Richard Gere initially turned down Pretty Woman

Richard Gere initially turned down ‘Pretty Woman’.

The 75-year-old actor played rich businessman Edward Lewis in the 1990 rom-com classic but when he first received the script, he “didn’t understand” it and couldn’t see himself as part of the film.

Speaking on the ‘Awards Chatter’ podcast, Richard said: “Let me be clear, I really like the movie. Initially, I didn’t understand it. There was no character. So I read this thing and I said, ‘It’s not for me. To me it’s a suit that’s there in the movie.’

“[I said] ‘I wouldn’t mind seeing the movie. But I don’t see myself doing this.’ ”

But despite his reservations about ‘Pretty Woman’, Richard still agreed to meet with director Garry Marshall.

He said: “We start talking about the script and I said, ‘Look, I just don’t see a character.’ ”

The filmmaker told him: “Let’s you and me find it.”

The ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ star then agreed to meet with Julia Roberts, who had already signed up to play Vivian Ward, and when Garry called him just 45 minutes into the meeting, Richard confirmed he would accept the role.

He recalled: “I said, ‘She’s adorable. She’s great.’ And while I’m talking to him, she takes a Post-It off of my desk and she writes on it something.

“Then she moves it across the table to me and it says, ‘Please say yes.’ So how could you say no to that?”

Following “a lot of rewrites”, Richard had a “wonderful time” working on the movie and threw himself into the project.

He said: “We ended up really trying to find a character there that made sense within the structure and the essence of what that piece was.

“To make it heartfelt, to make it charming, make it fun, make it sexy, you know?

“And we all loved each other. Great trust, we had a wonderful time, and we had no idea that it was gonna be what it was.”

Looking back on the film now, the veteran actor is “so proud” and very grateful for the opportunities it subsequently brought his way.

He said: “I’m so proud of that movie and proud of the work process that we did to create that movie.

“And I’m not only proud, I’m thankful for that movie because it allowed me to do a lot of other things too.”