Manhattan. She uses her work on a charity event as an excuse, but Edward finds holes in her stories when he speaks with mutual friends. She also shows less interest in him, but nothing concretely proves her infidelity. For example, she removes her wedding ring while doing the dishes. After one of Edward's business partners catches a glimpse of Connie and Paul fawning over each other in a cafe he tells Edward. Edward then hires a detective (Dominic Chianese) to follow Connie.

The detective returns with pictures of Connie and Paul that are devastating. In the meantime, Connie sees Paul with another woman and attacks him, but he denies that the woman is anyone special. She is enraged and they begin to fight in his building, but their anger quickly turns into passion. Edward decides to visit Paul's apartment after their fight. Unable to get into the building, Edward walks away and barely misses seeing Connie exit the building, get into her car, and drive off. He returns moments later, enters the building when another person is leaving, and confronts Paul. Already extremely upset, he is stunned when he sees in Paul's apartment a snow globe that he had given as a special gift to Connie and that she has clearly given to Paul. In a sudden moment of rage, Edward hits Paul with the snowglobe, fracturing his skull and killing him. Edward manages to clean up the blood, wipe his fingerprints from everything he has touched, and wrap Paul's body in a rug. As he works, the phone rings, and Edward hears a message from Connie saying that she must end the affair. Edward erases the message and leaves. He puts Paul's body in the trunk of his car and, later that night, drives it to a dump and leaves it among the garbage.

Later, two police detectives show up at the Sumner home. They explain that Paul's wife had reported him missing and they had found Constance's phone number in his apartment. She claims to have met him only once though expresses surprise that he had a wife. A week later, the detectives return and tell Connie that they have found Paul's body. She becomes very upset but repeats her earlier story and is surprised when Edward backs her up. Edward also insists that he never met Paul. Later that night, when Constance takes Edward's clothes to the dry cleaners, she finds the private detective's photos and realizes that Edward must have known about the affair. She later discovers that Edward has murdered Paul when she sees that the snow globe she gave to Paul is in their home. Later, as Edward and Charlie are playing the piano in the living room, Connie wanders to the window and notices the snow globes that they have collected over the years. She finds that the snow globe that she had given Paul contains a compartment in the bottom. Inside, a photograph of Edward and Connie from when they first met with a message on the back. It turns out that this snow globe was intended to be an anniversary present that Edward purchased for her, and the fact that she gave it to her former lover causes a guilt ridden Connie to cry. Edward and Constance confront each other. She burns the photographs and he offers to turn himself in. Constance replies that he shouldn't, that they will get through the crisis together.

Later, Edward and Connie are seen in their car stopped at an intersection, talking about what they should do next. As this conversation proceeds, the traffic lights change several times from red to green and back again. Finally, the camera pulls back to reveal that their car has stopped in front of a police station and the movie ends before the audience ever hears their final decision.

According to actor Richard Gere, an early draft of the screenplay that he read several years ago presented the Sumners as suffering from a dysfunctional sexual relationship that gave Constance partial justification for having an affair. According to the actor and to director Adrian Lyne, the studio wanted to change the storyline so that the Sumners had a bad marriage with no sex, thereby creating greater sympathy for Constance. Both men were opposed to this change. Lyne felt that the studio's suggestions would have robbed the film of any drama, stating, "I wanted two people who were perfectly happy. I loved the idea of the totally arbitrary nature of infidelity". The Sumners' relationship was rewritten so that they have a good marriage and so that her affair is the result of a chance meeting.

During pre-production, the producers received a video taped audition from Olivier Martinez and he ended up with the part of Paul. His character was not originally envisioned as being French but became so when Martinez was cast. Lyne said, "I think it helps one understand how Connie might have leapt into this affair - he's very beguiling, doing even ordinary things". Once cast in the role, Martinez, with Lyne's approval, changed some of his dialogue and the approach to the scene in which he first seduces Diane Lane's character while she is looking at a book in braille. According to Martinez, "The story that was invented before was much more sensual, erotic and clear". Lyne cast Lane in the role of Constance after seeing her in the film, A Walk on the Moon. He felt that the actress, "breathes a certain sexuality. But she's sympathetic, and I think so many sexy women tend to be tough and hard at the same time". Lyne also wanted Gere and Lane to gain weight in order to reflect the comfort of a middle-age couple. In particular, he wanted Gere to gain 30 pounds and would leave donuts in the actor's trailer every morning.

Lyne asked director of photography Peter Biziou, with whom he made 9 1/2 Weeks, to shoot Unfaithful. After reading the script, Biziou felt that the story lent itself to the classic 1.85:1 aspect ratio because, "so often has two characters working together in the frame". During pre-production, Biziou, Lyne and production designer Brian Morris used a collection of still photographs as style references. These included photos from fashion magazines and shots by prominent photographers.

