Boasting a star-studded ensemble cast, Maybe I Do stars Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey and William H. Macy in a multi-generational romantic comedy.
Michelle (Roberts) and Allen (Bracey) have reached the point in their relationship to take the next steps toward marriage. Thinking it is a good idea to invite their parents to finally meet, they set a dinner and make it a family affair. To everyone’s surprise, the affair takes on a whole new meaning as the parents already know each other all too well - they’ve been cheating on their spouses for months...with each other.
Trapped in this precarious predicament, they try to hide their dalliances from the kids while confronting their spouse’s lovers head-on. Let the games begin!
While we know this title - which arrives in theatres on January 27 - isn't necessarily in our usual wheelhouse (even Mr. Gere himself questions what connection Maybe I Do has with comic book movies), we obviously couldn't pass on the chance to speak to the Hollywood legend, particularly when the movie is so much fun.
During the course of our conversation, Richard talks about his return to the screen, the fun he had working with Macy and Roberts (who is, of course, the niece of his Pretty Woman co-star Julia Roberts), and his incredible legacy from the classic movies he's starred in right through to newer ones like this.
The actor also reveals whether he would consider starring in a superhero movie, explaining what a project like that would need to have in order for him to join the popular genre.
Watch our full interview with Richard Gere in the player below.
This is a very funny movie, but it has these really insightful conversations at its core; was getting to explore Howard in such an in-depth way part of what drew you back to this romantic comedy genre?
Yeah, I don’t know if it was the genre, but during COVID, it just became too difficult to work. The protocols and proximity to people and other actors with masks…I didn’t work for three years. Things loosed up and there was this script. I think we’re all shell-shocked from COVID, so with a script as funny as this, I said to myself, ‘If this is an ensemble of really terrific actors, we can have a good time with this.’ There’s enough depth with it that good actors can bring enough depth to it to make it more than television.
Like everyone here, Howard is going through a lot, and while he isn’t a bad guy, William H. Macy’s Sam just seems so, so nice - how was it having him as a love rival, of sorts?
Well, Bill is terrific. This is what he has perfected in his career doing this kind of thing where he’s funny and deep at the same time. Bill can play anything, but he’s incredible at playing these characters kind of bewildered by the world [Laughs] and who can’t quite find their place. He’s almost a Chaplin-esque character, so it was a great foil for both of us working together. I think we surprised each other in those roles.
Much has been said about you starring in this film with Julia Roberts’ niece, Emma, but did having that little bit of shared history inform or play into your father/daughter dynamic at all?
I mean, it was built in when we spoke about it and the movies I’d done with her aunt, but that was about it! We came to play characters. This was a pretty low-budget film, and we didn’t have that many days to work, so we had to take it seriously and really focus.
Like a number of the movies you’ve starred in, Pretty Woman has become iconic - I know many people, my mum and sister included, who would call it their all-time favourite film - but what do the legacy and lasting impact of that and a project like this one mean to you?
When we made Pretty Woman, no one thought it was going to be anything. It was lightning in a bottle. A computer can’t make that. If the computer could, there would have been a hundred of them since then and there haven’t been. Even with Julia and me, when we did it again, it was a good movie, but it wasn’t as iconic. Movies are a strange thing. The chemistry of the casting…the director obviously brings an enormous amount. Michael was very clear about the style of this picture, and the kind of universe that these characters revolve in is a peculiar place to be. You want it to be real and recognisable as the human condition, but it’s got to vibrate on the upper edges of reality. At the same time, it’s connected to some real truths underneath it. The trick for all of us was to keep those things in balance.
Your co-star Susan Sarandon will be the main villain in DC Comics’ Blue Beetle later this year, but does that superhero genre interest you at all or do you not gravitate towards those effects-heavy movies?
It would depend on the quality. If they’re formulas, I’m probably not interested, but if there’s something quirky and unexpected and it doesn’t just end up with a big fight at the end of the movie - which they all do - it might be of interest to me, sure!
Maybe I Do arrives in theaters on January 27.