Richard Gere is returning to dramatic cinema with Asymmetry, a romantic drama that teams him with Diana Silvers and marks Edward Zwick’s first film in nearly a decade. The project centers on a chance meeting in Central Park that sparks a relationship with the power to change both lives.
Gere, 70, will play Ezra, a world-renowned novelist whose polished public image hides deep vulnerability and unmet emotional needs. Silvers plays Alice, a young editorial assistant moving through New York’s literary world, and their encounter becomes the emotional engine of the film.
The pairing matters because Gere has appeared in only five films over the past decade, making this a selective return to the kind of dramatic role that helped define his career. His most recent screen credit was Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada in 2024.
Asymmetry arrives with unusual literary pedigree. The source novel, released in 2018, was called a literary phenomenon by The New Yorker, was named by among 15 remarkable books by women shaping the way people read and write fiction in the 21st century, and was selected by former President Barack Obama for his year-end best books list. Edward Zwick said he was charmed by Lisa Halliday’s book because it is emotional, insightful and very funny, and because it is about two people who discover that what the world calls asymmetry can have another name: love.
Marshall Herskovitz is producing, Lisa Halliday contributed to the screenplay adaptation, and Clay Pecorin of Rainmaker Films is on board as co-producer and co-financier. FilmNation Entertainment has secured international sales rights, while CAA Media Finance Group will co-represent domestic rights. Zwick, who has been relatively quiet since 2018 and recently finished his memoir Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions, is using Asymmetry to return to the sort of intimate character drama that made his name. The question now is whether the film can turn a celebrated novel’s literary reputation into the same kind of adult audience draw on screen.
