Einen Tag, nachdem Richard Gere das Bundeskanzleramt besuchte, sprach ich mit ihm anlässlich seines neuen Films "The Dinner" über die gegenwärtige Politik, die Angst um die Zukunft der Kinder, seine Rolle als Sexsymbol. Auszüge:
„Why did you want to meet Angela Merkel? Because she is the new Dalai Lama of Europe?“
„She is an extraordinary person. Certainly in this world, certainly in the US with complete chaos and with a non leader. She has a lot of responsability. Somehow she is the last one standing – who is thoughtful, responsable, soft spoken, empathatic. And makes difficult moral decisions.“
„Are we in a new civil war? Your new film has a lot of references to the american Civil War."
„Ya, I mean our civil war never stopped. It is brother against brother. Your wars in Europe are in a way wars of civilization. Is it within in our families? is it within our nation? Or is it wider than that? Do we have planetarian universal responsibilities? And I think we do."
"In the film two sons turn into barbarians. You have a son who’s third name is Jigme which means fearless. Many parents are fearful for the future of their children. How personal is this film?”
"I’m thinking of my own parents who were fearful of my life. When I decided to become an actor they had no reference for it. And they thought can he support himself? What’s his life gonna be like? Is he gonna be miserable? We’re usually fearful of which we have no reference for. And if we have sinister leaders who exploit that fear, the planet is in a lot of trouble. We have a lot of leaders running around who exploit fear and ignorance.”
“What did your parents think when you became the sexsymbol of a generation?”
“Oh, that doesn’t mean anything. That’s stupid stuff.”