A woman visiting from Paris encountered an unexpected sight in New York City when she noticed a man rummaging through a trash can for food. Not recognizing him as Richard Gere, she offered her assistance.

“It’s hard to believe something like this could happen,” the woman said, moved by the situation, as she kindly provided the supposed homeless man with fresh food.

Back in 2014, Richard Gere was in New York for the filming of Time Out of Mind, a drama co-starring Kyra Sedgwick and Steve Buscemi.

At 74 years old, Gere took on the role of George, a man battling mental illness and forced to live on the streets after being evicted from his squat in an apartment.

On the inaugural day of filming, Director Oren Moverman asked Gere to fully immerse himself in the experience of homelessness for a scene. Clad in tattered clothing, Gere found himself amid the everyday hustle and bustle of the city’s streets.

Gere admitted he initially felt uneasy about filming amidst the urban chaos. Yet, when he ventured through New York dressed as a homeless man, seeking change with an empty coffee cup, few citizens acknowledged him.

“During the first shot, I stood in character for more than 40 minutes, and no one made eye contact,” Gere recounted. “I blended into the crowd as if I wasn’t a movie star. Normally, my presence as Richard Gere wouldn’t last in that environment for half a minute.”

Interestingly, his transformation wasn’t a result of heavy makeup or a disguise.

Gere explained, “It was about the absence of my movie star persona. It turns out, people’s perceptions are guided more by body language and locale than by appearance, painting a false narrative.”

Director Moverman further elaborated, “Nobody gave him any money or acknowledged him. This underscored our message: homeless individuals are around us everywhere, and yet they remain unseen.”

Undercover Homeless

A photograph of Gere soon made rounds on social media. Viewers speculated that the star of An Officer and a Gentleman was incognito to raise awareness about homelessness. The post swiftly gained traction, reaching nearly two million people, with rumors suggesting he handed out $100 bills to every homeless person he encountered.

Looking to clear up any misrepresentations, Gere—who typically shuns social media—borrowed actress Jenna Malone’s Facebook page to set the record straight.

“Hello, I’m Richard Gere. I was amazed to learn that a photo of me appeared on a fan page claiming I was homeless in New York City,” he wrote.

He clarified that the background story attached was “pure fiction” and that he was merely filming for a movie, not conducting a social experiment. He also denied the claims of distributing $100 bills.

Cold Pizza

Despite no change being dropped into his cup, one woman noticed him.

As Gere, resembling a vagrant in an old tuque and ragged attire, scoured the trash near Grand Central Station, Karine Gombeau, with her husband Bruno and teenage son visiting from Paris, spotted him.

They mistook him for an actual homeless person, never realizing it was Gere beneath the tattered clothing.

Distressed, Gombeau, then 42, approached him with leftovers of a large pizza she and her family couldn’t finish at a nearby Italian restaurant, she recounted to The New York Post.

Accepting the offering, Gere asked, “What’s in the bag?”

She struggled to articulate in English, partially replying in French, “Je suis désolée [I’m sorry], but the pizza is cold.”

Despite this, the multimillionaire graciously took the food and said, “Thank you so much. God bless you.”

Gombeau, who works within the travel industry, was pained by the number of homeless people she saw in the city.

“It truly saddens me to see us waste food while they have none. It’s deeply moving,” she expressed.

Surprise!

Two days later, a hotel employee gave Gombeau a local newspaper, where she astonishingly saw a photo featuring herself and Gere.

“It was surreal… an unbelievable story. It’s hard to imagine such a thing happening,” she affectionately remarked.

She admitted, “Gere remains very handsome, even now.” However, she playfully critiqued, “While Pretty Woman wasn’t my cup of tea, I absolutely adored Chicago.”

The family, unaware they wandered onto a set, had a clue they overlooked.

As her husband filmed Grand Central Station, people suddenly emerged from different areas, instructing them not to film.

She mentioned, “People seemed to appear from subways. It was all quite baffling.”

It is indeed essential to remember that Gere wasn’t undercover as a homeless man experimenting, but rather he was acting for a role!

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