At nearly sixty, Richard Gere is still making the 'pretty women' swoon, despite his most recent gig as Clifford Irving in The Hoax complete with blackened hair and a fake nose and as a 'Bob Dylan as Billy The Kid' with I'm Not There complete with worn out hats and giraffes. Gere's career is on the rise again after receiving rave reviews for his role as the huckster Irving who became famous after writing an authorized biography of the reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes without ever meeting him. Variety has announced that the handsome, Buddhist activist has signed on to star in two upcoming features; a biopic about a famous aviator and a cop drama.
Gere is on board to give them the ol' razzle dazzle opposite Hilary Swank in Amelia, written by Ron Bass. Swank, who is also exec producing, will be playing the lead in the Amelia Earhart biopic with Gere as the notorious aviator's publisher husband, George Putnam. Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) will direct the actors in a narrative of the famed, precarious relationship. Nair is busy with two collaborative projects, directing sections of both the Big Apple love flick New York, I Love You and the humanitarian pic 8, currently in post-production. Amelia begins shooting later this month in Toronto, Nova Scotia and South Africa.
Gere has also signed on to star in Brooklyn's Finest, directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and co-starring Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke. The pic follows three unconnected cops in Brooklyn who end up at the same deadly location through very different paths; a theme reminiscent of Crash.
The veteran actor is currently shooting Hachiko: A Dog's Story, reuniting Gere with The Hoax director Lasse Hallstrom. Scripted by Stephen P. Lindsay, the project is based on a true story and inspired by the 1987 Japanese film "Hachiko monogatari". Gere will play a college professor who takes in a dog he finds abandoned. Both man and hound find their lives changed forever as they form an unbreakable bond.
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