Richard Gere admits “I cried like a baby” while reading Hachiko script

October 16, 2009 by Cathy Ribble
Filed under: News

hachiko_a_dogs_story_poster Richard Gere admits, “I cried like a baby,” when reading the the script of his new dog lover’s movie, “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story”. He waited a few days, read it again and had the same reaction.

After the film was screened out of the competition at the Rome International Film Festival recently, Gere told reporters he even choked up when discussing the film at dinner with friends.

Gere stars as the professor in the new movie which takes place in Rhode Island. Lasse Hallstrom is the director of the remake of the 1987 Japanese movie about the loyalty and devotion of an Akita dog, Hachiko, to Dr. Eisaburo Ueno, a professor at Tokyo University. Hachiko was a white male Akita dog born in Odate, Japan in 1923. The professor traveled to work each day by train. On May 21, 1925, when the dog was eighteen months old, the professor failed to return home from work. He had suffered a stroke and died at the university. Every day for nine years the dog returned to the station to wait for his master and then walked home alone.

The story became a legend in Japan. As news spread of the animal’s death, contributions poured in from throughout the world for the erection of a statue at the train station. The bronze statue erected at Hachiko’s waiting spot is a tribute to the Akita breed’s loyalty and faithfulness to its owners. The dog’s body was preserved and remains on display at The Tokyo Museum of Art.

View the trailer: