Richard Blinky Gere

American thespian who acts almost entirely with his eyelids. Mark is a big fan - despite Gere's being derided in other critical circles for his perhaps limited range, Mark is always excited by the prospect of a Richard Gere movie. In Mark's eyes, Gere is "the best cheesecake in the world" (although Bee Season is cheesecake attempting to be an intellectual fondue). Sometimes - as in the aforementioned Bee Season, where Gere swapped removing his pants for removing his glasses - the blinking becomes even too much for Mark, but then along will come another Hachi: A Dog's Tale and he's safe for another half a decade. Mark considers Gere's finest role to have been in American Gigolo, but also admires his turn in the American remake of We're All Out Of Souffle, as he has better trousers.

Mark also thought it interesting that Gere didn't play a musical instrument while playing a part of Bob Dylan's personality in I'm Not There, as he is "a great musician, though a rubbish actor."

Mark isn't always necessarily that kind to Gere, however - having described Days Of Heaven as "look, Richard Gere can act!" and also saying that Chicago won a Best Picture Oscar despite featuring Richard Gere dancing.