Why The Agency’s Richard Gere always feels like a European actor

Fifty years ago, Richard Gere made his first appearance on a television series, playing a criminal in one episode of Kojak. From then on, it was all movies for the American actor, including iconic performances in An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, and Chicago.

But in 2024, Gere returned to the small screen in his first regular series role, playing CIA London station chief James Bradley, known as Bosco, in the spy drama The Agency (also starring Michael Fassbender and Jeffrey Wright), streaming on Paramount+.

This American remake of the great French series Le Bureau des légendes returns for a second season on June 21st.

Gere, who moved to Spain with his wife Alejandra Silva and their children several years ago, spoke to the Globe and Mail via video call about his thoughts on the role and the geopolitics it dramatizes.

I heard that you and your wife were fans of the original French version of the series. is that so?

Yes, this was one of the few date shows we had because we go to bed so early with our three young children.

Several seasons of the remake have now passed. How do you think it compares to the original?

I haven’t seen it. I don’t like looking at myself.

Understood.

But that’s clearly not the case. It has its own personality. The CIA office set, I had never been on a set this big in my life.

I had a slightly more romantic vision in my head. It was probably a small office like Slow Horse. But the reality is that there is so much money, so much power, so much energy in this American system. It has to be this big company.

There’s a funny line at the beginning of this new season. It’s like, “When did people stop being afraid of us?” Do you think it’s clearly set during a period of decline in American influence?

Yeah, of course, most of it is based on an incompetent president. We are now living through that crisis. As you know, his influence has lasted far too long.

His destruction of the Republican Party was enormous. His lack of understanding of how the world works, his inability to convey subtle ideas and subtle forces to the enemy is completely destroying the US position.

Do you think CIA is more critical of the intelligence community than other CIA shows?

That may be true, but I would like to go further. It makes a point of not mentioning who is the president of the United States, not mentioning the secretary of state’s name, and not mentioning players like Netanyahu. I think you should. Events in this world are too important to be fictionalized any further than necessary.

But people like Bosco, the bureaucrats, are part of a secret world that will continue. After Trump, after Netanyahu, they will still be around.

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Many of the plots involving Bosco this season deal with undercover Iranian agents gathering information about a potential nuclear program. I believe all of that was taken long before America and Israel started their war against Iran.

I think we finished filming the season in September of last year.

How do you think that plotline will land going forward? By the time this airs –

I don’t know. I was watching a program about Tehran. I don’t know if you watch the show?

Yes, on Apple TV.

It’s a great show.

that’s right.

It is also relevant today. Things are moving so fast now. It is impossible to write and film fast enough to keep up with current world events.

But clearly we all face similar precarious situations in the world. Obviously, instability in Russia and Ukraine will continue for some time, and the Middle East will continue for some time as well. China is a really interesting place. I would like to know more about China and their far-reaching 100-year plan to conquer the world.

You moved to Spain a few years ago. Do you feel like a European actor now?

I think I’ve always felt the same way. The films we were trying to make in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s certainly reflected European directors. The young Turks who were making films at the time, the directors I worked with, all wanted to make American versions of European films.

You say you don’t watch your TV show. Are you watching your son Homer on HBO’s Euphoria?

I saw the first episode he was in. I know there’s another episode coming out. I haven’t seen it yet, but I definitely plan on watching it.

If the Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger goes through, the show could eventually be distributed on the same streaming service that brings all of the U.S. gear together in one place.

Well, he’s great. This was late in his life. He is now 26 years old, but only recently decided to try his hand at acting. He was in the middle of earning a degree in psychology and a degree in visual arts from Brown University.

My first impulse was probably to discourage him from doing this, but actually he’s really talented in his own right. he is very smart. I think he will stay healthy throughout this process.

This interview has been edited and condensed.