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by Jeannie Williams
Thur., Dec. 17, 1998
BALTIMORE -- Watching Richard Gere strolling down a hallway maybe 15 times is not bad duty.
Also delicious is having his columnist character fired from this newspaper, in this movie now shooting.
It all took place Tuesday on the set of Runaway Bride, under the veteran eye of Garry Marshall, who turns the art of directing a movie into a sitcom with his running jokes and wacky caps. (Wednesday, he also judged Christmas trees decorated by the various crews.)
Marshall once again showcases his Pretty Woman co-stars, Gere and Julia Roberts as a feisty woman who fights back at a column he writes about her supposed several almost-weddings. Bride also stars Hector Elizondo, that helpful hotel manager from Woman.
On a visit to the set for a (tiny) appearance in the film, I found all involved secretive about the plot of Bride, despite last week's appearance of tabloid photos suggesting that the columnist, Ike, and Roberts' Maggie do get hitched, on horseback.
There may be as many as five weddings in this movie, which would top a certain other movie with Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell.
Elizondo, with whom I briefly shared a hair/makeup trailer, urged me to try the egg-white omelet from the catering service and told me that he and Marshall think they have a record in making all 11 of Marshall's movies together.
Marshall thinks you'd have to go back to Charlie Chaplin and some of his actors to find another collaboration so frequent. (If you can think of one, let me know.)
''People get fed up with each other,'' said Marshall. ''Hector and I just keep going. We're past fed-up!''
Elizondo has developed an excellent imitation of Marshall's growlly New York-accented voice. Maybe that helps.
One plot line adding spice is that Gere's columnist used to be married to the woman now his boss at USA TODAY, played by Rita Wilson. She's now wed to Elizondo's photographer character.
I couldn't help giving Gere a little grief about his being fired by USA TODAY in the film. ''I will be resurrected!'' he promised, letting slip another plot point.
I suggested his columnist shouldn't treat a regular citizen like Maggie as if she were Madonna, putting her love life in the headlines. (His column calls Maggie a ''maneater'' dressing men up as grooms before devouring them.)
''I make her a story, then I tear her down. That's what the press does best!'' Gere shot back. Obviously, he's enjoying this role, but the prose given him is far more purple and insulting than would be allowed in this newspaper.
He was handsome as ever in a tweedy jacket and corduroys. (Checking those silver locks was his longtime hairstylist, Carol Meikle.)
But let me clue you in now that the USA TODAY movie staff (ties, suits) is far more stylish than most of us real-life PC-pounders at The Nation's Newspaper!
WHERE'S JULIA? Julia Roberts wasn't on the set Tuesday because she was in New York preparing for the premiere of Stepmom that night. She and Susan Sarandon star as the new girlfriend and ex-wife of a man (Ed Harris). Hankies were much in evidence at the screening.
At the Rainbow Room party, Sarandon, with Tim Robbins and her daughter Eva, was glamorous in a Prada gown. Roberts was a gorgeous pink peppermint stick in a Cynthia Rowley gown, with Benjamin Bratt at her side.