Initially, the story was set against snowy exteriors, but this idea was rejected early on. Principal photography started on March 22, 2001 and wrapped on June 1, 2001 with Lyne shooting in continuity whenever possible. Much of the film was shot in Oak Park, Illinois. During the windstorm sequence where Connie first meets Paul, it rained and Lyne used the overcast weather conditions for the street scenes. The director also preferred shooting practical interiors on location so that the actors could "feel an intimate sense of belonging", Biziou recalls. The cinematographer also used natural light as much as possible.

At times, Lyne's style of directing took its toll on the cast and crew. In a scene taking place in an office, the director pumped it full of smoke, an effect that "makes the colors less contrasty, more muted". According to Biziou, "the texture it gives helps differentiate and separate various density levels of darkness farther back in frame". The smoke was piped in for 18 to 20 hours a day and Richard Gere remembers, "Our throats were being blown out. We had a special doctor who was there almost all the time who was shooting people up with antibiotics for bronchial infections". Lane even went so far as to get an oxygen bottle in order to survive the rigorous schedule.

Throughout the film, there are many explicit sex scenes, including a spontaneous tryst in a restaurant bathroom and a rather passionate exchange in an apartment building hallway. All of them were done in a respectful way so as to depict passion, not just nudity. Lyne's repeated takes for these scenes were very demanding for the actors involved, especially for Lane who had to be emotionally and physically fit for the scenes. To prepare for the initial love scene between Paul and Constance, Lyne had Lane and Martinez watch clips from Fatal Attraction, Five Easy Pieces, and Last Tango in Paris. She and Martinez would also talk over the scenes in his trailer beforehand but once on set felt uncomfortable until several takes in. She said, "My comfort level with it just had to catch up quickly - if I wanted to be the actress to play it". Martinez, however, was not comfortable with nudity. The actress said that Lyne would often shoot a whole magazine of film, "so one take was as long as five takes. By the end, you're physically and emotionally shattered". She had not met Martinez before filming and they did not get to know each other well during the shoot, mirroring the relationship between their characters. A full four weeks of the schedule was dedicated to the scenes in Paul's loft, which was located on the third floor of a six-story building located on Greene Street. Biziou often used two cameras for the film's intimate scenes in order to spare the actors any discomfort.

Lyne shot five different endings based on his experiences with Fatal Attraction. According to Lyne, there was some debate with 20th Century Fox who wanted to "make the marriage gray, the sex bad. I fought that. I tried to explore the guilt, the jealousy - that's what I'm interested in". The studio did not like the film's "enigmatic" ending that refused to punish crimes committed by the characters and imposed a "particularly jarring 'Hollywood' final line". Reportedly, this angered Gere, who pushed for the original ending. Following negative reactions from test audiences, the studio reinstated the original ending. However, only weeks before the film was to open in theaters, Lyne asked Gere and Lane to return to Los Angeles for re-shoots for the ending.

Unfaithful opened on May 10, 2002 in 2,617 theaters and grossed USD $14 million with an average of $5,374 per screen. It made $52 million in North America and a total of $119 million worldwide, well above its $50 million budget.

The film received largely mixed-to-negative reviews, though Diane Lane earned widespread praise for her performance. It currently has a rating of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes (48% for their "Cream of the Crop" designation). CNN film critic Paul Tatara wrote, "The audience when I saw this one was chuckling at all the wrong times, and that's a bad sign when they're supposed to be having a collective heart attack". Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman awarded the film an "A-" grade and praised Lane for delivering, "the most urgent performance of her career, is a revelation. The play of lust, romance, degradation, and guilt on her face is the movie's real story". Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Instead of pumping up the plot with recycled manufactured thrills, it's content to contemplate two reasonably sane adults who get themselves into an almost insoluble dilemma". In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan wrote, "The only performer who manages to get inside her character is Lane. Whether it's her initial half-distrustful tentativeness, her later sensual abandon or her never-ending ambivalence, Lane's Constance seems to be actually living the role in a way no one else matches, a way we can all connect to". Stephen Holden, in his review for the New York Times, praised the "taut, economical screenplay" that "digs into its characters' marrow (and into the perfectly selected details of domestic life) without wasting a word. That screenplay helps to ground a film whose visual imagination hovers somewhere between soap opera and a portentous pop surrealism". USA Today gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and Mike Clark wrote, "Diane Lane also reaches a new career plateau with her best performance since 1979's A Little Romance". In his review for the Washington Post, Stephen Hunter wrote, "In the end, Unfaithful leaves you dispirited and grumpy: All that money spent, all that talent wasted, all that time gone forever, and for what? It's an ill movie that bloweth no man to good". David Ansen, in his review for Newsweek, wrote, "Unfaithful shows what a powerful, sexy, smart filmmaker Lyne can be. It's a shame he substitutes the mechanics of suspense for the real suspense of what goes on between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife".

The studio took out trade ads and mailed copies of the movie to Academy voters by the end of November, picking out what it called the film's "iconic scene" as the theme of its campaign. The scene in question was when Constance recounts her first tryst with Paul as she takes a train home. The studio took a still from the scene and made it the focus of the campaign. According to Tom Rothman, chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, "That scene captured the power of her performance. It's what everyone talked about after they saw her". Four days before the New York Film Critics Circle's vote, Lane was given a career tribute by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. A day before that, Lyne held a dinner for the actress at the Four Seasons Hotel. Critics and award voters were invited to both. She went on to win the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress. Entertainment Weekly ranked Unfaithful the 27th on their 50 Sexiest Movies Ever list.

