{"id":603894,"date":"2026-09-18T03:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/603894\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T03:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T03:26:14","slug":"homer-gere-shares-his-theory-about-the-shards-and-robert-mallory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/603894\/","title":{"rendered":"Homer Gere Shares His Theory About ‘The Shards’ and Robert Mallory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains major spoilers from The Shards<\/a> finale, \u201cStairway to Heaven,\u201d and some spoilers from The Shards novel.]<\/p>\n

\n\tHomer Gere<\/a> has a theory about Robert Mallory.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou can\u2019t understand him because, in my opinion, he\u2019s not real,\u201d says the actor who plays the mysterious character in Ryan Murphy<\/a>\u2018s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis<\/a>\u2018 classic novel, which recently concluded<\/a> its nine-episode first season. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe\u2019s a reflection of all the people around him. That\u2019s why, from the viewer side in, in particular, you\u2019re like, Who the fuck is this guy? Why is he acting like this? Why is he so different with all these people? That\u2019s something Ryan [Murphy] brought up early on as an option, and I was like, \u2018That\u2019s kind of great.\u2019 He\u2019s reflecting off every person he\u2019s talking to. It makes him kind of scattered. It\u2019s an incomplete view of a person, because he\u2019s not really a person. That\u2019s the best way I can put it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe season one <\/a>finale of The Shards ended<\/a> on a cliffhanger by design. Creator Murphy, who has taken liberties from the source material, and Ellis have plans<\/a> to turn the show into a three- or four-season offering. So as Gere and the audience await official news on a season two renewal, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with the breakout actor, and son to Richard Gere, about his theories for the show (like why he thinks Robert is definitely not the killer) and how his first major role is changing his life: \u201cI\u2019m feeling pretty good. I\u2019m happy to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tIn interviews you\u2019ve given, I\u2019ve seen you talk about how acting wasn\u2019t always what you wanted to do, and here you are as a great Robert Mallory. I know you landed Euphoria [final season] and The Shards pretty much back-to-back.
I had like two days off in between. It was really kind of amazing how it worked out.<\/p>\n

What gave you the acting bug?
The choice was really made in college. I had a close friend who\u2019s now a producer for Disney who started this club at Brown called Brown Motion Pictures. They get funding from the university to make three or four short films, and they do a whole thing where they cast it and get directors, and they have some screenplays. I had a friend involved with that who connected me with someone else who was doing a student thesis film. She said this role would be really good for me, and I auditioned. I was in a room with, like, 20 people I knew, and it ended up working out. That was the first time I did any acting.<\/p>\n

It was a student film. We had six or seven shoot days, but they were 12-hour days, and that was the first time I felt like I was doing something I could spend that long doing. I wasn\u2019t getting tired. I hadn\u2019t really had an experience like that before. Even though, in my childhood, it was like, \u201cNo, there\u2019s no way that I\u2019m doing this.\u201d Not because I didn\u2019t respect the job, but because I wasn\u2019t a drama kid in high school. It wasn\u2019t in my world. And then I tried it, and I was like, \u201cI should pursue this.\u201d If I can make a living doing something you really like doing, you go for it.<\/p>\n

For The Shards, I read that you first auditioned for Thom, and I know Graham Campbell [who plays Thom] <\/a>also first auditioned for Robert. How did your casting process go?
I never read with Graham\u201a I only ever read with Igby [Rigney, who plays Bret]. I\u2019m not 100 percent sure, but I think the way they did it is the audition for Bret went out first, and everyone did Bret. I think Graham also auditioned for Bret in the beginning, and then they narrowed it down from there. So I got Tom first, and then I sent that in and they said, \u201cMaybe you\u2019re Robert,\u201d and I did Robert. They liked that more. [<\/p>\n

And you hadn\u2019t read The Shards book before you auditioned, right?
No. For the first audition, I was obviously aware of Bret Easton Ellis. I\u2019d seen what everyone else has \u2014 American Psycho, Less Than Zero. But I hadn\u2019t read his books, although my stepbrother gifted me American Psycho when I was 14, which was way too young to have access to that.<\/p>\n

Life has come full circle.<\/p>\n

I know. For the first audition I hadn\u2019t read it, but then I got a callback, and I took that weeks-long period to listen to the audiobook, narrated by Bret Easton Ellis himself, which is really great. It\u2019s really funny and good. I recommend it.<\/p>\n

How did you approach how you wanted to play Robert? Because from the moment we meet him, we can\u2019t quite figure him out, and you keep that up the entire season.
I found it more and more over the course of shooting the season, but one of the basic parts was that I had to maintain that I couldn\u2019t figure him out either. You can\u2019t understand him because, in my opinion, he\u2019s not real.<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

