RICHARD GERE balked at the sentimental ending of movie classic AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN and urged director Taylor Hackford not to shoot it.
Hackford was inclined to agree with his star until a rehearsal of the scene turned extras into sobbing wrecks.
In the now-famous scene, sailor Gere arrives at his lover's factory and sweeps her off her feet, while wearing his bright white military uniform.
Celebrating the movie's upcoming 25th anniversary, Gere says, "I said, 'We can't shoot that scene. It's never gonna work, ever. It's totally hokey, total bulls**t. No one is gonna believe it. We're just wasting our time and energy and I'm gonna get pissed off shooting it because I know it's not gonna be in the movie.' Hackford adds, "The producer said, 'I don't want it in the movie. I don't think it fits.' "But we shoot it anyway and all of a sudden this guy came walking in in this white suit in rehearsal and he walks over to Debra Winger and he kisses her and he picks her up.
"I hear this noise from this group of women extras literally crying wiping the tears away and I said, 'That's it, we're using it.'" Gere is now convinced his director made the right decision: "I saw it later in an early cut and it still wasn't working for me... Then Taylor got the music, Up Where We Belong, right underneath it and he got it with the right tempo and it put chills up the back of my neck."