GerardButler Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Scottish sensation otherwise known as Gerard Butler was able to add "successful producer" after his Evil Twins' Law Abiding Citizen enjoyed a fair amount of box office success. Not content to rest on his laurels, he's working on getting several projects off the ground and was happy to describe a few of them to Film School Rejects. While the previously announced Teacher Man and A Hanging Tale remain on his plate, Butler was eager to talk about Slide. Let's let him take it away, shall we?

"There's a few different projects that we've been working on, but there's one in particular – it's a movie called Slide about a former baseball player who goes back to try and patch things up with his child and estranged wife and ends up coaching the kid's baseball team," Butler said. "He becomes the subject of fascination and [longing] by every bored housewife in the town. And it's him trying to survive that while trying to patch things up with his kid. I think we're going to have Gabriele Muccino direct the movie. Hopefully. We're in talks with him, and he's very much up for directing it so we'll what happens there."

Butler isn't saying whether he's planning to star or simply act as producer, but the Hottest Guy of the Town angle would suggest that it's being shaped for him to take the lead. Still, one can hope that he remains behind the camera, as Slide
sounds like it veers dangerously close to the rom-com territory he's already spent too much time in. While it's important to remain open-minded (this is obviously in a very early stage, and could strike out altogether), it's not exactly Shakespeare. The world needs more of that, Evil Twins.

Last summer, it was reported that Columbia was setting up a remake of My Fair Lady and that Keira Knightley was pursuing the iconic, Cockney role of Eliza Doolittle. While Knightley has been "attached" ever since, The Telegraph reports that Scarlett Johansson was also vying for the role. But Knightley won out, and the Telegraph not only confirms that she's got the role, but that Joe Wright will be directing. Emma Thompson is writing the script.

Knightley has been taking singing lessons ever since the possibility came up (and I actually think she proved she had a good voice in The Edge of Love), and I think she'll be absolutely charming as Doolittle. But then I'm biased towards her. Even if you aren't (and I expect many "too skinny!" comments), I think the combination of Wright and Thompson pushes this into very, very promising territory. Thompson can do no wrong by me.

What will really tip the balance is who they cast as the grumpy, misogynist Professor Henry Higgins. The Telegraph reports that Daniel Craig is being considered, and he'd certainly be ideal as the grim Higgins, probably moreso than the dapper Hugh Jackman. I wouldn't mind seeing Patrick Wilson become a contender, and I half wonder if Gerard Butler's vocal chords were trotted out on Saturday Night Live as an audition. Just you wait, and practice your R's, and we'll see whose face Knightley must become accustomed to.

UPDATE: Screenrush caught up with Joe Wright, who says he never signed on, and is uninterested. Given the shakiness of the initial report, it's unclear whether Knightley's casting is official either.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, many of you feel my client Gerard Butler should be placed on movie star probation. In the light of new evidence, I plan to petition for a retrial as it would appear that Mr. Butler has abandoned romantic comedies in order to accept a role from England's greatest playwright. Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Butler is taking a role in William Shakespeare's Coriolanus alongside Ralph Fiennes, William Hurt, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jessica Chastain. Fiennes will be playing the lead and will be helming the adaptation in his directing debut, which was adapted by John Logan.

On a very awkward appearance on Baltimore WJX, Butler revealed that his next role would be in Fiennes' adaptation, and he described it as "a passion project" for them both. He didn't specify which role he would be taking on, but I'm hoping it's Coriolanus' sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius. He always looks so good with blood on him, and it would be glorious to watch him fight Fiennes.

Of course, this is Shakespeare and financing could be difficult even with Fiennes at the helm, though a solid cast should help with that. It was one of the projects at the IFF this September, and I hope they found someone to give them some money. Not only does the world always need more Shakespeare, but Butler needs a meaty role now. Seeing as it was Steven Berkoff's Coriolanus was what ushered Butler into acting, I can think of no better production (save perhaps The Scottish Play) that could wrangle him another plea bargain.

Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, or at least that's what the good folks over at Gawker seem to think when it comes to Gerard Butler. In the wake of a number two movie at the box office and some not-so-great reviews of his hosting gig last weekend for SNL, Gawker has issued the Scottish actor the following decree: Gerard Butler, You Are Officially on Movie Star Probation. According to them, it's time we all intervened to save him from himself. But if he doesn't shape up, Gawker has decided the only option is that the actor will be "banned from all movies, tabloids, red carpet affairs, awards ceremonies, and celebrity relationships. If he can stay out of the press for three years, he may be rewarded with the starring role on a CBS procedural." Tough, but fair.

