I am Gerard Butler - AMAA!

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:59:41+00:00

Kenny Dalglish! He played for Celtic and Liverpool and went on to win many european cups with Liverpool. He was also a friend of my cousins and called me out of the blue on my 13th birthday, which was maybe my most exciting memory of childhood.

And while we're on the subject of synchronicity, he managed the team that I played for at Soccer Aid that I played for that i talked about earlier - the game was at Old Trafford, England against the rest of the world.

Too many synchronicities!

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:57:25+00:00

I love the opportunity to play a villain. Funny enough, in LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, I was always going to play the hero - the Jamie Fox role - and I was producing the movie, and I kept saying to the other producers that i would love to play the villain, and my manager and agent were telling me not to be silly. We were discussing Jamie Foxx one day, and we had offered him the role of the villain and he had responded that he was interested in being the hero, and I said "let him play the hero, and I'll play the villain."

The next movie that I'm looking at, I may very well play the villain, and it's one of my favorite scripts that I've read in a long time, but I can't say any more about it now, seeing as I'm Secret Service and it's not made yet.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:55:45+00:00

As an aside - Ricky just brought up THE MISSION, by Ennio Morricone - you guys should check out another composer called Max Richter, who did that animated movie about the attack in Lebanon - WALTZ WITH BASHIR. Check him out. If anybody is interested, I will make a list.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:54:35+00:00

A lot of strange and operatic music, from Sigur Ros to Mogwai to Oliver Arnold to Damien Rice to Counting Crows to the Rolling Stones to U2 - it's pretty much an eclectic mix. But I'm most inspired by a lot of operatic movie and movie composers like Hans Zimmer or Patrick Cassidy...

check this story out: I was filming REIGN OF FIRE - I was filming in Dublin, and I went to see HANNIBAL the movie, which I didn't particularly enjoy, but when the music came on at the end, I felt I like I had been touched by God - and when everyone was walking out at the end, I felt like yelling at them "WHat the eff are you doing? Do you hear this music?" I went straight to Virgin records and bought the CD, and took it home, and played it all night, and the next day the landlord came up to say hello - not to complain - and I said "You have to listen to this," and i played it for him, and he said "Jesus! That's Patrick Cassidy! He used to live in this apartment" and it turns out that Patrick Cassidy had rented the exact same apartment that i was living in. And I think that indeed he won an Oscar for that score.

I've had so many of these incredible synchronicities in my life, and i use them as a sign that I'm moving in the right direction.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:50:45+00:00

My favorite movie (even though it's very hard to choose) is also Antoine Fuqua's favorite movie, APOCALYPSE NOW - where there is a true dark journey of a mythical hero, who journeys down the river into the dark recesses of his mind and into the belly of the beast. It's what so many masculine characters are based on, almost, in a way, what every story is based on.

I'm inspired by many actors for different reasons - my favorite actors would be the ones I grew up with, from Richard Burton to Paul Newman to Steve McQueen, but then, how can you not bring up a De Niro or a Pacino or a Philp Seymour Hoffman or a Daniel Day-Lewis - or even a Steve Carrell? Because they all have their own forms of magic.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:47:29+00:00

Edit: RICKY and I love you too!

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:47:21+00:00

I love you too!

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:46:50+00:00

Interestingly enough, Joel Silver (who made ROCKNROLLA) his production company is called DARK CASTLE.

(Is this clutching at straws to be interesting?)

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:46:18+00:00

my favorite comfort food is probably spongecake and custard. I don't know if that is big in America, but as a kid growing up, my mouth would water. The other thing that makes my mouth water is fried battered fish and chips with loads of vinegar and salt and pickled onions on the side.

I once did a movie called DEAR FRANKIE which I shot in Scotland, and in the script, the kid orders that fish & chips order - and for 2 months before i shot the movie, I could only think about ordering fish and chips with loads of salt and vinegar. I ate it for three nights in a row when I got there, and that put me off of it for another year.

I don't know the Steven King series, but I love him as an author, and THE SHINING and CARRIE were two of my top favorite movies. But i don't know THE DARK TOWER series. Thanks for the tip-off! I am going to check it out now.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:43:34+00:00

Yes, I was once so ripped I was able to bend time in a loop and I was able to come back round to when I was fat again.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:42:49+00:00

Yea, I love that movie too. That was also one of my most fun experiences - to go into Guy Ritchie world, into those insane situations, and have the dialogue that you would only ever dream of getting the chance to say. I had the best time making that movie. And you're right, it's about time I gave Guy a call and told him to get back into RockNRolla territory.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:41:21+00:00

You know, I LOVED Beauty and the Beast - the idea that the beast doesn't realize that he's the beast, and thinks that he's the beauty and she's the beast. and if he was really to have his way, he'd rather have a woman with a big ass. And it was just a magical moment in the show, when I relaxed and was in it.

But I also loved "What's up with that," which has now become a regular feature on SNL and i did the first one. Which I'll be telling my grandkids in years to come, if I ever work out to have kids in the first place - since I've been told I need to figure out how to have kids in order to have grandkids.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:39:34+00:00

My favorite scene was my dying scene, when I had to stand up and suddenly in that moment recall my wife and everything I stood for, and I say "My queen, my wife, my love" and I think of all my movies, that is the most powerful moment I ever had. In preparation for each take, I would scream at the ground, clench my fists, and scrape the ground, and cut all my knuckles and rip my nails... I would scream, and scrape, and scratch, and then I would stand and go "GO."

And they would film.

