Richard Gere: It's a miracle I got here
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 27/07/2007
Nearly 30 years after his lead in American Gigolo, Richard Gere is still bemused by his status as a sex symbol and puzzled by his Hollywood success. He talks to John Hiscock about
his latest film, The Hoax
# Watch the trailer for The Hoax
# In pictures: The Hoax
It was the most audacious hoax ever perpetrated on the publishing industry. In 1971, a little-known author named Clifford Irving claimed to have obtained the sought-after memoirs of
probably the most famous man in the world: the ultra-reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.
Richard Gere talks to John Hiscock about his latest film, The Hoax
Richard Gere: 'I care very much about my career; but the best part of my life is my family'
Claiming to have had a series of exclusive interviews with the paranoid tycoon, Irving landed himself a book deal worth half a million pounds and almost succeeded in fooling the
world with what he claimed was Hughes's authorised autobiography.
In fact, it was a mixture of previously published material, inspired guesswork and portions of an unpublished manuscript from Noah Dietrich, one of Hughes's close aides, which Irving
copied without permission.
It was only when Hughes himself broke a decade-long silence to give a telephone press conference declaring the book a giant fraud that Irving was exposed as a liar. He was jailed
for two and a half years, his wife Edith for two and his helper, Dick Susskind, for six months.
Irving's mistress, Baroness Nina van Pallandt, was one of the witnesses who testified at his trial and went on to become a successful actress and singer.
Determined to wring some money from his deception, Irving wrote The Hoax, which forms the basis for a new film starring Richard Gere as the roguish fraudster, the British actor
Alfred Molina as Susskind, Marcia Gay Harden as Edith and Julie Delpy as Nina van Pallandt.
Directed by Lasse Hallström, the film takes a few liberties with the truth, relocating Irving's home from Ibiza to America's east coast.
"We're not making a documentary about Clifford here, we're telling a larger, dramatic story," says Gere. "The early 1970s, when this happened, was a time of radical change all over
the planet. France and the US were in upheaval and there was the Vietnam War. At the time, Hughes touched many different power structures and controlled them.
"The small story is of this guy and his friend and his wife who do the scam and they're caught. The larger story is how that resonates through not just the small lies but the larger lies
of that period."
Irving himself has been critical of the script, describing it in a newspaper interview as "goofy", but he is keeping a low profile in the run-up to the film's release.
"Everything in the script came either from Clifford personally or from his book, so he was intimately involved in this as it evolved," Gere says. "It's absurd for him to say he didn't have
anything to do with it."
The actor makes no apologies for declining to meet Irving before making the movie, preferring to rely on the script and his own research. "There were books about him and the
episode, and we had a lot of film and footage on Clifford. I felt very clear about what I wanted to do.
"He's clearly a manipulative man and I really didn't want to be over-influenced by his point of view or in any sense wanting to come off as a good guy in the movie," he says. "I wanted
to be as tough as we needed to be. There was some talk that we would do some interviews together now the movie is coming out but for some reason he hasn't been around.
Apparently, he's a guy who can't be trusted."
Although Gere is enthusiastically beating the drum for The Hoax now, when he was first offered the part four years ago he turned it down flat.
"It didn't grab me and I didn't think I was right for the part," he says. "I'm not sure why I had that reaction because two years later, when Lasse called me and said he wanted me to do
the film, I read it again and immediately felt I had to make the movie.
Richard Gere talks to John Hiscock about his latest film, The Hoax
Gere on Irving: 'He's clearly a manipulative man and I really didn't want to be over-influenced by his point of view or in any sense wanting to come off as a good guy in the movie'
"I thought the script really captured the schizophrenia of that time in America and the coming together of all the elements of that period - the New York publishing industry and
Watergate and Nixon and Vietnam and Pop Art. It resonated more now than it did when it was originally written, partly because of the war we're having."
Gere believes Irving came close to succeeding with his incredible hoax, banking on Hughes's seclusion and notoriously tenuous hold on reality. "If Hughes himself hadn't spoken up, it
probably would have happened," Gere says. "Everyone wanted it to be true because it was such a great story and they could see dollar signs."
Now 57, Gere has been a star for more than 30 years. He began his show-business career in musical theatre, appearing in repertory in America before eventually starring on
Broadway in 1973 and later in London as Danny Zuko in Grease.
His first major film roles were as Diane Keaton's rough-trade companion in Looking for Mr Goodbar (1977) and a migrant farm worker in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (1978).
He has never fully understood how he became a sex symbol after American Gigolo in 1980 but it stood him in good stead, leading to roles as the aspiring Navy pilot in An Officer and a
Gentleman (1982), a rogue cop in Internal Affairs (1990) and Pretty Woman (1990), in which he showed a previously untapped comedic sensibility.
