Richard Gere Says 1 Of His Most Beloved Roles Was 'Criminally Underwritten'

Richard Gere thinks the script for Pretty Woman left a lot to be desired when it came to his character, millionaire playboy Edward Lewis.

While speaking during a masterclass at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, the leading man joked that his part in the Garry Marshall-directed picture was almost criminally underwritten.

It was basically a suit and a good haircut, he laughed in a clip shared by The Hollywood Reporters Chris Gardner.

To help bring his character to life, Gere revealed how he and Marshall ended up improvising one of Pretty Womans most pivotal scenes: a steamy sequence where Lewis plays the piano for Julia Roberts spirited sex worker character, Vivian, before things get hot and heavy between the two.

After the clip rolled during the masterclass, the star smirked and said, This actor and this actress obviously had no chemistry between them.

Gere then shared how the scene was never in the script but ended up being integral to the film.

Garry said to me, What do you do late at night in a hotel? And I said, Well, Im usually jet lagged, [that] would be the time Im in a hotel. So Im up all night and usually theres a ballroom somewhere or a bar, and Ill find a piano and Ill play the piano, Gere remembered.

He said, Well, lets do something with that. So we just basically improvised this scene, and he said, Play something moody. I just started playing something moody that was this characters interior life.

Unveiling Lewis soft side let Roberts character see him in a completely different way, the Unfaithful actor explained.

There was a mysterious yearning and maybe a damaged quality to this guy that she didnt know.

While Pretty Woman was a smash hit, grossing a reported $463.4 million worldwide, Gere remembered the project more modestly.

We were having fun making this, he told his audience in Venice. The whole time we made the movie, we didnt know if anyone would ever see this.