Richard Gere: «Salvini and migrants? It amazes me that in a Christian country like Italy there is a far-right conservative movement”

Do you watch movies lately?
«To be honest, we don’t go out much. We have three young children. One 11 year old, one 5 year old and one 4 year old. So around half past nine in the evening we all sleep, and if we watch something it’s on the big TV we have at home.”

Do you ever revisit your work?
“Never. Once the movie is over, I don’t watch it anymore. I don’t really like seeing myself on the screen, it embarrasses me.”

But is he updated on releases? Do they send you links to your friends’ new works or do you only use streaming platforms?
“Well, we get Academy screeners on the app, so we review important films that way.”

Doesn’t he even watch them with Alejandra or Homer?
«No, neither of them have seen many of my films. In fact, I think that when we met she didn’t know who I was.”

So your son has no idea what kind of star you are?
«He doesn’t think about it. And then he finds it very difficult to see me on the screen because, even if I play an extreme character, I’m still his father and he finds it difficult to identify with the story.
As it happens, he just started acting too. He’s interested all of a sudden, and he seems to like him. Now he has started writing and directing small films.”

Does he also have a talent for music like her? (Gere plays several instruments and began making a name for himself as a musician before turning to acting, ed)
“Yes! And this also came from him. One of the rules in my house is that you have to choose an instrument and learn to play it, so when he was little he started the piano. He did it for two years and then stopped, but I kept telling him that he had to choose one and he switched to drums, which didn’t last long either. A couple of years ago, however, he started playing with his band at university and now he is the singer in a punk band.”

The shoot with photographers Luigi and Iango, who live in the United States, was one of the few the actor has done in recent years, but he “had fun”, he confesses. «Our experience with them was excellent. They work in their pied-à-terre and have wonderful energy,” Alejandra tells me, again on Zoom, a week after my interview with Gere. And she adds: «You saw them taking turns taking photos, going in and going out. “Where are they going, what are they doing?”, we asked ourselves. Only at the end, after having been with them for four hours, did they tell us that they had taken turns cooking for us and setting the table. There was also their dog, who is gorgeous, and had the place like a guest, part of the family. At first I didn’t understand anything, because they didn’t tell me that we were going to a house. When I arrived, a little later than Richard, I was disoriented, and all of a sudden I saw my husband in a very wide-brimmed hat and a detective’s coat with the collar turned up. Furthermore, someone had put the theme song for Succession, all very funny. The truth is that I have never seen Richard so at ease and so relaxed in a photo shoot since I have known him.”