He reverted to his musical roots in 2002 to tap dance and sing his way through Chicago as the flamboyantly cynical lawyer Billy Flynn, for which he received a Golden Globe, a Critics
Choice and a Screen Actors Guild award.
Although by then in his mid-fifties, he was teamed opposite Jennifer Lopez in the romantic comedy Shall We Dance in 2004, and continues to work regularly, most recently in the
yet-to-be released thriller The Flock and as one of multiple actors portraying Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.
A long-standing devotee of Buddism, Gere balances the ego-repressing demands of his religion with the narcissistic requirements of a Hollywood career, although his success is a
continual puzzlement to him.
"It's a miracle I've ended up where I am because I'm the world's worst auditioner," he says. "Based on an audition, I don't think I could ever get a job. I was just too nervous and I hated
people judging me."
Married briefly to the model Cindy Crawford in the 1990s, Gere has been married for five years to Carey Lowell, the actress he began dating in 1995. They have a seven-year-old son
called Homer.
He's quick to scoff at the suggestion that his close friendship with the Dalai Lama and his continuing quest for enlightenment set him apart from other fathers.
"I'm the same as anybody else - I'm a dad my kids don't pay attention to," he laughs. "I have a teenage daughter who couldn't care less about me and I have a seven-year-old who
sees me as the guy who plays baseball with him.
"I care very much about my career; but without a doubt the best part of my life is my family."
# 'The Hoax' is out on Friday August 3
Recent News
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Interview: Richard Gere's role as a fraudster is a far cry from his sincerity in real life
By Lesley o'toole
Published: 20 July 2007
Richard Gere does not lie awake at night pondering his tally of Academy Award nominations (none),
or even why he has received such a startling lack of critical kudos. He lies awake worrying about
American politics, any of his myriad humanitarian projects and, probably mostly, routine family stuff.
Even America's most famous Buddhist is surely not so enlightened that he has eliminated worry
from his life altogether, though he conveys that impression when he arrives an hour or so late to our
meeting without explanation or apology. And he has a sort of calming effect, all twinkly-eyed and well-
tailored as he is. Can this really be a man two years away from a free bus pass?
In two years Gere will turn 60, with a full slate of eclectic projects in his immediate wake. Next year he
will reunite with Diane Lane, his Unfaithful co-star who cheated on Gere as her husband in that film
but will pay him some attention in their next. Nights in Rodanthe will see Gere and Lane playing out
the same sort of scenes that made him famous when American Gigolo was released in 1980. Two
years later, An Officer and a Gentleman was to Gere's career what Top Gun was to Tom Cruise's,
though the rest of the Eighties weren't kind to him. The Nineties were better, but the new millennium
arrived in appalling cinematic fashion for Gere, playing lover to a dying Winona Ryder who looked
more like his daughter in Autumn in New York.
Things have improved since with The Hoax, another step in a more critically receptive direction. The
New York Times termed Gere "brilliant" and the performance "one of his best since middle age". He
deserves real credit for making us care about an absolute scoundrel whose personal and
professional behaviour is roundly egregious. Disarmingly appealing, and making almost ridiculously
implausible claims, his Clifford Irving is an author, his fame in decline, who engineers the sort of
scam unthinkable in today's technological times: he announces to a top publisher that famed mogul
recluse Howard Hughes has appointed him official biographer. In so doing, Irving bilks the publisher
of a million dollars, shreds Life magazine's credibility and lands a two-year jail sentence for fraud.
"For an actor, who is lying most of the time anyway, something like this is great. Clifford Irving had
his own issues, issues we all have, but then those resonated into the much larger universe – Nixon,
the Supreme Court, Watergate. Bigger stuff. I thought that was really interesting."
Gere likes to have his say on bigger stuff. He was famously banned from the Oscars after speaking
out on stage against the Chinese government in 1993, though his apparently culturally inappropriate
behaviour with Shilpa Shetty in India recently merited significantly more global coverage than the
comments that reportedly got him banned from China for a period of time. Predictably little of the
Shetty hoop-la coverage mentioned that the pair were attending an HIV-awareness rally organised by
one of Gere's Indian charities.
I expect Gere to be preachy, almost publicising his own causes and passions. But he is not. He does,
however, mention George W Bush plenty of times, in a measured but demonstrably vitriolic tone.
"We have a President now who is clearly a liar. The Vice-President lies constantly. We have a
Secretary of State who lies, a Secretary of Defense who lies and an Attorney General who lies. This is
insane. The secret government that they have put together is worse than most anything in the former
Soviet Union. It's unthinkable."
He can make such points in the name of movie promotion because of obvious parallels between the
world of The Hoax – which implicates the former President Richard Nixon in a previously unreported
scandal with the Vietnam War as backdrop – and that of his country's current administration. " There
are all sorts of parallels between that time and now. Look at Vietnam and the Iraq War. A lie got us
into Vietnam, and another got us into Iraq."
