Why Richard Gere Chose to ‘Step Back’ from Fame and Attention in ’90s

Richard Gere did not gravitate to the superstar aspect of film stardom. 

“I reacted like a wild animal,” he stated on a latest episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast of his ascent to Hollywood superstardom. 

Particularly after the back-to-back success of 1990 movies Internal Affairs with Andy García and Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts, Gere, now 75, made “a subconscious choice on my part to step back” and act in lower-profile initiatives, he recalled to host Scott Feinberg. 

“I said, ‘Enough. I don’t really like all this attention. … I don’t wanna be looked at.’ ”

Breaking out in 1980’s American Gigolo and 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman, Gere initially labored in regional theater and on Broadway earlier than reserving a movie debut in 1977’s Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

In distinction to his troublesome relationship with the highlight, the Philadelphia native remembered the enjoyment he felt upon realizing he was going to pursue performing professionally.

“I remember getting that rush of energy, of, ‘This is what I’m going to be doing in my life.’ And feeling like a rocket taking off,” he stated of reserving a summer time theater job on the Eugene O’Neill Provincetown Playhouse in Boston.

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Of starring in main studio hits and modest indies, Gere continued, “I made some choices — not that I’m ashamed of it — but there were choices not to be in the big game. They were to be in a smaller game.”

He added, “I’ve never done anything, like ‘Nah, f— it. I’ll just take the money and walk through this.’ Even things that I don’t think are very good films, the motivation to do them and the work ethic was the same.”

Gere, who introduced in November that he was transferring to Spain with spouse Alejandra Silva and their sons Alexander and James, has had a busy 2024 on the massive and small screens.

He starred within the movie Longing with Diane Kruger and Showtime TV drama The Agency (which premiered its first episode Nov. 29), and reunited with American Gigolo director Paul Schrader for Oh, Canada (in theaters now) reverse Jacob Elordi.