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American Gigolo

American Gigolo is a 1980 thriller film, written and directed by Paul Schrader. Schrader based the film on French director Robert Bresson's Pickpocket (1959). It is also (informally) considered the second installment in his "night workers" trilogy, following Taxi Driver (1976) and preceding Light Sleeper (1992).

Julian Kaye (Richard Gere), is a male prostitute in Los Angeles whose job supports his expensive tastes in cars, stereophonic equipment, and clothes (which perhaps serve as a surrogate for emotional contact). He is, at times, blatantly narcissistic and superficial; however, he openly claims to take some pleasure in his work from being able to sexually satisfy women.

When on an assignment for his primary procuress, Anne (Nina Van Pallandt), he meets Michelle Stratton (Lauren Hutton), the unhappy wife of a local politician, who becomes interested in him. Julian's other pimp, Leon (Bill Duke), sends him to the house of a financier, who asks Julian to physically abuse and copulate with his wife while he watches them.

Later, Julian learns that the financier's wife was murdered. Los Angeles Police Department Detective Sunday (Hector Elizondo) investigates Julian as a primary suspect. Though he was with another client on the night of the murder, the client refuses to give Julian an alibi, to protect her and her husband's reputations.

As Julian's relationship with Michelle deepens, suspicion of the murder mounts against him. He soon realizes that he is being framed and grows increasingly desperate. His decline is visually represented by a degeneration in style as his clothes become rumpled, he goes unshaven, and he even rents a cheap commuter car after his Mercedes has been tampered with.

Julian finally confronts Leon, who confesses that one of the other, younger gigolos who works for him had killed the wealthy man's wife, and Leon had conceived the plan to frame Julian. After an argument, Julian accidentally pushes Leon over the apartment balcony and he falls to his death.

With no one to help him, Julian ends up in jail, awaiting trial for the murder. However, when all seems lost, Michelle risks her reputation and that of her husband to provide Julian with the alibi that can save him from prison.

For further info see American Gigolo (soundtrack).

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No Mercy (film)

No Mercy is a 1986 film starring Richard Gere and Kim Basinger about a cop who accepts an offer to kill a Cajun gangster.

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First Knight

First Knight is a 1995 fantasy film based on Arthurian legend. The principal characters are Lancelot (Richard Gere), King Arthur (Sean Connery) and Guinevere (Julia Ormond). Location shots were filmed in North Wales.

The film follows the rogue Lancelot's (Richard Gere) romance with Lady Guinevere (Julia Ormond) of Leonesse, who is to marry King Arthur (Sean Connery) of Camelot. Ben Cross appears as the villain, the renegade knight Malagant. The film is notable for its absence of magical elements (like Merlin and Morgan le Fay), its drawing on the Arthurian material of Chrétien de Troyes rather than Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur for plot elements (Malagant appears in Chrétien's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart) and the substantial age difference between Arthur and Guinevere.

Director Jerry Zucker made First Knight as a follow-up to his Academy Award nominated 1990 hit Ghost. Previously, he was primarily known for teaming with his brother David Zucker and with Jim Abrahams to create comedies such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun.

The film's opening text establishes that King Arthur of Camelot, victorious from his wars and reigning supreme, now wishes to marry. However, Malagant, a Knight of the Round Table, desires the throne for himself and rebels.

The movie opens with Lancelot, a vagabond skilled with the sword, fighting in small villages for money. Guinevere, the ruler of Leonesse, decides to marry Arthur partly out of admiration and partly for security against Malagant. While traveling, Lancelot chances by Guinevere's carriage on the way to Camelot, and helps spoil Malagant's ambush meant to kidnap her. He falls in love with Guinevere, who refuses his advances. Guinevere is subsequently reunited with her escort.

Later, Lancelot arrives in Camelot and successfully navigates an obstacle course called the "Gauntlet", which wins him an audience once again with Guinevere and her husband-to-be, Arthur. While staying in Camelot, Guinevere is kidnapped by Malagant's followers. In a daring rescue attempt, Lancelot feigns the role of a messenger only to escape with Guinevere and return her to Camelot. Once again, Lancelot tries to win her heart, but is unsuccessful. On the journey back to Camelot, it is revealed that Lancelot was orphaned and rendered homeless after bandits attacked his village, and has been wandering ever since.

In gratitude, Arthur offers Lancelot a higher calling in life as a Knight of the Round Table. Lancelot accepts and takes Malagant's place at the Table. Arthur and Guinevere are subsequently wedded. However, a messenger from Leonesse arrives, with dire news that Malagant has invaded.

