No.1 for Interviews - Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler

‘I am a true Scotsman!’ - No.1 magazine’s Nadine Hawkins beat off the thousands of fans to catch up with Scottish heartthrob Gerard Butler when he was in town promoting his new film.

Never one to be absent when there is an A-list movie star in town, the No.1 team went into a frenzy when the news reached us that Scottish heartthrob Gerard Butler was due in town to promote his new film, and first foray into producing – The Law Abiding Citizen.

Forty-year-old Gerard is rarely absent from the tabloids and speculation surrounding his love life and makes the headlines on an almost weekly basis. The star has been linked to fellow A-listers Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz and Lindsay Lohan, yet Butler remains fiercely private about his personal life, commenting recently, “Going on a date is going to be well publicised. I would be lying if I said my love life is amazing at the moment.”

The Paisley-born actor shunned the usual London premiere and instead opted for his local city, Glasgow.

His new film, The Law Abiding Citizen, sees Gerard make his debut as a producer – the movie being the first release of his production company, Evil Twins. The film details the story of Butler’s character, Clyde Shelton, a sly reference to Butler’s Scottish roots, proclaim revenge on the man guilty of murdering his wife and young daughter. However Clyde doesn’t stop there and goes on to wreak revenge on everyone that he believes failed in bringing the men to justice after a lenient plea bargain saw the criminals escape with a lighter sentence. It soon becomes apparent that Clyde is an intelligent man who is capable of orchestrating the murders without actually being there.

Jamie Foxx stars as the detective trying to stop Shelton’s rain of violence and subsequent mockery of the justice system.
The film is graphically violent from the outset as Shelton’s family are slaughtered.

“The film is pretty vicious from the start but for me it is the shocking things that stay in your memory the longest. I won’t be telling my mum to look away at any part of the film – I still like to shock her I think!”

Shunning the usual London premiere means that the film was accessible for Butler’s many friends and family. “I am here with my brother, sister and mother plus 70 or so of their friends coupled with my own, which means there are 120 of us!”

For the premiere Butler decided to embrace his roots and wear his national cloth.

“I don’t actually have a family tartan – so I am just wearing a generic tartan! I am being a true Scotsman which means being commando, but thankfully I am not that cold!”

Gerard admits that he doesn’t make it back to Scotland as often as he would like but that it is “good to be back” and that “I love being back having so much fun”.

And for Gerard, outside of seeing friends and family the best part of being home is the Scottish countryside.

“For me the best bit of being back has to be the countryside. Especially as my family live in the Highlands now. When I was back home there was a mist that was lying over the hills that you couldn’t have drawn or painted it any better."

“It was so incredible I had to keep pulling over at the side of the road and taking photos. That is what I love the most and it makes me proud to be Scottish, especially when other people tell me that they have experienced it too.”

Butler celebrated his 40th birthday shortly before the premiere.

“Being 40 doesn’t actually feel any different from being 30. I had a family dinner with my niece who has just turned nine. I had another party before that, down in London with around 300 people or so... Now that was a lot of fun!”

Butler had previously committed to a contentious film about Robert Burns’ life that has still not been confirmed. The First Minister has come under fire after he said at the start of the year that a remake of Burns’ life was going to be made into a film and that Butler was lined up to play the Scottish poet. However since that point there appears to have been issues with funding, however Butler is hopeful that the film will still go ahead.

“I am still committed to doing the film but I guess it never really got to a stage with the script and finances – what we are doing is in a way going back to the drawing board. I can’t say that it will definitely happen but I do hope it will.”

For Butler it is a big deal to bring his premiere to his homeland. “For me it’s been extra special here tonight, it was a big wave that hit me as I got out of the car. There was a lot of noise."

“To be able to come back to Glasgow and see that amount of people outside… you can’t ask for more than that.”

Back to Interview Home Page

 

Copyright © 2006 - 2011 PSP Publishing Ltd Registered Office: PSP House, 50 High Craighall Road Glasgow G4 9UD Registered in Scotland No. 158316
Tel: 0141 353 2222 - Fax: 0141 332 3839 Email: sales@psp.uk.net Call may be monitored or recorded for training purposes