Gerard Butler doesn’t consider himself to be a movie star despite his films taking over $3.62 billion at the worldwide box office. In fact, the Den of Thieves actor isn't even convinced there is such a thing as a movie star anymore.
Thanks to a big screen heritage that includes the likes of 300 ($456.1 million) and franchises such as the Has Fallen films, Olympus and London ($170.3 million and $205.8 million worldwide respectively), and the two How to Train Your Dragon movies ($494.9 million and $621.5 million worldwide respectively) he remains very bankable and enduringly popular with audiences - despite the occasional blip. It’s worth noting too that the Dragon and Has Fallen franchises, whose takes get stronger with each new installment, are both adding a third film to their catalog.
Butler’s latest is heist movie Den of Thieves, an action drama he seems to be particularly proud of, which isn’t the case for all of his work. I caught up with him in Beverly Hills to talk about the film, why he’s less concerned about box office than he used to be and why it’s never been about the money.
Simon Thompson: Den of Thieves is done and dusted and this is where you start selling it. This the hardest part for you, right?
Gerard Butler: It can be. It's very clear when the journalists don't love a movie, and sometimes it's hard to pretend yourself, so then when you end up doing hundreds and hundreds of interviews it does take it out of you. I love making movies. If you could just make movies and then not have to worry about having to talk about it that would be great. I'm always surprised though because when I think about doing press junkets like this, I often do it with a certain amount of dread but often when I'm in there I find that it's really fun and interesting, I learn things about myself and even about the movie. I have had journalists explain my movies way better than I could. I know my performance and I know the movies but a lot of them often come at it from a certain aspect that I wouldn't have thought about and I think, 'Wow, that's cool.’ I think if you take your ego out of it, just sit back and make it an interesting, fun experience where you can pass on a message and maybe learn some things along the way, it's much easier.
ST: Once the movie is out, is that it for you personally? You disconnect, it's done and dusted and you don't worry about things like the opening weekend box office?
GB: I really try to disconnect, I can't say that I completely avoid it but I'm getting better at it. Basically, with the way the market is now, you just never know what you're going to get unless you have a Star Wars or a Marvel movie, it's such a gamble. All you can really hope for is that you make the best movie possible, you sit down and talk about it and then you leave it up to God.
ST: Is it hard for you when you know, or you feel, you've made a good movie but the audience just don't get out and buy tickets?
GB: You do scratch your head but you actually scratch your head less and less because I think nowadays nothing is guaranteed. It's almost like there are no movie stars anymore, you don't know what movie is going to hit. One of my favorite movies last year was IT and there were no stars in that movie, it was full of kids and they were awesome. I really loved that movie and it was huge. At the end of the day when you look at a movie like Den of Thieves, most people are going to see it at some point so you trust that if you make a good, creative, interesting story then people will see it and enjoy it, no matter what platform. Obviously, you hope they'll go and see it at the cinema because, to be honest, the way this is shot and especially the sound design, it's incredible to watch on a big screen. If they don’t catch it in the theater, I hope you get to see 'Big Nick' at some point, somewhere because I loved playing him.
ST: It’s interesting that you talk about there not really being movie stars anymore and nothing is guaranteed at the box office because most of the people that buy the tickets see you as exactly that. With that in mind, how do you see yourself?
GB: Even just saying the term 'movie star' is so silly. Some of the best actors of our generation are struggling right now but a lot of that is because the movie industry, as a whole, is kind of struggling. Hopefully, we will come out of this slump and there will be something new and refreshing. I love making movies, I love making all different types of movies. I just made a movie called Family Man about a father whose kid gets leukemia, I just did a little psychological thriller in Scotland with Peter Mullen called Keepers and it's incredible. You make those little movies and then you make the big ones and you just hope the big ones make a bit of money but, to be honest, I'm past the point of taking on too much responsibility for it.
'Den of Thieves' is the latest in a long line of action movies that include the hugely successful... [+]
ST: So what does motivate you to do what you do?
GB: I don't think I was ever really concerned with money and I never grew up with money. I remember the first time I got paid for a job going, 'Oh my God! I never dreamed of this amount!' and that was kind of enough to keep me going. I would be lying if I say I didn't want to make more money than that but I'm not driven by money. I'm driven by making movies and I still love to make big, fun, old-fashioned action movies even if I get shot to death for it. I still enjoy getting to mix it up with a Shakespeare movie or an animated movie or a surf movie or a cancer movie. I'm firstly about the material, whether I judge it correctly or not, but you also have to think about your longevity every now and again. You sign up for a movie that you hope will do well at the box office because otherwise, they're not going to want to make those big movies with you anymore.
ST: It's a balancing act of sorts for you?
GB: Absolutely and I've always kept the good international value, I have very high international value and that allows me to stay kind of robust and especially in the bigger independent film market. That's how I got the Has Fallen franchise and movies like Law Abiding Citizen, that's a space that I feel I can work in very well. I have five movies, maybe six with Angel Has Fallen, coming up and some of them are smaller ones such a Jamie Foxx movie called All-Star Weekend that I did a couple of days on, I have the third How to Train Your Dragon movie, there's Hunter Killer but, to be honest, I'm kind of done for the moment.
ST: It sounds like it's been a rough schedule?
GB: It's been a rough year for the industry, it's been a rough year for me as well because of my motorcycle accident, the injuries on set and it has just made me re-evaluate. I don't want to make movies anymore where, when I‘ve finished shooting, I come home and I can't enjoy my life as much because of what I've been through on the film. I kind of want to chill for a bit and go and do some stuff that's far away from this.
ST: Going back to talking about money, you are saying it's never been a big driver for you but do you remember the time you got that first big paycheck?
GB: I do, actually. It was the same day that I landed a role in Trainspotting, the play. I was down in London working for Steven Berkoff in Coriolanus at the time. It was weird actually because the year before I'd been to see Trainspotting at the Edinburgh Festival, I was a lawyer back then, and before I knew it I was back in Edinburgh doing the same play, with the same company on the very same stage I originally saw it on. Anyway, the very same day I got the Trainspotting job, I went out for a commercial for Polaroid. I landed it and I think it paid something like £10,000 ($13,880) which was more money than I could imagine. That figure was pretty much what I earned in my first year training as a lawyer; just one commercial effectively paid me a whole year’s wages. Suddenly, life looked different. When I moved down to London to pursue acting I was in so much debt from being a trainee lawyer and being a party animal but that one job pretty much paid that off.
ST: A number of your movies, which were not hits, have crossed a line and gained cult status including last year's Geostorm and Dracula 2000 to name just two. Did you know that? How do you feel about it?
GB: Frankly, I didn't know that anybody knew about Dracula 2000 other than the six people that saw it. I feel a bit like the guy in The Disaster Artist. Geostorm is an interesting one because even though it wasn’t a hit, a lot of people loved that movie, I found it to be a lot of fun, there was an interesting idea that felt very present and then just a bunch of silly popcorn movie fun. I didn't know that they had achieved cult status but I feel that's another way of saying s*** status just...
ST: In a more affectionate way?
GB: In a more affectionate way, yeah.
Den of Thieves hits theaters on January 19, 2018
