BREAKING NEWS: Richard Gere, Aged 74, American actor and humanitarian, perhaps best known for his portrayal of genteel characters in romantic comedies previously diagnosed has been confirmed that he is……See More

CANNES, France, May 17 (Reuters) – Richard Gere, once a Hollywood leading man, said he drew on his feelings following his father’s death to bring emotional depth to his role in “Oh, Canada,” for which he returned, after decades, to the Cannes Film Festival red carpet on Friday.

“It so resonated with my own emotional voyage with my dad, who was almost 101 when he passed away,” Gere told Reuters.
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“Paul (Schrader, the director,) wrote such a terrific script, moving script, filled with wonderful character stuff that it was very easy for me to say ‘yes,'” he added.
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Gere, 74, is almost unrecognisable as Leonard Fife, a man at the end of his life, intent on sharing the secrets of his youth with his wife of 30 years, played by Uma Thurman, on camera, using a technique he perfected as a celebrated documentary maker.

The film, which is competing for the film festival’s top Palme d’Or prize, is told through flashbacks, with Jacob Elordi of “Euphoria” fame playing the younger version of Leonard.

Critics were lukewarm after the film’s premiere, with The Guardian, opens new tab calling it “muddled, anticlimactic and often diffidently performed,” while giving it two out of five stars.

“Oh, Canada” brings Gere back together with Schrader some four decades after the 1980 crime drama “American Gigolo.”
“We’re like old dogs now, you know? It’s like, I was going to say old hookers, but I can’t say that,” Gere said.