Richard Gere Jokes He Had ‘No Chemistry’ with Julia Roberts in ‘Pretty Woman’

Richard Gere is reflecting on his sizzling screen time with Julia Roberts!

While speaking at a masterclass at the 81st Venice Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 1, the actor, 75, joked that he had “no chemistry” with Roberts, 56, while discussing their 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman.

“I mean, no chemistry,” joked Gere while watching the iconic scene of his character, rich businessman Edward, undressing Robert’s character Vivian at a piano during the masterclass, per The Hollywood Reporter. 

“This actor and this actress obviously had no chemistry between them …,” he continued. “I haven’t seen that in a long time. That’s a sexy scene.” 

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While the pair’s romantic union in the film remains fondly etched in fans’ memories decades later, Gere admitted during the masterclass that he believes his character was “criminally underwritten.”

“It was basically a suit and a good haircut,” he commented.

Speaking of the reception of the movie, which catapulted Gere and Roberts to Hollywood fame, Gere shared that he couldn’t have predicted just how successful and impactful the film would to so many all these years later.

“This is a movie, a very small movie with a wonderful director named Garry Marshall,” he explained. “But we were having fun making this little tiny movie. We didn’t know if anyone would ever see this little tiny movie. No one would ever pay attention to this little tiny movie.”

The actor also shared that the steamy piano scene in the film was completely improvised and drawn from his own experiences in hotels. 

“Garry said to me, ‘What do you do at late at night in a hotel?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m usually jet-lagged, ’” Gere recalled. “So I’m up all night and usually there’s a ballroom somewhere or a bar, and I’ll find a piano and I’ll play the piano’ … So we just basically improvised this scene, and … I just started playing something moody that was this character’s interior life.”

Gere’s masterclass appearance comes as he was also seen attending the amfAR Gala during the Venice International Film Festival with his wife Alejandra Silva on Sunday, Sept. 1.

The acting veteran, who turned 75 on Saturday, Aug. 31, looked dashing dressed in a classic tuxedo with a black bowtie, while Silva, 41, wore a sheer halterneck gown adorned with large shimmering navy blue flowers. 

The couple also attended the Wolfs red carpet premiere on Sunday as Gere’s 24-year-old son, Homer, joined them on the carpet.