Richard Gere: Pretty Woman was rubbish

In an exclusive interview with Woman’s Day, the actor blasts the film that made him a heart-throb.

It was the modern-day fairytale that captivated hundreds of millions of film fans the world over. But it seems Pretty Woman holds nothing but regrets for its leading man, Richard Gere. While promoting his new financial thriller Arbitrage recently, the 62-year-old shared his scorn for the feelgood 1990 chick flick, telling Woman’s Day, “It’s my least favourite thing.”

Richard adds, “People ask me about that movie, but I’ve forgotten it. That was a silly romantic comedy. This is a much more serious movie that has some real cause and effect.” Incredibly, the grumpy star also claims his Pretty Woman character Edward Lewis helped contribute to the global financial crisis, as he glorified greedy and selfish Wall Street types.

“It made those guys seem dashing, which was so wrong,” Richard explains. “Thankfully, today, we are all more sceptical of those guys.” Despite the actor’s high-minded misgivings, Pretty Woman went on to take more than $460 million at the box office and is one of the most successful movies ever in terms of worldwide TV syndication.

It also cemented Richard’s place as one of Hollywood’s leading men, making him a sex symbol to women everywhere, including his then-22-year-old co-star Julia Roberts. Julia reportedly fell for Richard in a big way during filming, with her family friend Thomas Caldwell revealing, “Julia was crazy about Richard – I mean, absolutely mad about him.”