“American Gigolo” actress Gretchen Mol said co-starring in the new Showtime series was a throwback to an earlier phase in her career.
“One of my first films that I ever did was a [1999] Paul Schrader film called ‘Forever Mine,’ which not many people saw,” Mol, 49, told The Post. “But it was Joseph Fiennes and the late Ray Liotta, and it felt like it had similar themes — this idea of denying love. And then it had that crime thriller aspect to it as well. There were times I would be working on this [show] that I would feel us revisiting those Schrader themes.
“It was such a long time ago that I did that film, but I felt comfortable in that world, like I understood it.”
Premiering Sept. 9 (streaming) and Sunday, Sept. 11 (9 p.m. on Showtime), “American Gigolo” is based on the 1980 Schrader film of the same name, starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. The series follows Julian Kaye (Jon Bernthal), a former gigolo who spent 15 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. After he’s exonerated, he scrambles to rebuild his life — which includes putting together the puzzle of who framed him for the crime, and also reuniting with his former flame, Michelle Stratton (Mol).
“[Jon Bernthal] is fantastic. He’s a great actor and really a warm kind person,” Mol said. “He’s very collaborative [and] we had a really good time. I was excited about the opportunity to play this woman in two different time periods, and [to] see how the 15 years that the love of her life has been in prison has changed her. The opportunity to play that time passing in a person, and just a real love affair between these two people, was intriguing to me. This woman falls in love with a gigolo, and all that that entails emotionally.”
Mol is no stranger to noir stories or thrillers, having starred in the 1999 film “The Thirteenth Floor,” HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” “Perry Mason” and “Yellowstone.”
“[The genre] always interests me, because when done well, like Hitchcock, it’s such a fun thing to watch. It’s so compelling and exciting and it keeps you coming back for more,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to explore character, but there’s still a driving force behind it, which is how did these characters land where they are, and why? And also, sort of stylistically, it’s fun to be in LA and have things be sort of pulpy.”
“American Gigolo” jumps back and forth between 2006, before Julian is incarcerated, and 15 years later after he’s released. His line of work isn’t the only thing complicating his relationship with Michelle: she’s also married to tech billionaire Richard Stratton (Leland Orser), and she’s got a teen son.
“She’s attracted to Julian because she can relate. She can understand him as someone who deals in these transactional relationships. I think in her own life she’s doing it with her husband. She’s chosen to have some sense that she’ll be taken care of. You kind of have two very different women,” said Mol, referring to the version of her character in the 2006 timeline, and in the present day. “One who has been damaged by the fact that she was at the beginning of the rest of her life with this love affair and this man, and it all got cut short, and she’s still married. When you deny what love can be, she’s sort of a traitor to herself in the modern time.”
Mol saw the movie years ago, but didn’t revisit it before co-starring in the show.
“I had a recollection of it. It made an impact when I saw it, I had never seen anything quite like that. But I also knew that [the show] was a modern-day reimagining of that tale,” she said. “It’s going to be very different just in terms of what being a gigolo would be, now. I remember it was such a stylish piece [and] I remember Lauren Hutton and Richard Gere having such an iconic presence.”
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