Gerard Butler

About
is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

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gerrybutler3305 karma

Probably once a day. I actually don't mind it - I don't like it if I'm in a place with a lot of people around like an airport - then they scream the line and you're stuck in line with a thousand people staring at you. But to be honest, I love that people feel so passionate about it. That, to me - the best thing as an actor is to do a role that people don't forget and they get excited about and they want to shout that excitement out to you when they see you.

gerrybutler3015 karma

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.

gerrybutler2924 karma

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.

gerrybutler2751 karma

I remember him well! He was so cute. And it was beautiful to see the big smile on his face when I picked him up, he was very happy, it was a lovely moment. Everybody who came, including Ricky, had a great day at Camp Pendleton and at the Navy base. It really felt like an honor to be brought in and accepted by them, and our whole team came - directors, cast, film distributors - basically everyone involved in the production showed up - and it was really exciting for everyone to see that and to see those on the tip of the spear, those who stand on the front line, who allow us to work as lawyers whether we want to or not, to just go grab a coffee and be able to pick up our children. I also greeted a couple of wounded warriors which was quite an emotional experience. It's important to point out as well - I was worried because this movie does involve a brutal attack that Marines would have an issue with it, but i decided to face my deepest fears, and if it wasn't going well, I would try to sneak out near the end and escape a stoning. But i couldn't believe how they embraced it and loved it - they applauded and cheered, and screamed, and laughed at all the jokes - because the movie has a lot of humor in it as well (if that's possible, but it really does). And they embraced it exactly as we hoped they would, to the point that I stayed til the end and even filmed with my camera phone. I just played it for a journalist on my little camera phone. I'm so glad I stayed, because it was one of the high points was seeing our true heroes accepting our movie.

gerrybutler2647 karma

Yes. In the movie. But a lot of people say it to me.

gerrybutler2621 karma

I always enjoyed the idea of studying as a lawyer and had a romantic notion of what it would be like to practice as a lawyer - but when reality hits you, and suddenly you're in the office trying to perform as a lawyer - I realized that this is not what I wanted to spend my life doing. I didn't want to find myself retiring and never having been brave enough to follow my dreams.

gerrybutler2617 karma

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.

gerrybutler2579 karma

You probably don't know Branston Pickle. It hails from Yorkshire in England. And i LOVE to put that on a heated tuna sandwich with melted cheese.

gerrybutler2531 karma

"Lovely Day" by Bill Withers

gerrybutler2510 karma

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.