This is a bit of an oddball, non-sequitur piece of celebrity news, but apparently Richard Gere has been publicly maintaining that his lack of roles in recent years has nothing to do with age, and everything to do with his outspoken Tibetan Buddhism. Gere says that his public criticism of China's occupation of Tibet has cost him roles in big budget films, as his stance would turn off Chinese audiences. The actor first spoke out about China's totalitarian regime on the Oscars red carpet in 1993, famously contributing to the Awards' history of political protest. Invited to present the award for best art direction, he took the opportunity to berate China's occupation of Tibet, calling it a "horrendous, horrendous human rights situation." Gere was subsequently banned for life from China. And that was before he befriended the Dalai Lama and set up the Gere Foundation for the explicit purpose of helping victims of the current Chinese regime.
Given Gere's illustrious career in Hollywood tentpoles over the years, its surprising that financial pressure from Chinese markets and producers could essentially drive him out of mainstream A-list films. However, as this Vanity Fair article concludes, "Gere has something that Hollywood doesn’t these days: money and, in conjunction, freedom." His wealth and reputation remain untarnished, so his move to indie and B-movie material may not be such a tragedy.
Thanks so much for sharing this, such random but insightful information. Never in a million years did I think Richard Gere would be involved in a feud with China, haha. Interestingly enough, because of the Gerbil incident, I noticed Gere's switch to indie/b-films and never would have thought it was for another reason. Regardless of his switch, money, and "stardom" I'm not sure if he is getting the better half of the deal. When I saw him in his first indie I assumed that I was going to get blown away by his performance and be impressed by the reviews and accolades, but that wasn't really the case. Film after film since his transition have received poor reviews and gone basically nowhere after their initial premiere. Maybe he doesn't care, but it's hard for me to believe that is the case.
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