Richard Gere told Variety that he initially turned down the role of Bosco, the CIA’s London station chief, in the Paramount+ series “The Agency.”
The screen icon agreed to appear after showrunners Jez and John-Henry Butterworth rewrote the part following extensive notes from Gere.
The show, which stars Michael Fassbender as an undercover agent unable to adapt to civilian life, is an adaptation of Eric Roschamp’s French Canal+ series Le Bureau des Légendes. Jeffrey Wright and Jodie Turner-Smith also star in the US/UK version.
According to Gere, fans hoping to see more of Bosco’s backstory in season 2 will be disappointed. However, the actor said he enjoyed putting himself in the role of bureau chief, and spoke of himself in the third person to the cast and crew, saying, “When I walk into a room, I’m the boss. I don’t ask for it, and neither does Richard Gere. But when Bosco walks into the room, he’s the boss and everyone has to acknowledge that.”
Read more of Variety’s interview with Gere below.
What will we see from Bosco in season 2?
To tell you the truth, I don’t even remember. To be honest, it was a long time ago. i don’t remember.
When did you finish filming?
I think the second time I finished it was last September.
Do you remember if we get to see a little more of Bosco’s backstory?
No, I don’t want to – no. There were some things that I didn’t originally write. I originally didn’t want to do this (the show), but they (the writers/producers) said, “So how do we make you want to do this?” And I said, “Well, let’s think about it.” I said I didn’t want to have any backstory with him, I didn’t think it would be helpful. I think it’s better not to know much about him. We know him only through our experiences with him, not because we are told anything about him or that he had a wife or children or anything. To me, that’s irrelevant when it comes to this storytelling. He is only in that office.
Why didn’t you initially consider joining “The Agency”?
I was going to accept it, but I didn’t think so — I thought it was well written, but I didn’t think the characters were as interesting to me as they were originally written. I thought the French original “Le Bureau des Légendes” was a wonderful work. I think my wife and I watched most of it together. But for me, I wasn’t particularly interested in the characters that they wrote, so that was the process that we went through.
Did you sit down with Jez Butterworth to talk about the character?
We talked on Zoom, we talked on Zoom, and you know, I was kind of candid with him. I said, look, the way you write it makes it feel like a generic character and not very interesting. So they started asking, “What’s interesting to you?” So I started riffing on that, and they’re very sensitive to actors. Some were big, some were small, and there were a lot of “meh” moments. And they came back to me beautifully finished and much more interesting than the original solution to the storytelling problem.
Did those Zooms continue into season 2?
No, we talked about it, and sometimes through directors and producers and others, we said, “We need to work on this.” They always responded really quickly.
Was Jez on set for season 2?
I don’t remember him being on set, no.
How is Bosco different from the French version of Henri Duflot (played by Jean-Pierre Darussin)?
It’s a different kind of character and (the French version is) not an Alpha personality. He’s just different, I’m not going to characterize him that way. I said there was no point in doing exactly what was done in France.
It’s interesting how international adaptation reflects cultural differences. American CIA directors are usually portrayed as more alpha than their European counterparts.
Well, you’re dealing with a lot more resources, a lot more power, a lot more range. So what’s available to the director of the CIA — and in fact, there’s a major bureau in Africa, like the one in London that covers all the former Soviet Union countries and the Middle East — so it’s just like a giant office. I remember the first time I came to the scene. It was a sound stage on the outskirts of London. I was expecting a more sedate office, but when I walked in, I realized that this was an Apple company. There are huge buildings, high technology, huge offices, and hundreds of clerks and agents. And my office. I had envisioned an office that was a little cuter, but it was a very high-tech (set) thing and I had to adjust it a bit before seeing it. But the truth is, this is America’s power.
Did you talk to real CIA agents to prepare for the role?
Well, I’ve known the CIA agents and the Secret Service guys for decades, so I know the territories and the big names in that world, and it’s a balancing act. They’re real people, they have real relationships, they’re goofy, they love sports, they discuss sports, they’re quirky, they’re quirky, and at the same time they’re dealing with power structures, but they’re dealing a lot with fluid power structures. The president is appointed for four years, up to eight years, and rotates. Republicans are in power, Democrats are in power, and everything changes. But this underground world of ghosts and agents is international. It will be maintained. No matter who is president, prime minister or prime minister, this world beneath the skin is always there and will never go away.
Are there any similarities between what you do as an actor and what agents in the field do?
So, yeah, I think that’s why there’s always violence at the edges of cop stories, spy stories, their stories, their worlds, and there’s always a center of who’s telling the truth and who’s lying. It means you have to be very intuitive with psychology, emotions, spirit, all of that. You need to be able to read the atmosphere in the room and the atmosphere of the people very quickly and accurately. At the same time, you have to be a top professional, you have to be skilled, you have to be able to get into trouble and get out of trouble quickly. And you have to have the big picture of, “No, you can take this exit right now, but that’s not going to get you where you want to go. It’s going to be harder to get here, but that’s the best outcome for all of us.”
There was a moment early on when I first started shooting, where I was talking to the other actors and the director and everything, and I was like, “Look, guys,” and I was like, “When I walk into the room, I’m the boss. I’m not asking for it – Richard Gere isn’t asking for it – but when Bosco walks into the room, he’s the boss and everyone has to acknowledge that.”
You don’t have to be your own boss. Under the circumstances, it makes sense. Whether you’re playing a king, a president, or whatever, you don’t have to go out of your way to say, “I’m the king.” No, it’s natural within our structure. There is a hierarchy and it is clear.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