Arthur leads his troops to Leonesse and successfully defeats Malagant's forces. Lancelot wins the respect of the other Knights of the Round Table with his prowess in battle. Upon returning to Camelot, Lancelot feels guilty about his feelings for the queen, and in private announces his departure to her. She grants him a kiss, which turns into a passionate embrace, just in time for the king to interrupt.

Lancelot and Guinevere are charged with treason. The open trial in the great square of Camelot is interrupted by a surprise invasion by Malagant, ready to burn Camelot and kill Arthur if he does not swear fealty to him. Instead Arthur commands his subjects to fight, and Malagant's men shoot him with crossbows. A battle between Malagant's men and Camelot's soldiers and citizens ensues, and Lancelot and Malagant face off. Wounded and disarmed, Lancelot seizes Arthur's fallen sword, which he uses to kill Malagant.

The soldiers and citizens of Camelot win the battle, but Arthur dies of his wounds. On his deathbed, he asks Lancelot to "take care of her for me" - a double entendre referring to both Camelot and Guinevere. The movie closes with a funeral raft carrying Arthur's body floating out to sea, which is set aflame.

The film managed to earn a domestic gross of $37,600,435 and $90,000,000 in foreign markets. Overall, earning a combined take of $127,600,435 worldwide.

Critical reaction to the film has been mostly negative. Based on 41 reviews, First Knight is rated at 46% on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer.

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An Officer and a Gentleman

An Officer and a Gentleman is a 1982 film which tells the story of a United States Navy aviation Officer Candidate who comes into conflict with the Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who trains him. It was written by Douglas Day Stewart and directed by Taylor Hackford. It starred Richard Gere, Debra Winger and Louis Gossett, Jr. and was produced by Lorimar Productions for Paramount Pictures. The film's title uses an old expression from the British navy or from the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, as being charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" (from 1860). An Officer and a Gentleman was commercially released in the USA on July 28, 1982.

The film begins with Zack Mayo (Richard Gere) receiving a graduation present from his father Byron (Robert Loggia), a brash, womanizing career U.S. Navy Boatswain's Mate formerly stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines. Mayo moved in with his father there in early adolescence when his mother committed suicide. Aloof and taciturn with repressed anger at his mother's suicide and his father's inability to properly parent him, Mayo surprises his father when he announces his aspiration to be a Navy pilot.

Once he arrives at the 13-week long Aviation Officer Candidate School, Mayo runs afoul of abrasive, no-nonsense drill instructor, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr.). Mayo — or "Mayonnaise" as he is dubbed by the irascible Foley — is an excellent officer candidate, but not a team player. Foley rides Mayo mercilessly, sensing the young man would be prime officer material if he were not so self-involved. Zack becomes friends with fellow trainee Sid Worley (David Keith), from the "good side of the tracks". Another focus is female recruit Casey Seeger (Lisa Eilbacher), whose name is pronounced like Bob Seger but whom Foley calls "See-GAR", who is unable to get over a wall with a rope in the obstacle course, and endures her own barrage of pressure from Foley.

Zack and Sid meet two local girls at a Navy-hosted dance—factory workers Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger) and Lynette Pomeroy (Lisa Blount), who bed the cocky officer candidates. Foley has warned the officer candidates about local girls (aka, "Puget Sound Debs") who look upon the "OCs" as potential husbands, in order to escape their lower middle class lifestyles. Lynette appears to be the quintessential "Deb", who is trying to nab an officer candidate so she can escape her drab, blue-collar life and become an "aviator's" wife. Sid takes up with Lynette eagerly and naively, and views his relationship with her as little more than sexual recreation. Paula is different; she makes no demands and is content to let the relationship with Zack be what it is. Yet Paula is undoubtedly attracted to Zach, but their affair is compromised by his unwillingness to give of himself.

When Mayo's side business of selling pre-shined belt buckles and shoes to his fellow OCs is discovered by Foley, the drill instructor makes life unendurable for the trainee in order to force his resignation from the program—"Drop On Request" (DOR). But Mayo refuses to give in. Finally, when Foley threatens to simply discharge Mayo, he finally breaks down and admits that "I got nowhere else to go! I got nowhere else to go... I got nothin' else." Satisfied that he has finally learned what Mayo is made of, Foley lets up on him. Mayo begins to mature and mend his ways.

During their night of passion, Mayo reveals to Paula the truth behind his mother's suicide and that he truly seeks a different path from that of his father. Paula later takes Zach home to, "meet the family", and learns that her biological father was in fact an officer candidate who refused to marry Paula's mother when she was pregnant with Paula.

Later, Mayo is running with Seeger through the obstacle course one last time. Mayo has a chance to break the record time for negotiating the course, but after Seeger fails once again to get over the wall, he chooses to sacrifice the record to encourage her over the wall so she could graduate, which becomes a defining moment in Mayo's resistence to being a "team player".

