Yesterday's episode of Marek Eben's talk show Na plovárně hosted the star of this year's festival Richard Gere in a live broadcast from the Grand Hall. With his spontaneity and sense of humour, Gere captured the audience and even had a bit of fun with the experienced moderator. Eben first shocked Gere that the Russian fairy tale Father Frost competes with Gere's Pretty Woman for viewers, both being traditionally broadcast at Christmas time.
The next question focused on the painstaking preparation Gere is famous for making for his roles. "You need to map out the terrain. Whether I'm playing a homeless person like in Time Out of Mind or a prostitute in American Gigolo." Gere also reminisced about filming the racy piano scene in Pretty Woman. "It was improvised. The director asked me what I would do as a rich businessman in an empty hotel. And I said, play the piano. In came Julia Roberts and it ended up being an insanely sexy scene." The Hollywood star also recalled his friend the Dalai Lama: "He takes all human beings very seriously, but he has a sense of humour as well. Of course we don't talk about acting at all."
When Marek Eben wanted to wrap up the show, Gere unexpectedly took over the reins and invited on stage the crew members for the film Franny, which wasn't supposed to be introduced until after the show. The actor even gave up his seat to the film's director Andrew Renzi, who sat down next to Eben. Aside from thanking the audience and crew, Renzi also amazed the whole room with the Czech sentence he had learned: "Richard Gere je pořád fešák." [Richard Gere is still a looker.]