Seeing Gere with curly brown hair, not to mention an overly prominent forehead for which he shaved
his hairline, is initially jarring. " Clifford has a high forehead, which gave him a kind of professorial
look. He's an Upper East Side New York Jew so he kind of had to have that represented. But there
really wasn't too much pressure for me to look like him exactly because nobody really knows what
he looks like."
Gere did, of course. He had done hours of research, poring over television footage, print coverage of
Irving's case and chatting up friends of Irving's. Irving agreed to a meeting with Gere, then cancelled,
causing the actor no particular chagrin. "He's obviously a highly manipulative person and I had a
good sense of what I wanted to do with the role. I don't think this movie is pretending to be a
documentary on him."
None the less, he had a prosthetic nose made to approximate better the botched nose-job Irving
could never quite disguise. "That was a kind of Richard III thing for me. The doctors made a mess of
a job on Irving's nose so there was this exterior flaw which kind of indicated his interior flaws. For me
it's a slightly aggressive thing. That something on your face is always there."
The Shetty clinch aside, there has been nothing of late in Gere's life that has merited any tabloid
frenzy. He lives in upstate New York with Carey Lowell, his actress wife of five years, and their seven-
year-old son, Homer. He is by all accounts a happy family man, albeit one who travels extensively in
support of his assorted causes. His latest Indian project is one providing micro-insurance.
"We have come up with a programme that covers people for most medical problems for 120 rupees a
year [about Ј1.50]. This immediately removes people from a cycle of debts. So many people in these
countries have debt because they needed to pay medical bills for a family member. It's incredible
how they can get into debt for generations just because someone got sick."
Gere's American projects include Healing the Divide, an organisation active in social and political
milieus, one of which involves work to improve inner-city areas producing a disproportionately high
number of criminals. Internationally he is also an active campaigner for Middle-Eastern peace.
"There's nothing on this planet that doesn't resonate through all of us immediately. I do lots of Aids
work and if a mutation of a virus appears in a brothel in Bangkok, the next day it's in New York. And if
you can solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, well, 95 per cent of the planet's problems go away."
Of the planet's more fashionable causes, he says he is heartened by the groundswell of enthusiasm
for the environment. "There really is some kind of awakening that seems to be happening. Look at
how many magazines and newspapers are talking about the planet's environmental issues. They are
practically showing us how to be more green in ways that are truly accessible to all of us. At all levels
people need to keep communicating and talking. We all have the same problems but we also have
the same solutions and we can do it together."
Gere likes to explain that he does not delineate between work and life. " I don't do my thing, punch
out and go and do my life. It's all life, all of it. There's not a moment that needs to be wasted in the
whole process. Making a movie is a job but it's no different from my kid being given a project in
class: 'Let's make a village out of paper. OK, where will the river be?' It's all the same. It's all fun. And
the better people you have, who have a sense of joy and play about them, the more fun it is."
Presumably he would include this film's delicious partner in crime, Alfred Molina, in such a category?
"Oh, Alfred is the top. There is no one better than him. No one nicer than him. This is a love story
between two men, basically, and he's the best lover I've ever had."
By Lesley o'toole
Published: 20 July 2007
Richard Gere does not lie awake at night pondering his tally of Academy Award nominations (none),
or even why he has received such a startling lack of critical kudos. He lies awake worrying about
American politics, any of his myriad humanitarian projects and, probably mostly, routine family stuff.
Even America's most famous Buddhist is surely not so enlightened that he has eliminated worry
from his life altogether, though he conveys that impression when he arrives an hour or so late to our
meeting without explanation or apology. And he has a sort of calming effect, all twinkly-eyed and well-
tailored as he is. Can this really be a man two years away from a free bus pass?
In two years Gere will turn 60, with a full slate of eclectic projects in his immediate wake. Next year he
will reunite with Diane Lane, his Unfaithful co-star who cheated on Gere as her husband in that film
but will pay him some attention in their next. Nights in Rodanthe will see Gere and Lane playing out
the same sort of scenes that made him famous when American Gigolo was released in 1980. Two
years later, An Officer and a Gentleman was to Gere's career what Top Gun was to Tom Cruise's,
though the rest of the Eighties weren't kind to him. The Nineties were better, but the new millennium
arrived in appalling cinematic fashion for Gere, playing lover to a dying Winona Ryder who looked
more like his daughter in Autumn in New York.
Things have improved since with The Hoax, another step in a more critically receptive direction. The
New York Times termed Gere "brilliant" and the performance "one of his best since middle age". He
deserves real credit for making us care about an absolute scoundrel whose personal and
professional behaviour is roundly egregious. Disarmingly appealing, and making almost ridiculously
implausible claims, his Clifford Irving is an author, his fame in decline, who engineers the sort of
scam unthinkable in today's technological times: he announces to a top publisher that famed mogul
recluse Howard Hughes has appointed him official biographer. In so doing, Irving bilks the publisher
of a million dollars, shreds Life magazine's credibility and lands a two-year jail sentence for fraud.
