Richard Gere, the guest on the latest episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, has been one of Hollywood’s top leading men for nearly 50 years. The 75-year-old has had “the sort of hugely successful, long, eclectic career that nearly every actor would kill for,” as another outlet recently put it. He made his name with memorable performances in high-profile films like 1978’s Days of Heaven, 1980’s American Gigolo, 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman, 1990’s Pretty Woman and 2002’s Chicago. In recent years, he’s done equally strong work in indies, the latest being 2024’s Oh, Canada, a drama about a dying documentarian who wants to get some things off his chest.
Over the course of this episode, Gere reflected on how two of his early passions, gymnastics and music, helped to make him a better actor; what his experiences were working with master filmmakers like Terrence Malick and Akira Kurosawa and opposite leading ladies like Julia Roberts and Diane Keaton; why he was so drawn to the role of Leonard Fife in Oh, Canada — which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May and will go into limited release in the U.S. on Friday — and what it was like reteaming with filmmaker Paul Schrader 44 years after they first worked together on American Gigolo; plus much more!