No ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ Characters for Gere, He Prefers Dark Side

In many of the films he’s done, Richard Gere appears to be a throwback to a couple of the brightest stars of the 1930s and ‘40s, namely John Garfield and Humphrey Bogart.

As with those legends, Gere is not conventionally handsome. But more to the point, he brings to mind Bogie and Garfield with his selection of roles. Gere inevitably plays the hard-edged protagonist whose dark side clouds whatever heroics he may demonstrate.

Garfield in “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and Bogart in “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” illustrated the wisdom of their choices.

Robert Redford, Paul Newman, or even young Tom Cruise, are straight-ahead leading men who play characters of sterling quality.

Not Gere. He actively seeks off-center characters with fatal flaws.

His most recent choice is the menacing cop in “Internal Affairs,” a scheming, charming, deadly killer without a single redeeming feature.

In Hollywood recently on a visit from his home in New York, Gere was thoughtful about comparisons with Garfield and Bogart and their shared proclivity for playing dubious heroes.

“Maybe there’s room for comparison, but it’s hard for me to think in those terms,” Gere said. “The guy Bogart played in ‘Petrified Forest’ was the kind of role that appeals to me.

“Neither one of them seemed interested in playing nice guys. And I don’t want to play a nice guy either. There’s an edge of danger to the characters I play.

“When I’m told not to play a role because the character is not redeemable in any way or that nobody will sit and watch him for a couple of hours, I know I can make it work.”

Time after time, in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “American Gigolo,” “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” and “Breathless,” Gere has demonstrated his ability to bring to life the complex protagonist with as many bad qualities as good.

“Obviously, the complex man is more interesting to play,” he said. “There are good and bad characteristics in all of us.

“Peck, the cop I play in ‘Internal Affairs,’ is very manipulative, which is what the movie is all about--control. The image I had in mind while playing him was Iago, a man with unusual talents and a terrible weakness.

“In a lot of ways I’m as difficult to read as Peck is. You can’t play anything that you don’t have. If you invest a character with certain qualities, it means you are drawing on your own experiences. I had to have some recollection of control and manipulation to give them to Peck.

“He’s a murderer and I’m not, but I have to feel what that is like. All the worst in humanity and all the best can be found to some degree in everyone.”