by Martin I. Petrov 

One of the films premiering on the Berlinale red carpet today is The Dinner starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan and Rebecca Hall. The film is directed by Oren Moverman and based on the novel by Herman Koch. 

Initially the film had been developed for Cate Blanchett, who had expressed interest in having her directorial debut, but was later attached to Moverman. 

A lot of interesting facts were mentioned during the official press conference this afternoon, among which Richard Gere referred to working with one of the best directors of his career. “Never felt pressure working with him. Quite short in terms of time but felt so easy.” And he continued, “If you don't trust your colleagues there's no way to build anything. But the director is responsible for creating this atmosphere, and that’s where projects fail or succeed.” 

The actor also admitted that Oren Moverman told him not to read the book. “My challenge was to keep the character alive throughout and to take over the story at certain point.” 

Moverman answered a question about the challenges of adapting a noel of this kind for the cinema saying that “When there is a theatrical aspect to a film it is always better to open it up a bit. That's why I chose to work a lot with flashbacks.” explaining that he didn’t limit the film to the dinner table but used a social background to tie the story. 

Richard Gere closed the press conference with an openly political message, after being referred to as an activist and humanitarian from the audience. “The number of hate crimes  in the US increased significantly when Donald Trump started running for president. We have to be very careful with how we talk to each other; Refugee and terrorist have now the same meaning in the US thanks to Mr. Trump; we are afraid of helping and giving someone a refuge. We have to embrace each other.”