Meanwhile, Lynette appears to be dropping hints to Sid that she might be pregnant, which adds to the pressure that he is already experiencing in the AOCS program. During a high-altitude simulation in a pressure chamber, Sid has a sudden anxiety attack and is attended by Zach, who tries to calm him down, under the watchful eye of Foley. Sid later DOR's and proposes to Lynette, but she turns him down, not before confessing she wasn't pregnant as he originally thought. She wanted him to graduate in order to fulfill HER dream of marrying a Naval aviator, and all but curses him for dropping out in the 12th week. Despondent, Sid later commits suicide. Mayo unreasonably blames Foley and there is an unofficial no-holds-barred martial arts bout between them; Foley finally wins after he kicks Mayo in the groin, proving his superiority against Mayo and all his other candidates.

Mayo graduates with the rest of his class. Following the tradition of the newly-commissioned U.S. Naval officers, he seeks out and receives his first salute from Foley in exchange for a US silver dollar coin. Mayo then thanks Foley, saying he'll never forget him. Foley, clearly moved and suppressing his own tears, straightens and gives Mayo a picture-perfect salute. In the iconic final scene of the film, the new Ensign Mayo goes to the factory where Paula works, picks her up and walks out holding her in his arms. Lynette watches bitterly at first, knowing her own manipulations have left her alone in the end, but then applauds her along with the rest of the factory workers.

It was shot mostly on location at Port Townsend, Washington and Fort Worden since the U.S. Navy would not permit the motion picture to be filmed at its base in Pensacola, Florida (the traditional site of the Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School). A real motel, the Tides Inn, located in Port Townsend was used for the film. Today, there is a plaque outside the room commemorating this.

Director Taylor Hackford kept Lou Gossett Jr. in separate living quarters from the other actors during "An Officer and a Gentleman" so he could intimidate them more during his scenes as a drill instructor.

Gossett was advised by actor and former U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant R. Lee Ermey.

Richard Gere balked at shooting the ending of the movie where his character arrives at his lover's factory wearing his naval dress whites and carries her off the factory floor. Gere thought the ending wouldn't work because it was too sentimental and Director Taylor Hackford was inclined to agree with Gere until, during a rehearsal, the extras playing the workers began to cheer and cry. When Gere saw the scene later with the music underneath it (Up Where We Belong) at the right tempo, he said it sent chills up the back of his neck. Gere is now convinced Hackford made the right decision.

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Chicago (2002 film)

Chicago is a 2002 musical film adaptation of the satirical stage musical Chicago, the film explores the themes of celebrity and scandal in Jazz age Chicago. Directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, and adapted for film by screenwriter Bill Condon, Chicago won six Academy Awards in 2003, including Best Picture. The film was the first musical film to win the Best Picture Oscar since Oliver! in 1968.

Chicago centers on Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, two murderesses who find themselves on death row together in 1920s Chicago. Velma, a professional vaudevillian, and Roxie, a housewife with aspirations of being a star, fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows. The film stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, and Richard Gere, also featuring Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, and Mýa Harrison.

The film takes place in Chicago, circa 1924. Naive Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) visits a nightclub where star Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) performs ("And All That Jazz"). Hart is having an affair with Fred Casely (Dominic West) in hopes that he will get her a gig as a vaudeville star. Velma is arrested after the show for murdering her adulterous husband and sister Veronica after finding them in bed together. After Roxie realizes that Fred will not help her break into show business, she kills him in a fit of rage and tries to make her simple-minded husband Amos (John C. Reilly) take the fall ("Funny Honey"). However, the police and Amos (realizing she has been unfaithful to him) see through her ruse and Roxie is arrested and sent to the Cook County Jail.

Once Roxie arrives and is booked, she is sent to Murderess' Row to await trial, under the care of the corrupt Matron "Mama" Morton (Queen Latifah), who supplies her girls with cigarettes and other materials if she is paid well enough ("When You're Good to Mama"). Roxie meets Velma in jail as the woman in charge, and learns the stories behind the other women in Murderess' Row ("Cell Block Tango"). Roxie decides that she wants Velma's lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) to get her off ("All I Care About"), and convinces her husband to talk to him. Billy decides to take Roxie's case and get her off by making her a star.

Flynn and Roxie manipulate the press at a press conference, reinventing Roxie's identity to make Chicago fall in love with her ("We Both Reached for the Gun"). Roxie becomes the new infamous celebrity of the Cook County Jail, much to Velma's disgust and Mama's delight ("Roxie"). Velma, desperate to get back into the limelight, tries to talk Roxie into opening a vaudeville act with her once they get out of jail ("I Can't Do It Alone"). Roxie haughtily refuses and mocks Velma, since Velma mocked Roxie earlier. Roxie and Velma become locked in a rivalry to outdo each other in stardom. The tables are turned on both women, however, when a new killer named Kitty (Lucy Liu) – a wealthy woman who killed her husband and both of his mistresses – enters the scene.