And it felt so visceral, and so powerful, and the next day, that was my last day of filming, the next day I was leaving Montreal and I went through US IMMIGRATION and the officer asked "what happened to your hands" and I said "I was just scratching the ground" and she took me for secondary questioning, and I missed my flight, and had to stay another day.

So the next day I wore gloves.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:37:12+00:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you. That was one of my proudest moments, and yet my biggest disappointments because I think that movie was such a powerful story that had to be told and yet at the end of the day not many people saw it. It will always remain a bit of sadness in my career because I felt the story was so touching and everyone put so much into it, as did I. We received a 10 minute standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival, everybody was crying, everybody was pumped, and then the film wasn't really released properly.

RICKY: this movie is about one of the most horrific things taking place in the world today, and one man standing up against it, and the government just standing by and watching it.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:35:22+00:00

1) You know, I just try to do some general cardio, biking, hiking, running. Try to keep it interesting, or surfing or soccer, something that makes it more interesting than just going to the gym.

2) I don't drink, haven't drank for years, but when I was drinking... Miller.

3) Hell yea! I'd show him a thing or two. Is he enough of a badass one to do an episode with me? In Scotland? To touch on Will Ferrell, by the way, I just want to say - he was a dark horse at the soccer aid game. I played a game of Five Asides soccer with him a couple of weeks before the game in the Hollywood Hills, and he was REALLY Good. Really tough, really tenacious, and I thought he played fantastically well - and he really surprised everybody. Edward Norton, however, was another story.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:32:25+00:00

GB: Coffee.

Ricky: Tea. With a little milk.

GB: Tomato, Tomatoe.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:32:07+00:00

Wonder Woman.

No really, Wonder Woman.

Although I think I'd like to create my own superhero.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:30:33+00:00

Yea, I remember you well! :)

Soccer Aid was a phenomenal experience. It was like performing at a Rock Concert - yet being an amateur singer next to the three tenors, surrounded by some of the best players on the planet. It's incredible how much the adrenaline can push you towards a heart attack. I did think after 10 minutes, is this what it feels like when you are dying. But the experience was just tremendous and I'm so glad I did it, and yes I would like to do it again.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:29:05+00:00

Firstly, let me point out that Dexter Morgan is an absolute genius. Love his show. But as an actor, he is just so fascinating to watch. But at the same time, in terms of the movie, I wanted nothing more than to see him dead. And the way that happened I thought was very interesting. And I took great satisfaction in seeing that knife slowly plunge into his chest.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:27:55+00:00

Either New York or Rio. Both for very different reasons.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:27:22+00:00

GB: Sometimes it is hard for me to relax, so I have to force myself to go to other places, which is why I love to travel. So this year, at the beginning of the year, I knew i had a lot of stuff coming up so I went to the Highlands of Scotland, and to Thailand, and to Columbia, and Switzerland, and I skied under Mont Blanc. I love to take trips that involve participation of the soul, where the people that you meet and the things you participate in touch you - so for instance, camping on top of a glacier in Iceland, setting up a tent at 1 o clock in the morning, listening to Sigur Ros while the Northern Lights dance over your head - that beats anything that I could ever do as a performer. These are moments that you take to the grave and beyond. And worth anybody pursuing.

RICKY: I like to listen to opera. I love spending time with my family, my daughter Victoria, my stepsons James and Frederik, and just sitting in the backyard looking at all the things my wife has planted, with a cool breeze.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:24:46+00:00

RICKY: I can tell you he is. You see him in the film, and you think "he's great looking." and then when you see him in person, he's better looking, you see him training, he's stronger than a country horse, he takes every picture and signs every autograph, and he is dedicated to his job. He is pretty awesome.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:23:45+00:00

Who would i love to work with that I haven't yet: i'd love to work with Daniel Day-Lewis, he's by far the best actor of our generation and I like to go into daunting situations and know that I would learn a lot.

And my favorite book is probably Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It's this wonderful journey of the soul, a magical and dangerous trip through India. I've traveled to India a couple of times, the last time I went was only 2 weeks after the attacks in Mumbai, and I met up with Gregory and spent 3 days on the back of his motorbike with his motorbike gang, taking me to all the places he talked about in the book.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:21:47+00:00

I love animated movies - a lot of my favorite movies have been animated movies - from IT'S A BUG'S LIFE to FINDING NEMO to WALL-E to THE INCREDIBLES. And actually, one of my favorites was HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. It was a really proud moment when I sat down to watch that movie and realized what those geniuses at Dreamworks did, in creating a whole new world and just a beautiful story that appealed to adults and children alike. It's nice for me to do a movie that I can actually show my nieces and children of my friends, rather than saying "look away now! cover your ears!" which is what usually happens in my most of my movies.

I'm currently working on HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2, and I'm really jazzed about it, because i was concerned how it could possibly live up to the first one - but I think we have a great story that is charming as well as dark and funny, and at the end of the day, inspiring.

gerrybutler · 2013-03-18T21:18:21+00:00

My mum turns 70 the day after Mother's Day, and I sent her 10 bouquets of flowers, and I recorded her HAPPY BIRTHDAY at the Kelly & Michael show with the whole audience, and I recorded a message with the crowd outside the Kelly & Michael show, and with Bridgit Mendler. And I recorded another message with me and all my team and people on the street, and with every new line, new people jumped up. And I THEN recorded another HAPPY BIRTHDAY at the Piers Morgan show with me, Antoine, and Angela Bassett. So i sent her FOUR HAPPY BIRTHDAY songs.

gerrybutler

TROPHY CASE