Richard Gere on why he wanted to return to film with romcom Maybe I Do

"Well, I think it was the whole piece," he explained. "During COVID, I didn't work at all, I didn't leave the house. So when the protocols for shooting got a little more accommodating, a little easier, I said it's time to work again."

And one of the things that appealed specifically to Gere about this particular project is that it fell outside of what might be considered his wheelhouse – offering him the chance to do something a little more light.

"There was this script Michael sent me – Michael Jacobs the writer/director – and I thought, you know, it's not the usual kind of film that I make," he said.

"This is a much more populist movie with very knowable characters and I think identifiable characters, and the movie vibrates, you know, in this kind of fun and funny way.

"And I think what Michael was writing and wanted to direct with this was finding actors who would bring a ballast to bring weight to it, at the same time that it vibrated with this kind of fun. So that appealed to me."

Maybe I Do reunites Gere with Diane Keaton – who he previously worked with in the 1977 film Looking for Mr. Goodbar – while the star-studded cast also includes Susan Sarandon, William H Macy, and Emma Roberts.

It explores events after a young couple introduces their respective parents to each other only to discover that they are already on rather intimate terms, and Gere likened the film to "'30s and '40s, Hollywood movie making."

He said: "I really didn't have any interest in doing a cliche of a television comedy, but telling the story of four adults and two young people who are going through real things that everybody goes through. And to do it with some weight and some wisdom, I think, and some craziness mixed in.

"To me, this was the style that we would approach and it was very much like, I think 30s and 40s, Hollywood movie making: you know, sharply written dialogue, actors who could move quickly and go from emotion to emotion seamlessly and knew how to ensemble act."

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Given his absence from any film or TV projects during the lockdown, you might wonder if Gere took a little getting used to being on a set again – but the actor said that this is the case every time he takes on a new project.

"I'm always nervous before I start shooting anyhow," he said. "But this was particularly... I question whether I know what I'm doing, if I ever knew what I was doing.

"So the first days are always a bit odd," he continued. "I always like to come to the production offices and meet everyone well in advance just to make everything normal. And then we're all coming there to work. There's no hierarchy, everyone is in this together.

"And I did that with this picture as well – just making sure that we were all having a bit of fun making a movie. Albeit we'd want to make something that has some meaning and some depth to it, but we're making a movie."

Maybe I Do is now available on Amazon Prime Video – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.

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