The actor's career took an unexpected turn for many after 1993, at the height of "Pretty Woman."
It is not that it is a parallelism of the "One Hit Wonder" of music transferred to the world of cinema, but something similar happened. Okay: Richard Gere didn't quite disappear... but his career never returned to the place it threatened after the worldwide success of "Pretty Woman."
That film exploded in popularity back in 1990. In other words, in those years everyone wanted Richard and Julia Roberts in their movies. At 72 years old, Richard can remember that moment when everything changed and his place as a shining figure came out of the big leagues.
Gere arrived at the '93 Oscars with a speech up his sleeve. He rose to the stage as the top star of the industry and came down as one more, a man in frank withdrawal. But he said what he wanted. What did he say on that occasion as an actor? He spoke of the situation in Tibet, harshly criticized China and demanded the leader of the multi-populated nation, Den Xiaping, remove his troops from the small territory "so that the people will once again live as free and independent people."
So far nothing seemed abnormal. The actor's speech was traditional of the politically correct border claims within the US. In fact, everyone applauded at the ceremony. But of course, the graphs that the actor had to read said something else. They were talking about the prize to be awarded, Best Artistic Direction.
After the night was over, Gilbert Cates, the director of the Academy at the time, exploded in anger. “For someone I invite to present an award to use that time to posit a personal political belief, I think is not only outrageous, it is disgusting and dishonest. Does anyone care about Richard Gere's comments on China?
Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon had also made public political speeches, in this case about Haiti and Cuba. How did that go on? Gere was banned from the Oscars for a long time. He couldn't even go to receive a Golden Globe won by "Chicago."
He, too, could not enter China and projects he had with directors from that country were cancelled. Little of all this mattered to Richard, who assured years later: “I am not interested in playing the wrinkled Jedi in the summer movie on duty. I was successful enough for three decades that I can afford to do these little movies now. I still make the same movies that I did when I started. Small, interesting stories, focused on character and narrative. This hasn't impacted my life at all."
