Richard Gere for Hamptons Magazine Fall 2012

Richard Gere interviewed by his Arbitrage co-star Susan Sarandon.

RICHARD GERE: I have to tell you, you are terrific in Arbitrage, really, it could be the best thing you ever did.
SUSAN SARANDON: Thanks. I haven’t seen the finished film, but I thought you were very multilayered and very handsome. I really believed you.
RG: Everyone was terrific. I think it was certainly one of the best ensemble movies that I’ve made.

SS: Well, besides the fact that I was involved, what attracted you to this part, Richard?
RG: It was nothing other than that, really.

SS: (Laughs) I mean, was it the moral dilemma?
RG: Well, what’s really funny is that it reminded me so much of [Bernie] Madoff when I read it, and I was a little bit fearful. [Writer-director] Nicholas Jarecki thought that maybe it wasn’t going to be topical by the time the movie came out, but the reality is this relates to Jamie Dimon and a lot of these other reputable bankers who everyone trusted….

SS: I just watched Too Big to Fail on the plane, which shows that whole side of what was going on, and what I like about Arbitrage is that you present such a reasonable argument.

RG: We were really clear that this film was about someone like us—who, when he shaves the limits of the law, the ramifications are very big, but he’s not a sociopath. Like Jamie Dimon—he’s well known for being a risk taker but winning (he’s not a loser)—and it’s the same with this character, Robert Miller; he takes measured risks, sometimes bigger than others, but he’s a winner. But this time he loses.

SS: Do you think as Richard Gere, if you had chosen another path and found yourself in business, you could have gone that far into this mode of operating as your character?
RG: I never would have been in business; there was never any interest in that with me.

SS: And you’d be hanging with different people. So you’re out in the Hamptons now, and you have a little time off before you start your next project?
RG: This is really Carey’s place; Hannah, her daughter, grew up in this area.

SS: Is Homer attending camp?
RG: Just basketball, tennis—he keeps himself active, but he doesn’t really want to go away to camp. I don’t want him to go away either; I like him around.

SS: What I want to know about—you have a serious, very yummy place upstate, Bedford Post Inn, which I’ve eaten at a number of times. What restaurants in the Hamptons do you go to?
RG: It’s funny, the other night, I took the Jitney back from New York; I like taking the bus because I can work, but I met my…. I probably shouldn’t say this because now it’s going to become a place....

SS: This is a place you don’t want anyone to know about?
RG: They know about it—Yama Q—it’s a really wonderful Japanese restaurant that’s not just Japanese. I just get off the bus at Bridgehampton and walk over to meet my family at this restaurant.


SS: I always found you to be quiet in the Hamptons. One of the problems that I have with the Hamptons is that it’s such a socially buzzing place, and I’m kind of shy that way. Do you get privacy out here?

RG: Well, compared to you I live under a rock. I don’t even answer the phone. We live in a very quiet place out here; it’s not in the middle of it all. It’s just all nature and it’s quiet. The other stuff is what I like to do, but it’s not my life. Carey has her first ceramics show at the Celadon Gallery in Water Mill. There was a certain amount of hysteria preparing for that.

SS: When I lived in the Hamptons with Louis Malle, we were in Water Mill in China Machado’s house.

RG: Do you remember the house? The reason I ask is because we had a house in Water Mill for a while; and it turns out that everyone at some point has stayed there.

SS: You’re great, and I’m happy that everybody’s recognizing you for Arbitrage, and you’re probably going to get offers to be a hedge fund person after this. When people ask me about you—and Shall We Dance—I just say that I love the way that you think of the whole thing and not just your part. You understand how important it is that all the pieces go together. That’s why it’s always a joy to work with you because you have that overview like Sean Penn or Robert Redford has. Why don’t you direct, by the way?RG: Well, if I can get one of these scripts together that I’m working on, I’ll probably do that.

SS: Wow, look for a part for me, would you please?
RG: There is a part for a really eccentric actress.
SS: Oh, I can do that. (Laughing) I have to stretch, but I can do it.

Credit @ Hamptons Magazine

Courtesy of Hamptons Magazine