63 Minutes with Richard Gere
Q: You earlier mentioned Mike Figgis, who directed you in Internal Affairs. But didn't you and he finish your recent film together, Mr. Jones, over a year ago?
A: There was always a problem with the script. There was a great, very unusual, original central character [but] through many writers and many directions ... the problem was finding a way of telling a story of a bipolar manic depressive--to do it in an honest, not highly romanticized, non-bullshit way.
Q: But how do you not romanticize bipolar depression and not have people speeding for the theater exits?
A: [Laughs] The truth of it is, this movie [was] romanticized a bit. But the physical reality, the drug reality of it, is sound. The two possibilities for bipolars at this point is psychotherapy and drugs. Basta. And the primary one is drugs. You can be manic and depressed at the same time. No one can cope with a full-blown manic.
Q: Did you do research?
A: I spent a couple of weeks at the Veteran's Hospital here. Mike [Figgis] and I share a kind of madness. We have a lot of things in common. We're both musicians. We play the same instrument. In work, we have a very similar sensibility. With this, and Internal Affairs, we went pretty far out a lot of the time. We were actually talking about it last night. Every day, it was a challenge to really burrow in, to do something interesting. We had almost no contact with the outside, all that kind of stuff with phone calls from the studio, we were kind of on the periphery doing our work. Like I said, where we faltered was when the script wasn't solid. We just had this problem with the third act and had to go back and rework that. We had the top writers in Hollywood, but they just weren't connecting to this kind of weird Rubik that we had created. They brought wonderful stuff to it, it just wasn't in that style in which Mike and I had been making this movie.
In the end, the best writing came from a man named Charlie Mitchell, who did the rewrites for us on Sommersby, as well. He came in and connected the most with the material. We wrote one scene, he'd write three or four. He's brilliant. You see, I've had less time this year than I thought I would have, mostly because Mr. Jones has been so problematic. I would have wanted, actually, to go to India right now and just fuck off. But I haven't been able to.
Q: You're a Hollywood star who's deeply involved in Buddhism, but you seem real about it, as if it's not just some hip attitude you're trying on.
A: Well, I've really been with it a long time. My first teacher was 20 years ago. When I first focused on Buddhism, it was on the Japanese forms that I was most knowledgeable because my teachers were Japanese. My practice has matured and become more complex. Just putting in that amount of time, it starts to get deeper inside you.
Q: Many other celebrities, like Tina Turner, practice Buddhism. Do you think the special pressures of being a celebrity particularly attract them to Buddhism?
A: My interest predated being famous. I was, like, 24. I don't think there are any forces more peculiar for famous people to deal with than non-famous people. They're exactly the same. Everyone I meet is going through exactly the same crisis as the President of the United States, as the guy sweeping the streets. They're looking for happiness and don't know why they can't grasp it. I want to know why. Why is happiness still over there somewhere?
Q: So, you're saying it's an existential concern ...
A: That's right, not job-specific. Absolutely.
Q: What drew you to Buddhism?
A: If you're not aware of the fact that you're suffering, there's nothing you can do. You reach a point where you're feeling: I don't see any way out of this. Like, I'll never have the energy to go through this. And, I'm living like I'm supposed to be living, but I'm not happy. Then you're at the point where you are actually open to other possibilities. There are many different paths, paths that neither reject nor neglect anything. There is absolutely no guilt involved. You meet it at the level you are capable of moving in.
Q: If your spirituality could give you the power to change the world, what might you tackle first?
A: I have no power. I never will. Buddha couldn't change anything. Jesus Christ couldn't change anything. The only thing I can control is my experience of events.
Q: It strikes me that your belief system informs the projects you choose to become involved in.
A: Twenty years ago, I didn't have the possibilities that I have right now. But I think my direction of exploration has always been the same. The choices are basic: Can I learn something from this? Will this be new territory? Will I benefit from going through this? I take this very seriously, so, if work is not gonna enrich me, then it's a waste not only of time, but an enormous waste of energy: physical, psychic, spiritual. So, it's always been hard for me to make a decision, to say "yes."
Q: Didn't And the Band Played On, for instance, get off the dime once you said "yes"?
A: I didn't have more time to put into the project, so we found something that I could do in a few days. It's not a big deal for me to put in two days on an important piece that explains how we ended up in an AIDS crisis. That to me is the joy of being where I'm at. I can do it.
Q: Why do you think that, in 1993, some folks are still so hysterical, so misinformed about gay people and AIDS?
A: Why did we have an administration that, for 12 years, wouldn't say the word AIDS? It's coming from people not in touch with basic fears, fears that rumble around inside them and they don't know what to do with them. And, right now, in this culture, there are places where you can put those fears. It's still okay to hate gays, blacks, Arabs, the Japanese. The list will change every century, but there's always going to be a list, you know? Fear isn't about gays, it's not about Jews, it's not about blacks. It's a much deeper thing, but fear of gays, Jews, whatever, is the only thing that objectifies that fear for such people. I think it's metaphysical fear, frankly. Fear of death. Fear of being alive. We're taught A, B, C, D and one, two, three, four without being taught the voyages of the heart. These are, by and large, Bible people who do these [intolerant] things. Maybe I misread the Bible, but it seemed to me the whole message there was love: embracing, helping, serving, forgiving.
Q: You mentioned the previous administration's silence toward AIDS, what do you think of the Clinton-Gore "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays and lesbians in the military?
A: There's no way they can deliver on everything they promised. I think they showed good faith in trying to do it. I also think that, with most of those things, we can't go half way. You either get in or you get nothing. In the end, it's the little compromises that are more painful.
Q: Any reactions to Tom Cruise being cast as Lestat in the movie of Interview With the Vampire, a project your name was once associated with?
A: No, The Vampire Lestat was the one I was interested in. I found that whole book more interesting than the first. It's the best. I read a script on Interview With the Vampire, but the other one just strikes me as better.
Q: Say, in a decade or so, you come across an encyclopedia-type book of contemporary stars and you find an entry under your name. What do you hope it says?
A: [Laughs] I don't care. I don't even care if I'm in there, to tell you the truth. I don't need to be characterized by anything.
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Stephen Rebello interviewed Antonio Banderas for the November Movieline.
Comments
I personally think that you can only safely re-heat food once. I like your thoughts and ideas, but you did say safely!