SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Leo Fife is sick, slightly cranky, an elderly man and much esteemed documentary filmmaker, when he decides to tell all about himself for a film made by a couple of his former students.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OH, CANADA")
RICHARD GERE: (As Leo Fife) I forget where I agreed to do this. Tell me why I agreed to do this.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Mr. Fife agreed to make the interview because he's famous for something to do with cinema...
GERE: (As Leo Fife) Ah.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) ...And famous people have to make interviews.
SIMON: And Leo Fife says there's some kind - maybe more than one kind - of deceit at the center of his life and professional success as he winds through a tumble of recollections that may or may not be what he wants to say. "Oh, Canada" is the new film, starring Richard Gere, along with Uma Thurman and Jacob Elordi. It is directed by Paul Schrader. And Richard Gere, who has been one of the major stars of American film for five decades, joins us now. Mr. Gere, thanks so much.
GERE: Oh, my God, five decades. God, I am an old dog, aren't I?
SIMON: No. Neither old, nor dog. You have experience. That's how I prefer to put it. Nice to meet you. Thank you very much.
GERE: I've been around the block, Scott, and I assume you have too. So we got two old dogs that have been around the block.
SIMON: This film reunites you with Paul Schrader, with whom you worked on "American Gigolo" in 1980. It was your breakout hit. What was it like to work together again?
GERE: Well, talking about old dogs, you know (laughter), the two of us - that was 45 years ago. At this point, we kind of have our way of doing things. And it fell together very quickly. You know, Paul wrote a really beautiful script, and it touched me. And it was obviously coming from an emotional place for him, 'cause he was very close to Russell Banks, who wrote the book. And my father had just passed away a few months before Paul called me about this script. My dad was almost 101, and so I was in a kind of a raw state and trying to make sense of my dad's passing when, you know, we got together and decided to make this movie.
SIMON: I have read that your performance was inspired by your father in his later years. Would that be a good way to put it?
GERE: Well, I think, you know, in terms of his mental process and his physicality, yeah. I mean, I was kind of teaching people on the set - or how you deal with someone who's in a wheelchair or uses a walker and how you sit them on a toilet, the kind of patience it requires. That was fairly easy. My dad lived with me, so I was around his physicality a lot. But the mental state was what interested me more.
SIMON: Yeah.
GERE: And my dad was extremely alert up to the end. But his placement of time - it was no longer linear. Everything was kind of contrapuntal and expressionistic. Occasionally, he would get details that the rest of us in the family knew quite well - he would get them mixed up. They made emotional sense, but they didn't make literal sense. And I wanted to bring that kind of loosening of a very strict reality to this character.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OH, CANADA ")
UMA THURMAN: (As Emma) He confabulates, like he's dreaming. It's wrong to be doing this. Most of what he's saying is either misremembered or half invented. It's wrong to be filming this.
SIMON: Leo says at one point, I can't tell the truth unless that camera's on.
GERE: Yeah, he says that many times in this. I don't know if he can tell the truth anyway. It's one thing we question, I think, as the movie goes along. He has an emotional truth, I believe, that he's sharing. But I'm not sure if it's literal. But he's a movie guy. You know, he kind of stumbled into moviemaking. It was kind of an accident. And the truth is, there's an added element of responsibility when the camera is turning. We do expect a higher level of honesty and truth - whatever that is - between action and cut. And the way Leonard articulates it in here, he's really accepted this offer to make this documentary film - his last interview - as long as his wife is there.
SIMON: Yeah.
GERE: So to him, the film itself is irrelevant. He needs the camera, and he needs his wife. And he says whatever they do with this footage later, I don't really care.
SIMON: How much fun is making a film for you, after 50 years?
GERE: Yeah, I still love it. I love the mechanics of it. I love the metaphysics of it, of making realities and somehow communicating emotional, psychological truths in a two-hour format. I still get off on that, and I still love working with people, and I'm very careful about who I work with. And we almost always have a great time. We solve a scene or two every day when we film. And it's a creative and collective voyage we go on with the camera, with design, obviously with the writing, with the directing. You know, we all work together to solve this mystery of telling stories.
SIMON: And if I may, what's special about Paul working with...
GERE: Well, talk about curmudgeons. I mean, Paul is (laughter) - Paul is his own creature. He is kind of the ultimate movie guy, and he's very bright and extremely verbal, although on the set, you know, we didn't talk at all, really. When we started shooting, you know, we'd shoot, and I'd say, Paul, you want to do anything else? You want to try anything? He said, no, that's good. Let's move on. So that was about it. Best directors don't say anything anyhow.
You know, Robert Altman, we made a film together, "Dr. T & The Women." I came to the set from another job I was doing, and I was watching him shoot a scene with kids. And they were just terrific. And afterwards, I said, Bob, how did you do that? These kids are incredible. And he said, Richard, it's really very simple. Just don't tell them what to do. And I think that's true with actors, as well. You don't want to tell them what to do. You want to create the frame and a sense of confidence that that mysterious thing of life presents itself.
SIMON: Richard Gere - he stars in Paul Schrader's new film, "Oh, Canada," in theaters now. Thank you so much for being with us.
GERE: Thanks, Scott. I enjoyed it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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