Tourist mistakes Gere for beggar; gives him pizza

Having been around movies sets, this woman was either the most oblivious person on the planet or the story is made up. An open air movie set will have camera(s) on dollies, large lighting units, large support trucks (often tractor trailer combinations), make-up trailers, "star" trailers, and as many as a dozen crew members wandering around. She somehow missed all this?

That the story appeared in the Post makes it all the more suspect.

"even at his age"?

gokai_wo_manekuAPR. 29, 2014 - 06:33AM JST "even at his age"?

Gere is pushing 70 and doesn't look it.

"Having been around movies sets, this woman was either the most oblivious person on the planet or the story is made up."

It depends on the production style. With a kind of cinema verite approach, directors will tell the actors to blend in with real street scenery, especially for scenes with no dialog, or maybe even improvise some lines, etc. Take a look at "MIdnight Cowboy" (a hugely influential film).

I once offered my pizza to a beggar in Capetown, he got all kinda angry at my because he was hoping for money I guess.

The same thing happened to me. I asked a "pilot" where the gate was. He said that he is not a pilot. I said that he sure was. And he said that he was only there doing a shoot. He was kind and his English was very good.Then I noticed everyone crowding around us. I asked someone" who is he?" " Azuma Mikihisa".

I think it's a very touching story and Richard Gere is one great guy for "playing the part" so perfectly !

I asked a passerby the way to a hotel in London...and looked up from the map to realize I was asking Alan Rickman :-)

They should leave the real scene in that movie and offer the woman and her family free tickets.

About 10 years ago, I was with a friend, walking down a street in Toronto when a panhandler said he was hungry and asked us for money. Since we were near a McDonald's, my friend said he'd buy him a hamburger. The panhandler then said, "That's okay, I can get it later", to which my friend replied, "I don't mind; hamburger or cheeseburger". The panhandler suddenly got angry, and said, "I don't want any damn food!! Just give me the money!!" My friend was taken aback and I busted a gut!! I guess, "No good deed goes unpunished." :-)

I don't quite understand the scenario. They obviously weren't in the middle of filming as should wouldn't have been able to just walk onto the set so why was he going through the rubbish then?

Paul McCartney was busking in London in 1984 for one of the scenes in his film Give My Regards to Broad Street. No one recognised him except for one passerby who stopped and said, "You're Paul McCartney, aren't you?" "No", McCartney replied. "I'm just a busker..." His busking scene can be seen in the film, though not this exchange. All the others in the scene are real people who didn't have a clue it was him.

Gere is pushing 70

64 is pushing 70?

That must be the new math I have been hearing so much about.

"he reacted in the best way possible"

Heck, his reaction got him a free pizza! Hee hee!

This happened to me, I was working at a major bank in New York and all of sudden it went bankrupt. So I told a lie to the government that our economy would fall apart if they didn't give me some money. It worked.

Well, let us hope that in the future, if Richard Gere, sees poor people in need, that he will also do the right thing. Merci lady from France!

I offered an onagiri to a homeless man rummaging through rubbish last month, he replied, 'iranai'.

Did they use a camouflaged camera team?

I wish I was the French tourist, I love to see Richard Gere, his one of my favorite American actor... and more blessings to the French tourist for having a nice heart.....

With a kind of cinema verite approach, directors will tell the actors to blend in with real street scenery, especially for scenes with no dialog, or maybe even improvise some lines, etc. Take a look at "MIdnight Cowboy" (a hugely influential film).

I kind of doubt that, as much as I'd like to believe this story. New York City charges upwards of a million dollars to shoot on their city streets, and you can bet they're not going to let stray "citizens" wander through and ruin a scene. Not only that but they have plenty of hired NYPD cops around protecting the "talent."

Not only that, but the legalities are so complicated that if they even shoot somebody's foot in a movie, they've got to get all kinds of releases, and legal protection, so that person doesn't later claim any kind of copyright or anything.

Nice story, but sadly, very fake. I'm fairly confident the french women as in on it.

@gaijinfo

Nice story, but sadly, very fake.

It's apparently so fake that it's even been published in French media...

I'm fairly confident the french women as in on it.

Don't quite know what you mean by this ?

Having been around movies sets, this woman was either the most oblivious person on the planet or the story is made up. An open air movie set will have camera(s) on dollies, large lighting units, large support trucks (often tractor trailer combinations), make-up trailers, "star" trailers, and as many as a dozen crew members wandering around. She somehow missed all this?

That the story appeared in the Post makes it all the more suspect.

I was thinking the exact same thing, I too, as well worked for many years in TV and you could see the lights, props, not to mention the security and cops all over the place. Could TMZ or the National Enquiry be involved here?

I would like to believe the story.

Publicity stunt to promote the movie?

@Stewart GaleAPR. 29, 2014 - 10:31AM JST I don't quite understand the scenario. They obviously weren't in the middle of filming as should wouldn't have been able to just walk onto the set so why was he going through the rubbish then?

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Usually, cameras are not used for rehearsals. After several rehearsals camera crews come, then filming. It must be back street, not inside of studio, I'd bet. .

"Karine Valnais Gombeau, a 42-year-old Parisian, spotted the actor, a knit cap pulled down over his ears, sifing through rubbish as she came out of a pizzeria near Grand Central Station in Manhattan... “I tried to tell him in English, but it came out half in French,” she told the Post. “I said, ‘Je suis desolee [I am sorry], but the pizza is cold.’”

Cripes, they sell cold pizzas in Manhattan?

igloobuyer: "I offered an onagiri to a homeless man rummaging through rubbish last month, he replied, 'iranai'."

Maybe if you'd offered him an onigiri, ha ha

I once offered my pizza to a beggar in Capetown, he got all kinda angry at my because he was hoping for money I guess.

Not everyone likes Chicago-style.