Gere - Dr. T and the Women

Richard Gere heads an ensemble cast as Dr Sullivan Travis, a man at the top of his game, a rich and successful Dallas gynaecologist who worships women.

Surrounded by them at home and at work, he is certain he knows what makes them tick - but, beneath the surface, trouble is brewing.

Professionally, Dr T is losing ground to his overbooked schedule, despite the best efforts of his devoted chief nurse (Shelley Long).

His home life starts to boil over as well: his beloved wife (Farrah Fawcett) has regressed into a childlike state just as plans for the upcoming wedding of their cheerleader daughter (Kate Hudson) are shifting into top gear.

Overwhelmed by the mounting chaos, Dr T begins to spend more time at his country club's golf course, adding a new woman to his life - the easy-going golf pro (Helen Hunt).

Pulling the strings behind this modern day Story of Job is director/producer Robert Altman, best known for The Player, Short Cuts and M*A*S*H.

For him, casting the film was a particular delight.

Once casting was complete, he says: "I knew 85 per cent of my job was done, most of my creative work finished.

The actors know what to do.

Mainly, I'm just here to turn off the light switch."

From the start, he could only see Richard Gere as the gynaecologist of choice for women, young and old alike.

Says his leading man: "This story is just incredibly fresh and probably the straightest character I've ever played.

He's a real Republican, a gynaecologist to the country club set... a good, solid guy who loves his family.

He genuinely loves women.

They're everywhere in his life.

Even his shotgun is named after a woman.

Everything is a woman's energy.

And he won't allow his hunting buddies to say anything negative about women because women to him are saints."

Gathering the necessary medical information to play a gynaecologist was simplified for Gere as his wife was expecting a baby at the time.

Altman's willingness to allow his actors to improvise and surprise him with their characters' development helped to lure his all-star cast.

Helen Hunt, who plays Dr T's lover, says: "I am a big fan of his movies and was very curious about the Altman experience.

It was crazy, a great experience.

There was a very high oestrogen factor on this set.

"I liked that it was a story about a man finding himself in a sea of women.

I know a lot of men who are surrounded by women, raised by women and have to sort of break free from them in order to rediscover themselves.

That's actually what I liked about it."

Hunt, who had never swung a golf club before accepting the part, took lessons before filming got under way.

Farrah Fawcett, meanwhile, literally gives the film her all, stripping down to the character's core, a surprise twist that occurs at the beginning of the film in a fountain.

"She becomes very uncomplicated, mentally," explains Fawcett.

"There's a contradiction here, because her condition complicates everyone else's life, but for her, she's trying to simplify things."

For Kate Hudson, who plays daughter Dee Dee, her character must choose between society's expectations and being true to herself.

Hudson explains: "Dee Dee just goes along with the way things are supposed to be until she realises her heart is somewhere else and that's more important.

"The problem is, Dee Dee is the daughter of a wealthy, prominent Dallas doctor and impetuous behaviour isn't easily accepted.

But she has no control over how she feels, and that's the beautiful thing about love, the lack of control."