Sure, it's all in good fun, but I'll admit they have a point. I haven't seen Law Abiding Citizen, but even I've been questioning some of the choices on Butler's resume since his break-out turn as the tighty-whitey wearing Spartan in Snyder's 300 (and yes, I'm talking about P.S. I Love You and The Ugly Truth). So even though his celebrity quotient is rising, the quality of his movies isn't and that's a dangerous combination. Butler has a natural charm (and even a damn fine singing voice) which should make him the perfect specimen for leading man status, but you wouldn't know it from his career choices. He isn't the first (or the last) to fall victim to overexposure and bad decisions, but audiences are a fickle sort who can turn on you at the drop of a dime. So let's just hope we can scare him straight.

After the jump: a few more examples of celebrities who have fallen prey to bad career choices and the PR monster known as 'over-hyping'...

As a kid I remember reading in either CRACKED or MAD magazine a parody about movie heroes and villains. The story pointed out how, very often, heroes are much ruder and less well behaved than villains. For example, James Bond will burst into an enemy hideout; the villain will remark, "ah... Mr. Bond. Welcome to my humble abode." And Bond will say, "I'm going to take you down, you snake!" That's a crude example, but you get the drift. The new Law Abiding Citizen is like that, all the way through. The hero is a slick, well-dressed sort who is more concerned with his personal advancement than with the well-being of others. The villain is a highly intelligent, highly trained killer who is trying to rid the world of something broken and corrupt. The villain longs for his dead wife and daughter, while the hero neglects his wife and daughter. Whenever they meet, the villain speaks cordially to the hero, and the hero snaps back with a nasty attitude.

I suspect that, at some point, some clever screenwriter -- perhaps credited writer Kurt Wimmer -- intended all this stuff on purpose, like a subversive, twisted version of the usual Hollywood thriller dynamic. But director F. Gary Gray either did not pick this up or has chosen to ignore it, and presents Law Abiding Citizen as a straight-ahead thriller. Likewise, Jamie Foxx, cast as the good guy lawyer, seems to expect his natural charisma to make up for his character's moral center, and his performance comes across as rigid and unsympathetic. As the bad guy, Gerard Butler fares only slightly better, but only because his character is smarter, with more playful dialogue.

Click image below for full poster

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Law Abiding Citizen, the latest action film from Set It Off and The Italian Job director F. Gary Gray. Starring Jamie Foxx as a jaded public defender who cuts a deal with the murderer of Gerard Butler's wife and child in exchange for a testimony that will fry bigger underworld fish. Not satisfied with the swift indifference of the justice system, Butler then decides to go on a city wide rampage against both the criminals and the complacent bureaucrats that ruined his life.

Only Butler's plan for due justice is more complicated than any of the clueless courtroom regulars can imagine, and it isn't until the titular Law Abiding Citizen intentionally allows himself to be arrested that the full extent of his wrath comes to scale.

If the trailer is any indication, F. Gary Gray's return to action films (after the regretful diversion that was Be Cool) looks to set the bar for revenge films in Hollywood. Not only is the cast great (which includes Leslie Bibb and Josh Stewart in addition to Foxx and Butler), but the sheer breadth of its explosiontastic search for justice - which looks like Die Hard: With a Vengeance swallowed Ransom, Death Sentence, and Se7en - is enough to draw a new line in the vigilante sand.

Law Abiding Citizen hits theaters October 16th from Overture Films.

A colleague of mine once observed that the very manner by which Chev Chelios had to keep himself alive in the Crank films respectively represented the approach that writing/directing team Neveldine/Taylor took for each of them, which is to say that Crank 1 was all about keeping our hearts racing and Crank 2 was all about shocking us as an audience. It's a simple, literal assessment that nonetheless cleared up why yours truly was a fan of the first and yet let down by the second -- I'd rather be excited than appalled any day.

And at the intersection of 'thrill' and 'shock' is precisely where N/T's latest, Gamer, falls, and it succeeds considerably more when it's shooting for the former than when it's reveling in the latter.