"For an actor, who is lying most of the time anyway, something like this is great. Clifford Irving had
his own issues, issues we all have, but then those resonated into the much larger universe – Nixon,
the Supreme Court, Watergate. Bigger stuff. I thought that was really interesting."
Gere likes to have his say on bigger stuff. He was famously banned from the Oscars after speaking
out on stage against the Chinese government in 1993, though his apparently culturally inappropriate
behaviour with Shilpa Shetty in India recently merited significantly more global coverage than the
comments that reportedly got him banned from China for a period of time. Predictably little of the
Shetty hoop-la coverage mentioned that the pair were attending an HIV-awareness rally organised by
one of Gere's Indian charities.
I expect Gere to be preachy, almost publicising his own causes and passions. But he is not. He does,
however, mention George W Bush plenty of times, in a measured but demonstrably vitriolic tone.
"We have a President now who is clearly a liar. The Vice-President lies constantly. We have a
Secretary of State who lies, a Secretary of Defense who lies and an Attorney General who lies. This is
insane. The secret government that they have put together is worse than most anything in the former
Soviet Union. It's unthinkable."
He can make such points in the name of movie promotion because of obvious parallels between the
world of The Hoax – which implicates the former President Richard Nixon in a previously unreported
scandal with the Vietnam War as backdrop – and that of his country's current administration. " There
are all sorts of parallels between that time and now. Look at Vietnam and the Iraq War. A lie got us
into Vietnam, and another got us into Iraq."
Seeing Gere with curly brown hair, not to mention an overly prominent forehead for which he shaved
his hairline, is initially jarring. " Clifford has a high forehead, which gave him a kind of professorial
look. He's an Upper East Side New York Jew so he kind of had to have that represented. But there
really wasn't too much pressure for me to look like him exactly because nobody really knows what
he looks like."
Gere did, of course. He had done hours of research, poring over television footage, print coverage of
Irving's case and chatting up friends of Irving's. Irving agreed to a meeting with Gere, then cancelled,
causing the actor no particular chagrin. "He's obviously a highly manipulative person and I had a
good sense of what I wanted to do with the role. I don't think this movie is pretending to be a
documentary on him."
None the less, he had a prosthetic nose made to approximate better the botched nose-job Irving
could never quite disguise. "That was a kind of Richard III thing for me. The doctors made a mess of
a job on Irving's nose so there was this exterior flaw which kind of indicated his interior flaws. For me
it's a slightly aggressive thing. That something on your face is always there."
The Shetty clinch aside, there has been nothing of late in Gere's life that has merited any tabloid
frenzy. He lives in upstate New York with Carey Lowell, his actress wife of five years, and their seven-
year-old son, Homer. He is by all accounts a happy family man, albeit one who travels extensively in
support of his assorted causes. His latest Indian project is one providing micro-insurance.
"We have come up with a programme that covers people for most medical problems for 120 rupees a
year [about Ј1.50]. This immediately removes people from a cycle of debts. So many people in these
countries have debt because they needed to pay medical bills for a family member. It's incredible
how they can get into debt for generations just because someone got sick."
Gere's American projects include Healing the Divide, an organisation active in social and political
milieus, one of which involves work to improve inner-city areas producing a disproportionately high
number of criminals. Internationally he is also an active campaigner for Middle-Eastern peace.
"There's nothing on this planet that doesn't resonate through all of us immediately. I do lots of Aids
work and if a mutation of a virus appears in a brothel in Bangkok, the next day it's in New York. And if
you can solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, well, 95 per cent of the planet's problems go away."
Of the planet's more fashionable causes, he says he is heartened by the groundswell of enthusiasm
for the environment. "There really is some kind of awakening that seems to be happening. Look at
how many magazines and newspapers are talking about the planet's environmental issues. They are
practically showing us how to be more green in ways that are truly accessible to all of us. At all levels
people need to keep communicating and talking. We all have the same problems but we also have
the same solutions and we can do it together."
Gere likes to explain that he does not delineate between work and life. " I don't do my thing, punch
out and go and do my life. It's all life, all of it. There's not a moment that needs to be wasted in the
whole process. Making a movie is a job but it's no different from my kid being given a project in
class: 'Let's make a village out of paper. OK, where will the river be?' It's all the same. It's all fun. And
the better people you have, who have a sense of joy and play about them, the more fun it is."
Presumably he would include this film's delicious partner in crime, Alfred Molina, in such a category?
"Oh, Alfred is the top. There is no one better than him. No one nicer than him. This is a love story
between two men, basically, and he's the best lover I've ever had."
STAR ALBUM
9/21/07
PICTURE PERFECT
Ace lensmen from the past and present pick their favourite photos
JAYESH SETH
Richard Gere
TWINKLING STAR
I was contacted by Shekhar Kapur for a photo-shoot for a leading Mumbai daily. Shekhar refused to divulge the name of the subject.
