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NEW YORK -- Richard Gere plays a controlling if well-intentioned father in his new film, Bee Season, opening in theatres tomorrow.
In real life, the actor hopes he is nothing of the sort to his five-year-old son, Homer, with wife-actress Carey Lowell, and 15-year-old step-daughter Hannah, from Lowell's first marriage to Griffin Dunne, who's also an aspiring actress.
"At this point, being 56 years old, I'm certainly more patient, and it's less about me," says Gere, looking way too good for someone reportedly suffering from the flu, while speaking to reporters recently.
"You know, I think I'm pretty easy. Maybe too easy sometimes, but I love it to be easy. I love it to be as creative as possible. I like the kids to have a lot of rope, to try things. In many ways, I'm the opposite of (Bee Season's) Saul. I'm the least controlling person in their life. The most important thing is that they know that you love them."
Bee Season documents the unravelling of a family as their previously overlooked 11-year-old daughter (newcomer Flora Cross) emerges as a major spelling bee champion. The young girl's success is embraced by her scholarly father, who fails to notice the resulting crisis of soul and faith by his wife (Juliette Binoche) and son (Max Minghella, the son of British director Anthony Minghella).
"I think he has control issues," says Gere of Saul. "I don't think anyone is evil in this. I think they're all doing the best they can. But most of us, in life, are just basically doing the best we can. It's a dark movie. It's not afraid of exploring dysfunction. And I don't know any of us who grew up in perfect households.
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"I had good people, but everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has their issues, and it's all understandable. It's amazing, in life, if you can take a deep breath and step back two steps, you can see where we all come from. There are causes and conditions that have created all of us a little crazy."
Growing up in a small town outside Syracuse, N.Y., Gere was one of five kids with a stay-at-home mom and a father who sometimes worked two jobs, but mainly sold insurance.
It was a stressful environment because of money problems, but Gere says he was far tougher on himself than his parents ever were on him.
"I was a miserable teenager," says Gere. "You're just moody and difficult and self-involved. Challenging authority and the usual."
Bee Season also explores major religious themes, with both Kabbalah and Hare Krishna explored by the film's characters.
Gere, a long-time Buddhist and supporter of Tibetan causes, was co-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel's first choice for the part of Saul.
"He just seemed right to us," said McGehee. "He was the first guy we thought of. The idea for the character is this kind of charismatic, sexy professor who's the kind of star in his family. Basically a good guy, but so full of his own good intentions that he misses the point and doesn't see anything going on around him especially well."
Added Siegel: "It's a kind of benevolent narcissim or something. He just can't help himself in a way and he can't quite see beyond his own reflection and, as Scott's saying, it's not ill-intentioned ... And that was part of the reason we cast Richard also. We needed an actor in the role who could go far enough to be believable throughout the movie and yet sympathetic enough to be redeemed to some degree at the end. That's an interesting character to portray because he's neither fully good or fully bad."