American Gigolo 1980

Gere’s male escort finds his soul exposed when he’s accused of murder…

“Paul [Schrader, writer/director] and i have maintained a friendship. i just actually gave him the National Board of Review award for Best Original Screenplay [for First Reformed]. Both of us have gotten through 40 years since American Gigolo. Forty years! He’s still writing incredible screenplays, doing great work. i’m dumbfounded that i’m still working and doing things that i enjoy.

“Back then, he said, ‘i want you to do this but i need you to make a decision quick.’ and i don’t make decisions quick. [laughs] i just don’t. i have to let it sit. But i just jumped in on that. i had no idea who that guy was. i had to do a lot of research to play that guy. But it was exciting. Paul was coming off of Taxi Driver and he was the writer of the moment [Schrader also wrote Raging Bull,

which came out the same year as american Gigolo]. Ferdinando Scarfiotti was the production designer. He was Bertolucci’s designer, so we were again drawing on european traditions.

“my character Julian had a physicality and sensuality to him, but it didn’t come from the fact that i used to be a gymnast. i was more influenced by my music. i saw an internal rhythm to him. When you look at that movie, that character is traditionally the female character in the movie, so he probably, maybe unconsciously from my side, has a feline quality to him.

“We didn’t even think about the nudity in the movie. We just did it. We were making a small independent movie and we wanted to essentially make an american european movie. We wanted to explore and portray real life. it was very natural. No big deal.”