Richard Gere is more than just an executive producer on "Wisdom of Happiness," a documentary about his longtime friend, the Dalai Lama.
"I've never worked so hard to get a movie I'm associated with shown to the world," the American actor, who first met the Dalai Lama some 45 years ago, told Variety.
“I think this is important enough that I have to give my last bit of energy to get it out there for the world to see. At the very least, it will plant a seed in the minds of people who see it," he emphasized.
The film chronicles the life of the then 89-year-old Dalai Lama. It features the Nobel Peace Prize laureate speaking directly to the camera as if having a one-on-one conversation with the viewer.
Richard Gere joined the documentary as an executive producer after directors Philip Delakis and Barbara Miller showed him an early version.
Gere, along with longtime collaborator writer-director Oren Moverman, spent a month helping to rework the film and add new musical score.
Throughout the film, the Dalai Lama recalls memories of his childhood and his family. He also offers guidance on the pursuit of happiness and his belief that compassion and giving are the keys to achieving "peace of mind."
“When I first saw her about a year ago, I thought of his approaching 90th birthday.
I said: "This is great and I think we can make it even better"" said the actor. “Everything was falling into place and I was thinking, yes, this is the center of a celebration of this extraordinary life. But in the meantime, the world has gotten so much crazier that it's taken on a different kind of life for me. There's a healing quality, I think, to this film at a time when there's a deep sickness."
The Dalai Lama asks the audience to "take a deep breath, step back and ask yourself," Gere explains.
“We are on a very wrong path here, and things have gotten worse in recent years. Even a sense of basic kindness is missing in the way people talk to each other. Obviously, that comes from our leaders, especially the one we have now. How did this happen? We were responsible. We all have to take credit and responsibility for this," he noted.
"If we want a world a certain way, then we have to elect leaders who have a similar vision to us and who will lead us to that higher level of potential – to who we are as individuals and how we can create a world, a society where people can live with each other instead of this battlefield every day, all day, with madness," said Richard Gere.
Since meeting the Dalai Lama, Gir has been an ardent activist for Tibetan independence. He was banned from the Academy Awards for 20 years when, off-script, during a presentation at the event in 1993 he denounced China's policy in Tibet.
"I didn't take it too personally," said the actor. “I didn't think there were bad guys in the case. I do what I do and I certainly have no intention of harming anyone. I want to hurt anger. I want to damage the block. I want to damage human rights violations," he explained.
