Richard Gere feels his Pretty Women role was 'underwritten'

Pretty Woman star Richard Gere believes his role alongside Julia Roberts in the beloved romcom was "underwritten".

In the 1990 Guy Marshall-directed film Gere stars as Edward, a wealthy entrepreneur who hires Vivian, an escort played by Julia Roberts, to accompany him to social events, leading to an unexpected romance.

During a masterclass hosted by Cartier at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, the 75-year-old spoke about the film that still defines him as a heartthrob.

He told Variety, "I was playing a character that was almost criminally underwritten. It was basically a suit and a good haircut."

Gere also humorously downplayed the much-talked-about chemistry between him and Roberts, joking about the film's famous piano scene, "No chemistry... I mean, this actor and this actress obviously had no chemistry between them... It was a sexy, sexy scene."

Revealing how, actually, his and Roberts' chemistry made the scene, he added: "This was never in the script. We didn't know how we would use it later. It ended up being integral to the film."

He also initially believed no one would see the film, as executives were sceptical - but it ended up grossing $432.5 million (£330 million) worldwide against a $14 million (£10.7 million) budget.