Roxie manages to steal back attention by claiming to be pregnant, which is falsely confirmed by a doctor (whom she seduced), much to Amos' delight; however, nobody notices that he even exists ("Mister Cellophane"). A Hungarian inmate, who is innocent of the murder of which she was convicted, is considered guilty and hanged after losing her final appeal, which fuels Roxie's desire to be free. Roxie's trial date approaches, and she and Billy begin to plan their strategy to find her innocent of murder using her star power and sympathy vote ("Razzle Dazzle"). Her trial proceeds and becomes a media spectacle, fed off the sensationalist reports of radio personality Mary Sunshine (Christine Baranski). The trial goes Roxie's way, until Velma shows up with Roxie's diary and, in exchange for amnesty, reads incriminating entries that Roxie claims to never have written. Using some quick talking, Billy manages to get Roxie off the hook and she is proclaimed innocent. However, Roxie's publicity is short lived: as soon as the trial concludes, the public's attention turns quickly to a new murderess. Roxie leaves the courthouse after discovering that Billy wrote the false diary entries, and sent the journal to Velma to get Miss Kelly off death row. Roxie reveals to Amos she faked her pregnancy for the fame and he finally leaves her.

With nothing left, Roxie once more sets off to find a stage career, with little success ("Nowadays"). However, she is soon approached by Velma, who is willing to revive a two-person act with Roxie. Roxie refuses at first, because of the hatred that they share for each other, but relents. The two murderesses, no longer facing jail time, finally become the enormous successes they have been longing to be ("Nowadays"/"Hot Honey Rag").

The movie is based on the Kander and Ebb Broadway musical, Chicago, which was based on the Maurine Watkins play, Chicago, which was in turn based on the stories of two Jazz-era killers, Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner.

The film follows a similar plot to William Wellman's 1942 film Roxie Hart, starring Ginger Rogers as Roxie and Adolphe Menjou as Billy Flynn. However, the only singing or dancing were performances by Rogers.

The film was to have been the next movie project for legendary stage and film choreographer and director Bob Fosse, who directed and choreographed the original Broadway production. Although he died before the film was made, the influence of his distinctive jazz choreography style can be detected throughout the film. In particular, the parallels to Cabaret are numerous and distinct. He is thanked in the movie's credits.

The satiric presentation of a criminal underworld that mirrors the "respectable" world of daily life goes back to The Beggar's Opera.

The film is based on the hit musical Chicago, the original Broadway production of which (in 1975) was not well-received by audiences due to the show's cynical tone. The minimalist 1996 revival was much more successful, however, and the influences of both productions can be seen in the film version. The original production's musical numbers were staged as vaudeville acts; the movie respects this but presents them as Roxie's fantasies, while scenes that take place in "real life" have a hard-edged realism.

Chicago was produced by the American companies Miramax and The Producers Circle in association with the German company Kallis Productions. Chicago was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The courthouse was in Osgoode Hall. Other scenes were filmed at Queen's Park, former Gooderham and Worts Distillery, Casa Loma, the Elgin Theatre, Union Station, the Canada Life Building, the Danforth Music Hall, and at the Old City Hall. All vocal coaching for the film was led by Toronto-based Elaine Overholt, whom Richard Gere thanked personally during his Golden Globe acceptance speech.

Producers were at first hesitant to cast Queen Latifah as Matron "Mama" Morton, as a black woman would not have been given a position as jail warden in the 1920s.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was originally meant to keep her hair long for the role of Velma Kelly, but she had it cut short so that viewers would be certain that she performed her own routines.

Chicago received favorable reviews, rated at 87% on rottentomatoes.com common consensus and 92% critical, Roger Ebert calling it "Big, brassy fun." The movie grossed $306,403,013 worldwide and has the highest gross of any film never to reach #1 or #2 in the weekly box office charts.

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List of awards and nominations received by Richard Gere

This is the list of awards and nominations received by Richard Gere.

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Pretty Woman

Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film. The film centers on the titular character, down-on-her-luck prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) who is hired by a wealthy businessman and corporate raider, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) to be his escort for several business functions, and their developing relationship.

Pretty Woman was initially intended to be a dark drama about prostitution in Los Angeles but was reconceptualized into a romantic comedy. The film was a critical success and became one of 1990's highest grossing films, and today is one of the most financially successful entries in the romantic comedy genre, with an estimated gross of $464 million USD. Roberts received a Golden Globe Award for her role, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Screenwriter J. F. Lawton was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and a BAFTA Award. The film was followed by a string of similar romantic comedies, including Runaway Bride, which teamed up Gere and Roberts under the direction of Garry Marshall once again.

Corporate raider Edward Lewis (Gere) is having trouble driving the Lotus Esprit he has borrowed and stops to ask for directions on Hollywood Boulevard. Vivian Ward (Roberts), a hooker with a heart of gold, thinks he is trying to find "a date" and walks over to his car. A lost Edward agrees to pay Vivian for directions. Rather than giving him the directions he wants, Vivian jumps in the car and offers to show him personally. On the way to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (Beverly Hills), Vivian comments on his bad driving. Much to her surprise and delight, Edward asks her to drive the rest of the way. Despite the Lotus's famously stiff clutch, she demonstrates driving skill and takes him to his hotel without mishap. Vivian, who thinks she has charmed Edward, is at first rejected and says she will return to her corner by taxi. When Edward sees her a few minutes later waiting at the bus stop, he offers to hire her for an hour, which after some awkward conversation (on his part), becomes a night.

