Richard Gere explains why he'll never run for office

By : Kirthana Dewi

Richard Gere may play a politician in his new movie "The Dinner," but he tells CNN he has "zero" interest in running for office.

"I have no interest, none, zero, there's not even a speck of me that goes 'boy, 'I'd really want to be a politician,'" Gere said.

The actor, a longtime advocate for Tibetan independence and human rights, said he prefers promoting change as a private citizen.

"It's really easy speaking," Gere explained. "I don't have to compromise with anything. The realm of politics is everyday, every moment, compromising somehow. I don't have the patience for it."

Gere has starred in more than 50 films over the past four decades, motivated by "love."

"The only way you can work is if [the project] touches you some way and some kind of creativity opens up," he said. "I call it a falling in love. I don't know why exactly, you can be rational about it but that's pointless. You either feel it or you don't. You connected to it, the material, the story, the character."

Gere has earned some of the best reviews for starring in smaller, independent films like "The Dinner," in which is plays a gubernatorial candidate hiding a dark family secret.

But he doesn't intentionally try to avoid another blockbuster like "Pretty Woman."

"It's about the best script. It's the same movies that I think I've always made, it's just studios don't make them anymore. So, they are independent movies and thankfully, I made enough money in the old days that I can afford to do movies for nothing."

"The Dinner" hits theaters May 5.