Re: Richard Gere and the Gerbil
From: Stuart
I worked on a not-great movie in the early 90's called Mr. Jones. Richard Gere was the star and Mike Figgis was the director.
Of all the different "stars" I have been around over the years, I would have to say that the most unpretentious one hands down was Richard Gere. He's very normal and personable. I was very surprised by this to say the least.
One night, Mike Figgis was playing piano by himself in the hotel lounge (we were shooting in La Jolla, Ca at the Salk Institute and staying nearish by). I approached him and while we were talking the "Gerbil thing" came up. He said it was all rubbish. According to him, (and I don't know his sources) the whole story was started by Sylvester Stallone, who, for whatever reason, doesn't like Richard. For some reason Gere had offended the Stallone/Schwarzenegger good ole boys club. I don't know if its true, but I can tell you this, I have had friends work on Stallone movies and they all say he's pretty mean-spirited and they wouldn't put something like this past him. Double ditto for Schwarzenegger.