Only after the private jet from Tibet arriveed at the Kalina, did I discover that the shoot was with Hollywood superstar Richard Gere.
Hewas in a rush. We chased him, in true filmi fashion, to Hotel Leela. He stumped me with his greeting, “Hi, I’m Richard. It will be a
pleasure working with you.” As we took the lift up with him to his suite, he asked me if we should finish with dinner first and then start with
the shoot. “Whatever you are comfortable with,” he insisted. His genuine courtesy and consideration for a complete stranger charmed
me. It’s a star quality which most of our stars lack.
The shoot in his room didn’t take more than 15-20 minutes. I remember Shekhar prodding him to check his appearance. Richard’s retort
was,” Jayesh is taking my pictures. He's my mirror. If there’s something he’s not happy about, he’ll let me know.”
People rave about Richard's smile...His salt-and-pepper locks...For me it’s that lively twinkle in his eyes that comes across even though
the glasses he wears. When he’s in the frame, he’s alive...Spirited...As if he’s talking to you.
| RICHARD GERE's holiday season celebrations began early on Friday ( Nov 16, 07) after learning he had become an uncle to his youngest sister's child. The movie star took a moment during his appearance on U.S. morning chat show Live With Regis + Kelly to publicly welcome his four-hour-old niece into the world. He said, "I don't know if you're watching Laura, but I love you and welcome Isabel." |
GERE IS LATEST CELEBRITY RESTAURATEUR RICHARD GERE is planning to become the latest celebrity restaurateur with his sights set on turning one of Bedford, New York's most famous buildings into a brasserie/cafe. The Pretty Woman star hopes to turn the only building in the upstate town left standing during the War of Independence in the late 1700s into the Bedford Post inn. He says, "It's actually two restaurants; it's kind of a brasserie, cafe and real restaurant in eight rooms. "It was the only building in Bedford that was not burned by the British during the Revolution War." And his ambitious business plans include turning the diner into a stop-off for weary horseriders. He adds, "The reason I ended up doing this is, you could ride a horse to this place... Eventually, we're gonna have a little stable there where you can actually leave your horse, get something to eat and ride home." |
| Is Richard Gere the New George Clooney? Where: Bedford, NY, United States 7/10/2006 at 5:18 PM Hotel Hype, Richard Gere Richard Gere's very own hotel project, a 14-acre country hotel in Bedford, New York, has been turned down by the town who said the plans did not include any handicap access. Gere and his partner Russell Hernandez spent $2.7 million on the property "with hopes of converting the 18th century barn into an upmarket complex, complete with country inn and restaurant." For now the duo are going back to the drawing board to figure out how to keep the barn's historic structure while modernizing the entrances for handicap access. We don't like to bring up Las Ramblas but it's worth a mention here. However, at least Gere had some plans to put forth before a town board. Clooney and friends didn't even get that far. |
| Richard Gere and Russell Hernandez... Both had high hopes of going straight to working on the new estate and transforming it into the latest and best hot spot for celebrities. Unfortunately, all plans have met with the city council's disapproval, as the building plans failed to include handicap access. Another major set-back was also the fact that the land bought by Gere and Hernandez also includes 18th century buildings enlisted as part of the national patrimony. Russell told the press that this is only an insignificant obstacle that will be soon overcome. And then, quote, 'as soon as we have permission, we will start to figure out who is going to run it'. The quiet and picturesque town of Bedford is already a pretty sought for destination among stars. Martha Stewart, America's biggest domestic entrepreneur, is one of the celebrities who have resided there on a more permanent basis. |
| BEDFORD, NEW YORK--Thanks to the City of Bedford, film actor Richard Gere will avoid the same fate as fellow actor Clint Eastwood when it comes to accessibility at his planned resort. According to a brief item in the New York Daily News, Gere, 56, and business partner Russell Hernandez have purchased a 14-acre property, which includes an 18th century house and barn, with the intention of turning it into a luxury hotel and restaurant. But the town has refused to issue a building permit -- thereby putting a stop to any renovation of the Revolutionary War-era buildings -- until Gere and Hernandez provide plans showing wheelchair access and an elevator. |
| Franka Bruns/AP PhotoRichard Gere ... The Pound Ridge resident purchased Hoppfield’s Inn, in Bedford, and has plans to turn it into a 125-seat restaurant, possibly to be named Squirrelly Acres. 954 Old Post Rd. Bedford, NY |
