20 Things You Didn’t Know About Midnight Express
6. Richard Gere Was Favoured To Play Billy Hayes
After several well-received credits in dramatic roles, Casablanca FilmWorks insisted on Richard Gere playing the leading role in Midnight Express. Gere was young, attractive, and relatively unknown. The studio believed these characteristics made him ideal for the main role of Billy Hayes in the prison break drama.
Alan Parker had a couple of casting meetings with the young actor, but Gere refused to cold read the script. In an interview, Parker stated that that was common during the 70s once a young actor had felt they had ‘made it.’ However, due to his refusal, the director felt unable to commit to the studio’s preferred leading actor. Richard Gere went on to star in the 1979 war movie Yanks.
Gere’s following roles would cement his legacy as a credible leading man in Hollywood throughout the 80s and 90s. While he has some stellar dramatic roles under his belt, it is still hard to imagine Richard Gere going as deep into the character of Billy Hayes as the fantastic Brad Davis.