Edward explains his business to Vivian--he buys large companies, breaks them up and sells them in smaller parts for profit. Vivian compares it to a chop shop, where stolen cars are cut up for parts and usually sold for more than the whole car is worth. Edward acknowledges the validity of the comparison for the first time. He later reveals the origin of his business methods to Vivian: when he was a boy, his father divorced his mother to be with another woman, and emptied his wife's bank account as well as taking his own money. Consequently, his mother died in poverty, and Edward grew angry and bitter over time. He told Vivian that his father was the president of the third company he took over, broke up and sold off. His revenge was taken, but his appetite for more still lives on.

The next day, Edward's lawyer Phil calls Edward and tells him businessman James Morse and his grandson David wish to meet with him to discuss Edward's plans to buy their business. Edward decides to bring a date in order to keep the meeting social, and hires Vivian to spend the week with him, offering to pay her $3,000. He gives money for a dinner dress, but when she attempts to shop on Rodeo Drive, the saleswomen snub her and are rude to her (apparently because of her streetwalker's clothing). Vivian returns to the hotel distraught; Barnard, the manager of the hotel at first asks her to dress more appropriately, then after hearing her story, befriends her and directs her to a store where they help her buy a beautiful cocktail dress. He also gives her a lesson in using silverware and table manners, so that she will not be intimidated at the dinner with Edward.

That night, Vivian and Edward meet James and David Morse. During the meal, Vivian brings out the enlightened gentleman in the elderly Morse, but the business discussion with Edward grows colder and colder. Everything about James Morse shames Edward and exposes his lack of real quality in spite of his financial status. The Morses express their anger over Edward's impending takeover of their company and finally walk out of the restaurant.

The next morning, Vivian tells Edward "the saleswomen wouldn't help me, they were mean to me." Edward accompanies her for the first part of a shopping spree, culminating in her returning to the store who salesladies were rude to her at the end of her excursion to tell them what a huge mistake they made in not helping her, since they work on commission, and Vivian had obviously spent a very considerable amount of money. Vivian and Edward's business relationship quickly develops into friendship, and Edward and Vivian go on several dates and spend several evenings trading deep emotional insights they cannot share with anyone else. In an attempt to persuade Edward to abandon his self-discipline and understand "lower class" people she invites him to "veg out" in front of the TV. Despite her experience as a prostitute, Vivan finds herself falling in love with Edward.

An idyllic few days ensue, during which time Edward flies Vivian by private jet to San Francisco for a performance of Verdi's La Traviata. The opera (which is not named in the film) is the story of a Parisian courtesan who falls in love with a wealthy young man, paralleling the growing relationship between Edward and Vivian. The story makes a tremendous impression on Vivian, as Edward had predicted. For the occasion, Edward dresses Vivian in a skin-tight bright red haute couture gown, with a diamond necklace and earring set valued at $250,000 lent to him by a famous jeweler (FRED Paris Joaillier). That night after the opera Vivian wakes Edward with a kiss, symbolic of the change in the relationship of the pair (she had previously stated that she never kisses her clients as it is just "business").

As the time draws near for Edward to finalize his buyout of Morse Industries, he loses his bitter lust for vengeance against his father, and decides to partner with Morse instead--to build warships, rather than breaking up a shipyard and selling it for scrap. Phil is shocked and upset to hear this, and goes to Edward's hotel to confront him. He finds Vivian alone in the penthouse, and after blaming her for Edward's backing out of the takeover, attempts to rape her. He slaps her and calls her a whore. Edward arrives and pulls Phil off Vivian. When an enraged Phil calls Vivian a whore again, Edward punches Phil and orders him to leave the penthouse.

While easing each others injuries Vivian and Edward have conversation about what each other wants, and Vivian states she wants "the fairy tale." Edward says he's not capable of offering that. He asks Vivian to stay the night, not because he's paying her but because she wants to, but she declines the offer. Vivian leaves, but first says good-bye to Barnard and thanks him for his kindness.

The next day, Edward checks out of the hotel. Barnard notices his pensiveness and remarks how difficult it must be to give up something so beautiful, supposedly referring to the diamond necklace. He also notes that Darryl, Edward's usual driver, had dropped Vivian off at her apartment the day before. Edward asks Darryl to drive him to Vivian's apartment in a white limousine; he arrives as Vivian is packing to move to San Francisco. Edward has flowers, and opera music is blaring from the car. Although nervous, Edward controls his fear of heights and climbs the fire escape to Vivian's apartment. Vivian meets him on the landing, and he asks what happens in her fantasy after the knight on the white horse rescues her. "She rescues him right back", says Vivian, and they kiss warmly.