| The Chef at Richard Gere’s Bedford Post Inn December 5, 2007 In the ad he placed on craiglist looking for staff, he says “Our American Farmhouse Cuisine will be rooted in; Slow Food Cooking, delicious seasonality, and driven by small family farms with the highest of quality products available.” He also says the restaurant could be open as soon as mid-December, but when I talked to him on the phone, I heard hammers in the background — so we’ll see. The ad also describes the inn as an “8 suite Luxury Inn, a 110 seat Fine Dining Restaurant, serving dinner only, and a 50 seat Bakery Cafe Restaurant, serving breakfast,lunch and a pri – fixe dinner three nights per week.” Here’s a bio I found of Brian from his time in Scottsdale. He’s promised to check with the owners of the restaurant and get back to me with some information so we can preview the place properly. Stay tuned! |
| December 5th, 2007 It’s with a heavy heart that I report to you that the rumors that the new Richard Gere restaurant will not be called “Squirrely Acres” after all. Instead, according to my colleagues Liz Johnson’s Small Bites blog, the name will apparently be Bedford Post Inn. (I probably have myself to party to blame for this, what with all the joking here on Suburbarazzi and in the December issue of InTown.) The news came via a Gere appearance on “Regis & Kathie Lee,” in which the Pound Ridge resident said that the building, home to the former Hoppfield’s Inn at 954 Old Post Road, was the only one in the town not torched by the Brits during the revolutionary war. Liz also reports, "It will be two restaurants, one a brasserie and one more formal. It’s going to have eight rooms for people who want to stay the night and stables for those who want to ride to dinner and then ride home". Alright, I can live with that. Even if we can’t make rodent jokes anymore, the stables thing more than makes up for it. Horsie doggy bags, anyone? How’s about a bareback drive-through? Equine entrees … Oh, the possibilities! UPDATE: This just in. Liz reports that Brian Lewis, formerly of Vu in Scottdale, Ariz., will be the chef at Bedford Post. “The Chef at Richard Gere’s Bedford Post Inn” [Small Bites] |
Date: 2007-12-01, 3:39PM EST
Be a part of Chef Brian Lewis' opening team at The Bedford Post Inn, one of the Country's most talked about luxury Inn's and destination Farm
to Table dining venues. Located in Bedford, New York, our project will be opening in mid December, consisting of; an 8 suite Luxury Inn, a 110
seat Fine Dining Restaurant, serving dinner only, and a 50 seat Bakery Cafe Restaurant, serving breakfast,lunch and a pri - fixe dinner three
nights per week.
We are currently offering opportunities for the following positions: restaurant manager, servers, barista, servers assistant, host, cooks, assistant
pastry chef, prep cook and dishwashers.
Our American Farmhouse Cuisine will be rooted in; Slow Food Cooking, delicious seasonality, and driven by small family farms with the highest
of quality products available. The emphasis of our service philosophy and work ethic will embody both teamwork and gracious hospitality. Staff
training, food and wine education and exceptional service standards will be the highest priority for our team.
Please contact Chef Brian Lewis to schedule a tour of the property and an interview to become a key player on this team.
(480)254 - 3258
Location: Westchester
Compensation: Excellent Wages and Health Benefits Available
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Phone calls about this job are ok.
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
PostingID: 495544124
Bedford Post Inn Chef Brian Lewis Biography 12/15/07
| Out there . . . Pound Ridge, N.Y., resident Richard Gere's latest project, development of the former Hoppfield's restaurant and Nino's on the Old Post Road in Bedford, is under way. The property will include a brasserie and formal restaurant, lodging, a yoga studio, a tea room and riding trails. Gere originally named the spot Squirrelly Acres, but apparently has changed the name to the Bedford Post Inn. Rumor has it that Gere already has chosen a chef - Brian Lewis, formerly of Vu at the Hyatt in Scottsdale, Ariz |
| December 15, 2007 |
| Bedford Post Inn. These photos are satellite views and show the ongoing construction process in the month of December. Posted here December 16, 2007 |
Prior to construction....
Richard Gere to shoot film in Bristol
---------------------------------------------------------
Richard Gere. That's right — Richard Gere, 58, the Hollywood hearthrob, is coming to Bristol. The actor, who in 2003 won a Golden Globe award
for best performance by an actor in the musical Chicago, will be adding Hachiko: A Dog's Story, to his filmography. Parts of the feel-good family
feature will be filmed in Bristol early next year, and crews expect to be here about two and a half weeks.
Hachiko is centered around a 1920 Japanese legend of an Akita dog that walked his owner, a college professor, to and from the Shibuya Train
Station in Japan and continued that trek as a sign of love and loyalty after his owner's death. There is a bronze statue of the revered dog outside
the station in Japan, its body is preserved in a Tokyo museum, and there have been many books written on the story. A Japanese version of the
film was released in 1987.
In the independently made, Americanized version of the film, Gere will play the dog's owner. Hachiko location manager Colin Walsh said the
actor has been on board with the project since August.
--
Read this article on the web HERE.
