Richard Gere recalls ‘Pretty Woman’ with late director Garry Marshall

Richard Gere took a stroll down the memory lane.

The actor recently shared a valuable acting lesson he learned while working on the iconic film Pretty Woman.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s The Spotlight with Jessica Shaw, the 75-year-old actor reflected on the role late director Garry Marshall played in creating the perfect chemistry between him and co-star Julia Roberts.

Gere credited Marshall with ensuring their on-screen dynamic felt genuine, a crucial element that contributed to the film’s enduring success.

“So, we’re working on Pretty Woman and we’re trying to figure out how to do this and we’re fooling around with the director, Garry Marshall, who’s incredible,” Gere said. “I love Garry.”

He added, “Julia’s there and I’m there and Julia’s really beginning as an actress and she’s Julia. She’s bubbly and she’s blah, blah, blah, and I come in. I want to act, you know, I want to be the actor, and we both are kind of like all over the place, you know?”

“She’s moving, I’m moving, and he says, ‘Wait a minute.’ Garry says, he says, ‘In this movie, one of you moves and one of you doesn’t and in this [scene], the girl moves, and the boy doesn’t,’ and that communicated a lot actually of how to approach the characters.”

Gere continued, “I mean, you can read from that how they think, how they feel, how they feel about themselves, how settled they are, how unsettled they are. It said a lot coming from Garry.”

Gere also reminisced on the beginning of his longtime friendship with Roberts in a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, sharing how Marshall put them “together” before the actor signed Pretty Woman.