Pretty Woman was initially intended to be a dark drama about prostitution in Los Angeles in the late 1980s/early 1990s. The relationship between Vivian and Edward also harbored controversial themes, including the concept of having Vivian addicted to cocaine; part of the deal was that she had to stay off it for a week. She needed the money to go to Disneyland. Edward eventually throws her out of his car and drives off. The movie was scripted to end with Vivian and her prostitute friend on the bus to Disneyland. These traits, considered by producer Laura Ziskin to be detrimental to the otherwise sympathetic portrayal of her, were removed or incorporated into the character of Vivian's friend, Kit. These "cut scenes" have been found in public view, and some were included on the DVD released on the movie's 15th anniversary. One such scene has Vivian offering Edward, "I could just pop ya good and be on my way", indicating a lack of interest in "pillow talk". In another, she is confronted by drug dealers outside of The Blue Banana, and rescued by Edward and Darryl.

Inspirations for the film could have been drawn from the Pygmalion myth. It also bears striking resemblances to George Bernard Shaw's play of the same name, which also formed the basis for the Broadway musical My Fair Lady. It was then-Disney Studio President Jeffrey Katzenberg who insisted it should be re-written as a modern-day fairy tale, instead of being the dark story it was in the original script titled $3,000. It also has unconfirmed references to That Touch of Mink, starring Doris Day and Cary Grant.

The male lead is a businessman, Edward Lewis (played by Richard Gere). While ruthless in business — he is a "corporate raider" — he is portrayed as intelligent, sensitive, and pensive, unlike the more common stereotype of the late 1980s financial tycoon as coarse and narcissistic (and often nouveau riche). Asking for directions to his hotel, he meets a prostitute, Vivian. (In the United States, as in much of the world, prostitutes who work on the streets come disproportionately from the lower classes, and Vivian suffers from financial desperation.) Because of her deprived background, she is naïve and unaware of the manners integral to the wealthy/upper classes of the period, resulting in mild embarrassment for herself and Edward, who handles it with cheerful, unpretentious good-nature. In contrast to the class and occupational archetypes associated with her profession — she's charismatic, kind, and perceptive. During their time spent together, Vivian learns from Edward the virtue of manners and money (the film is quintessentially Eighties in this sense), while Edward learns from Vivian the virtue of treating everyone with respect and empathy. Of course, a relationship based more on genuine love than on money or convenience grows between Edward and Vivian (symbolised by Vivian's kissing of Edward on the lips, despite her promise to Kit to avoid such an expression of true affection), and throughout the movie they struggle with the differences in social class and values.

Casting of Pretty Woman was a rather lengthy process. Marshall had initially considered Christopher Reeve for the role of Lewis, and Al Pacino turned it down. Pacino went as far as doing a casting reading with Roberts before turning the leading role down. Gere agreed to the project. Reportedly, Gere started off much more active in his role, but Garry Marshall took him aside and said "No, no, no. Richard. In this movie, one of you moves and one of you does not. Guess which one you are?" Julia Roberts was far from the first choice for the role of Vivian, it went to many successful A-list actresses including Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink) who turned it down because she felt uncomfortable with the content in the script, and did not like the idea of playing a prostitute. She has stated in several interviews that she regrets turning the role down. Meg Ryan, who was a top choice of Marshall's, turned it down. Michelle Pfeiffer turned the role down as well, because she did not like the "tone" of the script. Daryl Hannah also was considered, but turned the role down because she believed it was "degrading to women". A runner-up for the role Valeria Golino turned it down, because she did not think the movie could work with her thick Italian accent. Jennifer Jason Leigh had auditioned for the part, but later decided not to do the movie after she read the script. When all the other actresses turned down the role, Julia Roberts, who was relatively unknown at the time, with the exception of the film Steel Magnolias, was able to win the role.

Pretty Woman's budget was not limited, therefore producers could acquire as many locations as possible for shooting on their estimated $14,000,000. The majority of the film was shot in Los Angeles, California, to be specific, in Beverly Hills. The escargot restaurant scene was filmed at the Rex, now called Cicada. Filming of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel lobby interior was shot at the now torn-down Ambassador Hotel. Filming commenced on July 24, 1989, but was immediately plagued by countless problems, including issues with space and time. This included Ferrari and Porsche, who had declined the product placement opportunity of the car Edward drove, because they did not want to be associated with soliciting prostitutes. Lotus Cars UK saw the placement value with such a major feature film. This gamble paid off as Esprit sales tripled in 1990-1991. The company supplied a Silver 1989.5 Esprit SE, which was later sold. The film's primary shooting was completed on October 18, 1989.

Pretty Woman is noted for its musical selections and hugely successful soundtrack. The film features the song "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, which inspired the movie's title. Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1990. The soundtrack also features "King of Wishful Thinking" by Go West, "Show Me Your Soul" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "No Explanation" by Peter Cetera, "Wild Women Do" by Natalie Cole and "Fallen" by Lauren Wood.

The opera featured in the movie is La Traviata, which also served as inspiration for the plot of the movie. The piano piece which Richard Gere's character plays in the hotel lobby was composed by and performed by Gere.

Background music includes the piano intro from Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Streets" from the album "Darkness on the Edge of Town".

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