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Richard Gere. That's right — Richard Gere, 58, the Hollywood hearthrob, is coming to Bristol. The actor, who in 2003 won a Golden Globe award
for best performance by an actor in the musical Chicago, will be adding Hachiko: A Dog's Story, to his filmography. Parts of the feel-good family
feature will be filmed in Bristol early next year, and crews expect to be here about two and a half weeks.
Hachiko is centered around a 1920 Japanese legend of an Akita dog that walked his owner, a college professor, to and from the Shibuya Train
Station in Japan and continued that trek as a sign of love and loyalty after his owner's death. There is a bronze statue of the revered dog outside
the station in Japan, its body is preserved in a Tokyo museum, and there have been many books written on the story. A Japanese version of the
film was released in 1987.
In the independently made, Americanized version of the film, Gere will play the dog's owner. Hachiko location manager Colin Walsh said the
actor has been on board with the project since August.
--
Read this article on the web HERE.
| January 7, 2008 -- HARBOUR Island in the Bahamas was the post-holiday destination of Drew Barrymore, her boyfriend, "I'm a Mac" guy Justin Long, Cameron Diaz, Richard Gere, Thom Filicia and Uma Thurman and her beau, Swiss millionaire Arpad Busson. "Cameron went on an island buying spree, buying jewelry at Trish Becker and at Blue Rooster. She also plays frisbee every day and likes to tackle the boys she's with," said our spy. "Uma doesn't go anywhere without a knapsack and a Rasta hat. The island's only three miles long, so everyone is running into everyone." |
| "Ten hours in a bathtub dries out the skin. At one point when I was lathering up Richard's chest, he goes, 'My skin is cracking open. You've got to stop putting soap on me'." JULIA ROBERTS on her famous bath scene with RICHARD GERE in 1990 film PRETTY WOMAN. 01/07/2008 12:27 |
| January 9, 2008 in New York City - Seen and Heard....Richard Gere attended the fund raising event for the Democratic Nominees in the ballroom at the Grand Hyatt in Midtown Manhattan, full story. |
| Gere filming starts in just over a week It won't be long now before movie crews — and one very famous actor — invade Bristol. Starting Friday, Jan. 18, crews filming "Hachiko: A Dog's Story," will arrive in Bristol, and Hollywood hearthrob Richard Gere will be here as well. The actor will be in town for several days during the last week of January and again in February, as crews shoot several areas of Bristol for the independent movie. Filming will stop for about a month after the Reynolds shoot, but crews are expected back in Bristol all day Monday, Feb. 25, to shoot scenes in the downtown area. According to Ms. Arruda's e-mail, Hope Street between Constitution and Bradford streets will be closed to traffic for the duration of that shoot. Bristol Police Chief Russell S. Serpa has been working with the state Department of Transportation to handle the traffic impact. Ms. Arruda wrote that Mr. Gere has already apparently been in Bristol several times. For those looking to catch a glimpse, here's a description to be on the lookout for, she wrote: "The 'Gere' costume is usually a New York Yankees baseball cap and a jean jacket." "Hachiko" is centered around a 1920 Japanese legend of an Akita dog that walked his owner, a college professor, to and from the Shibuya Train Station in Japan and continued that trek as a sign of love and loyalty after his owner's death. There is a bronze statue of the revered dog outside the station in Japan, its body is preserved in a Tokyo museum, and there have been many books written on the story. A Japanese version of the film was released in 1987. In the independently-made, Americanized version of the film, Gere will play the dog's owner. BY TED HAYES thayes@eastbaynewspapers.com |
| January 9, 2008 |
| 1/12/08 Hunting Party Shoots DVD The Richard Gere thriller comes to DVD this month, due out January 22, 2008 |
| 1/13/08 Scene . . . Pound Ridge, N.Y., resident and actor Richard Gere was seen Thursday with dog in tow at the site of his new restaurant/lodge, the Bedford Post Inn (formerly Hoppfield's) on Route 123 in Bedford, N.Y., where work is under way. |
| January 10, 2008 January 10, 2008 -- Barack Obama landed on Hillary Rodham Clinton's turf last night for a megabucks fund-raiser where he fielded a supporter's joke mocking his rival's choked-up moment in New Hampshire. The supporter's jab at Clinton came at a $700,000 campaign fete at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Midtown, where actor Richard Gere, director Spike Lee and model Iman were all on hand. Full Story |
Hachiko Film News, Photos and Stories HERE
| January 20, 2008 ITALIAN LAKES IT started with George Clooney on Lake Como and now there’s a flood of A-listers moving into the Italian lakes. Brad Pitt, Michael Schumacher and Richard Gere have all been spotted house-hunting and Madonna’s a regular guest at Donatella Versace’s lakeside hideaway. But you don’t need to be on their budget – you can hire a private villa with pool at well below £300pp. GET ME THERE: Private villa and apartment agency Interhome suggest the four-star La Renardiere villa a mile from Lake Como. It has views of the lake and sleeps eight with a movie star-style pool, garden and tennis court. Prices start at £212pp per week. Go to www.interhome.co.uk, property reference IT2417.2.1 |
