ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Maybe I Do stars Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon about the upcoming comedy movie, which hits theaters on January 27. The duo discussed working with Emma Roberts and working during the pandemic.
“Michelle and Allen have reached the point in their relationship to take the next steps toward marriage. Thinking it is a good idea to invite their parents to finally meet, they set a dinner and make it a family affair,” says the synopsis. “To everyone’s surprise, the affair takes on a whole new meaning as the parents already know each other all too well – they’ve been cheating on their spouses for months…with each other. Trapped in this precarious predicament, they try to hide their dalliances from the kids while confronting their spouse’s lovers head-on. Let the games begin!”
Tyler Treese: Richard, you starred in Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and now her niece Emma plays your daughter in the movie. How incredible was that in getting to work with her?
Richard Gere: Well, I thought it was funny when they said it was her. I don’t think I’ve really done a movie like that since then. I think it’s the closest to Pretty Woman, this one is, in style.
Susan Sarandon: I am a bit of a hooker.
Richard Gere: We talked about it a little bit in the beginning and we just let it go. She’s her own person and, and she has her own career and she does things her own way, so she was just another one of the ensemble of actors in this, and terrific. I think those kids had the hardest parts in this, really. All of us were kind of multi-dimensional, crazy characters, but the kids in this were the reality players.
Susan Sarandon: Yeah. They had a lot. Hard to sell that. They did a great job.
Susan your character is just so much fun. You get this very intense, almost psychotic side sometimes.
Richard Gere: Sometimes? Sometimes?!
You’re ready to just blow things up. Richard’s trying to leave this affair, you’re not having it. How much fun was that aspect to play with?
Susan Sarandon: So much fun. I mean, when I read it, I thought, “With the right guy, this would really be a lot of fun, because all the music of each of them is so different, you know?”
Richard Gere: Yeah.
Susan Sarandon: And everybody came in understanding that and generously giving the moment to whomever’s moment it was and whatever. But I really couldn’t wait to blow things up. I had a lot of fun.
Richard Gere: Well, I think it’s true. First of all, I keep telling her, but she’s one of the few actresses who could play that part fully.
Susan Sarandon: Thank you!
Richard Gere: And get crazy with it and it’s still a human being. I think all of these characters are … I like these characters because they’re still characters. You don’t have to pay for every encounter. Things happen and then you kind of move on. Not everything is personalized and there’s still a kind of connection with everyone, with all the craziness. A straightforward connection that these four people have.
Susan Sarandon: Well, I think we were lucky to find — you know, sometimes, I’ve done this, I’ve been in a movie where there are a lot of different acting styles and different people, and people do not seem like they’re in the same movie from scene to scene. And I think that the casting of this was good in that sense too, that I believed everyone did exist within that world, whatever that world was. That’s not always the case and I think that helps a lot too.
Richard, for all the laughs there’s still this very interesting look at love and aging and there’s so much heart in its core. What did you think about the themes of Maybe I Do?
Richard Gere: Well, that’s really why I wanted to do it. I thought it’d be fun — especially coming out of Covid. I didn’t work during Covid and the protocols. Did you? I don’t even know if you did.
Susan Sarandon: I worked all through Covid.
Richard Gere: The protocols that were in place … I didn’t want to work that way. It’s hard enough for me to make a movie, but without all the other stuff. So I was happy to do something that was lighthearted, at least on the surface, but resonates, I think, in an adult way. I think it’s appropriate and it’s honest for everyone to go through existential crises.
Susan Sarandon: I always ask myself if I’m going to do a movie, can I bear to talk about it for three days in a junket? Is there anything that is thematically possible to talk about? And if I can’t find what it is, then I’m dead. I can’t do it.