I think this is a guy who doesn\u2019t really exist from his own side. He\u2019s a reflection of all the people around him. That\u2019s why, from the viewer side in, in particular, you\u2019re like, who the fuck is this guy? Why is he acting like this? Why is he so different with all these people? That\u2019s something Ryan [Murphy] brought up early on as an option, and I was like, \u201cThat\u2019s kind of great.\u201d So it became almost in the way that a sociopath or psychopath would be. He\u2019s reflecting off every person he\u2019s talking to. It makes him kind of scattered. It\u2019s an incomplete view of a person, because he\u2019s not really a person. That\u2019s the best way I can put it.<\/p>\n

So he didn\u2019t have sex with Bret (Igby Rigney<\/a>) in episode eight because he\u2019s not real? It was definitively all Bret\u2019s imagination, in your opinion?
I think people are giving Bret way too much trust. That\u2019s kind of the key to the whole story for me: this is a guy who\u2019s retelling his past, 40-something years later. Let\u2019s take it with an ocean of salt.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not the most reliable narrator.
No.<\/p>\n

So if you think Robert could be a figment of some of these characters\u2019 imaginations, what does that say about the serial killer hunting 1981 L.A., The Trawler? Are you guessing it could be one of the main characters, or do you feel like The Trawler is a metaphor as well?
It can be both. From a story perspective, you could pin it on a couple of people, and then from a symbolic perspective, I know Ryan has talked about<\/a> it representing the AIDS epidemic in the early \u201980s. I think that\u2019s powerful, and it speaks to a lot of people\u2019s experience during that time. I have my own opinions about who I think it was in the book, but we\u2019re not at that place in the show yet, so it\u2019s hard to say. And I don\u2019t think it has to be just one person\u201a iI could be a combination of people. But I will say, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s Robert.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

From a viewer perspective, it\u2019s too on the nose. When I was reading it, it was like, \u201cOkay, you\u2019re going to tell me he\u2019s the killer the entire time, and then he is the killer?\u201d It just doesn\u2019t make sense. And there\u2019s another reason from the book, but that\u2019s a big spoiler.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Homer Gere as Robert Mallory, Igby Rigney as Bret.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRay Mickshaw\/FX<\/p>\n

\n\tThe book never identifies who The Trawler is.
Not outwardly, but you see that it\u2019s probably Bret in the book, because he has the scratch on him \u2014 the bite mark from where Susan (played by Kaia Gerber in the show)<\/a> got him. But again, this has nothing to do with the show, because we\u2019re not there yet.<\/p>\n

The Shards finale brings us about a third of the way into the book, right? <\/p>\n

Probably. More or less.<\/p>\n

And it firmly puts you all on the board as suspects, also for Terry\u2019s (Wes Bentley) attempted murder. Do you feel like Robert is on the board for Terry\u2019s finale attack?
From the perspective of Bret, who\u2019s telling the story, totally. I think if Robert so much as looked at Terry, Bret would use that as concrete evidence. But yeah, I think he is. There\u2019s that little moment with Steven [played by Jordan Roth]<\/a> in the finale after the argument between Robert and Bret, and we were like, \u201cWhat are they talking about?\u201d There are seeds to go on. The main throughline is that there\u2019s a lot going on behind the scenes, and little hints throughout the show that support any conclusion you want to make.<\/p>\n

I spoke with Igby Rigney<\/a> earlier this season, and he said that by the end of this season, people will either be Team Bret or Team Robert. He believes in Bret, you believe in Robert. Have you always believed in Robert? Or have there been times when it was hard for you to be the advocate of your character?
There are some things where, as Homer, I\u2019m like, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that if I was innocent.\u201d But I framed it this way: Robert\u2019s the guy who comes to the school and is weirdly mature for his age; he weirdly has this worldliness. I think he\u2019s playing this coy game with everyone, and he sees that Bret is really the only one who\u2019s smart enough and questioning enough to play the game with him. But Robert\u2019s not playing it right, and that pisses him off. So I think it\u2019s all tongue-in-cheek poking. I see why, from Bret\u2019s perspective and the audience\u2019s perspective, that would make them think he\u2019s the killer, but I think there\u2019s a deeper cat-and-mouse game in Robert\u2019s mind. I think it\u2019s a game.<\/p>\n

But yes, I am Team Robert for sure. It would be so weird if Igby and I did not feel that way about our characters.<\/p>\n