| Friday, July 27, 2007 THE FLOCK Top Gere but runs out of gas By KAORI SHOJI Richard Gere stars as a creased, rumpled, work-obsessed monitor of sexual offenders in "The Flock" (released in Japan as "Kieta Tenshi)," a vehicle in which he seems to derive absolute pleasure from shattering his own, Desirable Male No. 1 stereotype. The Flock Rating: (2 out of 5) Star Star Star Star Star The Flock Richard Gere and Claire Danes in "The Flock" Director: Andrew Lau Running time: 105 minutes Language: English Opens Aug. 4, 2007 [See Japan Times movie listing] Gere has become a formidable actor, one who can play disheveled unattractiveness without the slightest hint of irony or self-deprecation, who dons the role as naturally and casually as slipping into a pair of worn- out corduroys. Who would have thought that Richard Gere of all people, could make himself reek with Mid- Life Crisis? But reek he does, with what seems like sheer glee. Ungroomed, unsexy and obnoxious to the marrow, he does things like turn up unexpectedly at a young woman's home, accept her hospitable offer of a drink and then pass out on the sofa, snoring. He struts, he huffs, he has a serious anger problem. No one likes him and he likes no one. He's scared stiff of what he'll do after retirement because then he will be left with nothing. Having spent decades in the company of convicted sex criminals, it seems much of their mind-set and behavior has rubbed off; he can't look at a female without wondering whether or not she's been molested but his probing gaze has just as much creep factor as the offenders he helped to put behind bars. Directed by Andrew Lau (the Hong Kong filmmaker of "Infernal Affairs" fame who has since moved out to Hollywood), "The Flock" is a weird, murkily-lit movie with "The Silence of the Lambs" undertones. Gere plays Errol Babbage, a sort of good-guy Dr. Lecter who wants to groom his understudy Allison (Claire Danes) into becoming a first-rate, sex-offender monitor after he's "put out to pasture." Why the smart, attractive Allison ever decided to make this particular career move is a mystery; the job calls for monitoring 1,000 ex-offenders over the course of one month and this involves house-calls followed by asking such clueless questions as: "Have you had any sexual thoughts lately?" Some live in remote trailer parks, others like rich kid Edmund Grooms (Russell Sams) has lured an underage cokehead girlfriend (played by the extremely atmospheric rock-chick Avril Lavigne) into his posh apartment. A monitor can't make arrests; the most they can do is blow the whistle or try and prevent ex-offenders from repeating their crimes. Errol's co-workers stay safely in the office and stare at computer screens; Errol pounds the pavement, or drives all day, harassing and embarrassing his "flock" into toeing the line. His logic: "I know some people are capable of change. But MY people aren't." Allison is exasperated and pissed off by his boisterousness; the funniest moment in the movie comes when it's revealed that his charges hold monthly meetings (in the manner of reformed alcoholics) to bond and then complain about Errol's methods. ("The offenders are offended!" splutters Errol's boss.) Much of the rest of the film is humorless and sadly cliched. Errol takes Allison to a sort of S & M house where many of his flock go to indulge their fantasies. Allison finds magazines featuring amputated female limbs stewn on the floor and one of Errol's most vicious charges has let his pet wolf in. A woman chained to a stone wall in a dungeonlike chamber writhes in joy and calls out for "the whip, baby!" Five minutes of this sequence and the feeling isn't one of terror or disgust, but a kind of boredom. You realize that as a spectacle, obsessional sex has very little to offer in the way of anything new. What could have been interesting is Allison's background and why she chose this line of work, or how she ever came to occupy her spacious and tastefully decorated house (typical of Andrew Lau, everyone in the movie has stylish abodes and a cool wardrobe with the exception of Errol). Unfortunately she never says or does very much, and subsequently is a disappointing Clarice Starling to Errol's skewed version of Dr. Lecter. For all that they are mired in sexual issues, the pair don't get a whole lot of chemistry going either. Once, Errol attempts to interrogate her about her private life which she effectively evades — she's not hiding something so much as the sad fact that she's got nothing to hide. No wonder Errol stops being curious, and focuses his attention on Viola (Kadee Strickland), the ex-wife of a convicted sex offender/murderer who may or may not have been his accomplice in abducting young girls and cutting off their limbs. Viola now gets fan mail from all over the country and secretly rules over Errol's flock with err, a whip hand. Yawn! "The Flock" moves fast, looks good and has all that attests to Lau's trademark stylishness. But the sadism is weary and unconvincing and palls very quickly. "I got the feeling you really understand the human condition" Errol tells Allison. If only the same could be said for the movie. |
| The next star on the horizon? Richard Gere's group is steadily at work on the big property that was Hoppfield's in Bedford. |
| Bedford Post Inn Map, Directions, Phone Number, Photos, Menu, Information |