Richard Gere says ‘integral’ Pretty Woman scene was improvised on the fly

Gere made the revelation about the iconic 1990 film during an even at the Venice Film Festival

Richard Gere has revealed that one of the most well-known scenes from the beloved 1990 rom-com Pretty Woman wasn’t even meant to be in the film and was completely improvised by him and Julia Roberts.

Speaking at a Cartier masterclass event on 1 September at the Venice Film Festival, he said that a scene where his Edward Lewis makes love to Roberts’ sex worker character, Vivan Ward on a piano “was never in the script,” as per Variety.

The intimate scene, which takes place at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, sees Roberts fall asleep in her room watching the TV show I Love Lucy. Meanwhile, Gere in the hotel ballroom playing piano. When Roberts wakes, she goes to greet him at the instrument in a dressing gown, he then begins to kiss her passionately as the scene fades to black.

Gere told the audience in attendance, “This was never in the script. … We didn’t know how we would use it later. It ended up being integral to the film.”

The star also joked: “No chemistry. I mean, this actor and this actress, obviously, had no chemistry between them. . . . I haven’t seen that in a long time, too. It was a sexy, sexy scene.”

Gere added the scene was created after he had a conversation with director Garry Marshall who asked him to imagine what his rich but lonely character would get up to in a hotel. “We just basically improvised this scene. I just started playing something moody that was about this character’s interior life,” said the 75-year-old actor.

He continued that the scene added a “mysterious yearning and maybe a damaged quality to this guy” that Roberts’ character was unaware of and that “she was able to see him in a completely different way.”

The jokes didn’t stop though for Gere who quipped that his character “was almost criminally underwritten” and “was basically a suit and a good haircut.”

The now classic movie focuses on an affluent businessman who hires an escort played by Roberts to accompany him to social events before eventually falling in love with her. Pretty Woman became a major box office success making more than $460 million at the box office and saw Roberts earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Despite its overwhelming success and continued fandom, Gere said that he, Robert and Marshall “didn’t know if anyone would ever see this”.

Gere was last seen in Oh Canada, which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and saw him reunite with American Gigolo director Paul Schrader. He’ll next star in The Agency alongside Michael Fassbender, which is a remake of the French thriller Le Bureau des Legendes.