Spicy details

Richard Gere spills Pretty Woman secret

"I was nothing more than an empty suit with a good haircut." At the press conference at the Venice Film Festival, Richard Gere revealed background details about "Pretty Woman". 

The Hollywood beau played the millionaire playboy Edward Lewis in the 1990 cult film. According to Gere, he came across as one-dimensional in the script alongside Julia Roberts as call girl Vivian "in an almost criminal way". Which is why the 75-year-old spontaneously made his Lewis more interesting with the blessing of director Garry Marshall.

Iconic scene not in the script
This is also how one of the most famous scenes in the film came about, in which Gere plays the piano in his hotel suite before things get heated between him and Roberts: "It wasn't in the script. Garry asked me what I would do in a hotel late at night. And I said that I often have jet lag and usually go to the ballroom in hotels and play the piano there."

A few days later, the filmmaker had a piano brought onto the set and asked his star to improvise. Gere: "He said, 'Just play whatever comes into your head'. I played something sad and emotional, which showed Julia a mysterious, soft side of Lewis. A side of him that she hadn't seen before."

Surprised by success
"Pretty Woman" became a box office hit and grossed almost 500 million dollars worldwide. Gere was very surprised by this: "We had a lot of fun shooting it, but we really weren't sure if anyone would even watch the movie."