Richard Gere has friends in spy places. “I had CIA friends actually over the years, and so I had kind of an insider’s view of what it feels like,” the actor says of how he got into the mindset of his character, irascible CIA London Bureau Chief, code-named Bosko, in the psychological spy thriller The Agency.
We spoke with Gere about his pivotal role in this fresh take on the 2015 French hit Le Bureau des Legendes. The riveting new 10-parter digs deep into the emotional effects of living undercover in a life-risking job.
“Part of Bosko is that he’s caught in the big game and the small game. He sees the macro and the micro, and his job is to bridge those two things,” Gere told us. “At the same time, he’s managing complicated people, doing complicated jobs.”
Those complicated people are portrayed by a stellar cast. At the center is a covert agent, code-named Martian (Michael Fassbender) who’s ordered to return to London Station from an assignment in Ethiopia, leaving behind his lover, married Samia (Jodie Turner-Smith). She soon shows up in town, leading some to wonder if she’s in the game herself.
A more immediate crisis unfolds when an operative disappears in Belarus potentially putting other assets at risk. Bosko, Martian, and the head of strategy Henry (Jeffrey Wright) are sweating a solution when a psychologist (Harriet Sansom Harris) arrives to assess the staff’s mental health. Impeccable timing.
Gere says everyone in the cast would make a great spy. “Actors are liars. Everything we do is a lie. I mean, there’s a truth behind the lie, but basically, we’re liars. We make up realities. We make up people and we make them believable. Actors notice details. Much of our work is detail work and being alive in the moment. And if you’re going to be a spy, you got to have both those things.”
Gere himself has no desire for real-life espionage adventures. “I just want to go work in the garden. I just want to grow something nice and have some tea and hang out with my kids. Make love to my wife. That’s what I want to do.”
Watch the video above for the full interview.
The Agency, Series Premiere, Friday, November 29, 9/8c, Paramount+ With Showtime
