Gere has visited Israel in the past, and met with former president Shimon Peres on a 2004 visit.
By HANNAH BROWNRichard Gere arrives for a premier(photo credit: REUTERS)
Richard Gere, who stars in Joseph Cedar’s latest film, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, is arriving in Israel ahead of the movie’s Israeli premiere on Wednesday night in Jerusalem.The movie will open in theaters throughout Israel on Thursday. Gere will participate in a press conference on Thursday morning at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, along with Cedar and Ashkenazi.Gere plays the title role, a would-be deal-maker who does a favor for an Israeli politician (Lior Ashkenazi). When the politician becomes prime minister, Norman discovers that cashing in on his connection is more complicated than he thought.Gere has visited Israel in the past, and met with former president Shimon Peres on a 2004 visit. On that visit, he also visited Sderot for the opening of the first Cinema of the South Festival. Norman also features Steve Buscemi, Dan Stevens, Josh Charles, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michael Sheen, Hank Azaria and Isaach De Bankole.The movie has been shown at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. It will open in the US in April. The American-born Cedar is one of Israel’s most acclaimed directors, and his previous two films, Beaufort and Footnote, were nominated for Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film. This is his first film in English.