Ryan Murphy said<\/a> he and Bret Easton Ellis are aiming for a three- or four-season show. The show has expanded from the source material, so you never know which way Ryan could go. Is there anything you\u2019re really excited to explore in a second season, based on where you ended?
There are some scenes from the rest of the book that I really want to see happen. The finale thing in the apartment with the knives would be so fun to shoot. Obviously, I want to finish out the book. It\u2019s a lovely piece of source material, and I love living in that world with all those people. I want to see what else we can do with Robert\u2019s costume and with his hair \u2014 the hair is a constant evolution. I\u2019m also excited to see what Ryan and the writers throw in, because the \u201cDance Off!\u201d episode was not in the book<\/a>, and that was incredibly fun to shoot.<\/p>\n

I spoke to a few people about your dancing. I know you did it for five nights, probably 100 times during overnight shoots when filming the \u201cRobert\u2019s Party\u201d episode.
That was a tough one. And then I got to do it again [in \u201cDance Off\u201d].<\/p>\n

You liked the dancing?
Yeah. You don\u2019t really get to have an experience like that in any other line of work, both making a fool of yourself and being on top of the world in front of like 300 people. Of course, I want to do more of that.<\/p>\n

Would you call yourself a dancer now? Would you go on Dancing With the Stars?
I\u2019m a dancer for pleasure, for fun. Well, I guess I am a dancer for work now, for this show. I like dancing. I go dancing all the time. But I\u2019d never done any choreography before. I\u2019d like to do more. I took a lot of the moves we used and I\u2019ve been using them all over New York; in my apartment, in other people\u2019s apartments. The move with the shoulder.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKaia Gerber<\/a> and Homer Gere in The Shards\u2019 \u201cDance Off\u201d episode.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFX<\/p>\n

\n\t
When I read your Vogue<\/a> interview, and I also said this to Kaia Gerber, I felt like I was reading a therapy session, because you both opened up about your fears going into the show\u2019s release.
Rob Haskell [the interviewer] is just like a psychiatrist.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Kaia said<\/a>, also. You said you were concerned about Robert not being likable.
That was more about me not being likable. That was Homer.<\/p>\n

How do you feel now, after seeing the reaction to the show and finishing the season?
This is what I thought was going to happen, and I\u2019m really glad that it did: after the [Bret and Robert] hookup scene at the end of episode eight, people see as proof that Bret might not be telling the truth about everything. I think that changed the opinion toward Robert, where maybe we\u2019re not trusting everything Bret\u2019s saying, and maybe Robert\u2019s not as bad as he appears to be. So I think there\u2019s been a shift after that.<\/p>\n

I do think there now exists a Team Robert in a way that didn\u2019t a couple of episodes before the finale. So I think that job is accomplished.<\/p>\n

I also loved reading about how you quickly addressed your parents\u2019 iconic history with Kaia right off the bat. How did you two find your chemistry so quickly after that? [Note: Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford were married in the 1990s.]
She\u2019s just a nice, normal, interesting person, so it wasn\u2019t that hard to find chemistry. It was more like, \u201cAlright, we can\u2019t meet each other and not say something about it, otherwise we\u2019re going to completely ignore it.\u201d It was one of the first things we said, and then we never talked about it after that. It was funny, because I was aware of Kaia, obviously\u201a She\u2019s my dad\u2019s ex-wife\u2019s [Cindy Crawford] daughter\u201a and I\u2019d never met her. And then I met her, and she was normal, and we\u2019re friends. We chat pretty often.<\/p>\n

You two are dating now on the show, so a season two should be interesting.
We\u2019ll see. We\u2019ll see what happens.<\/p>\n

You have a film next, but now you\u2019re also in Ryan Murphy\u2019s world, which means we could always see you in another franchise of his. Do you view this as a launchpad? What\u2019s the Hollywood reaction been, and what do you want to do next?
I think it\u2019s a launchpad in that it\u2019s my first kind of leading role, so in that way, it opens you up to some other interesting things. What I really want to do is work with great directors, people who have a strong vision and an intellectual side to what they\u2019re doing, an artistic side. That\u2019s kind of the whole game when you\u2019re an actor: working with people like that. The reaction\u2019s been good. Having these two projects, Euphoria and The Shards, I\u2019m feeling pretty good. I\u2019m happy to be here, and hopefully some more opportunities come my way.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Shards is now streaming its finale and all of season one on Hulu. Head here for THR\u2018s show coverage.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This story contains major spoilers from The Shards finale, \u201cStairway to Heaven,\u201d and some spoilers from The Shards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[79143,156,79142,297573,67348,111,139,69,24761,188861,437],"class_list":["post-603894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bret-easton-ellis","tag-entertainment","tag-homer-gere","tag-igby-rigney","tag-kaia-gerber","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ryan-murphy","tag-the-shards","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}