"I’m sorry, what was that? I’m afraid I was looking at the cleaner’s arse
in that window over there.” He gesticulates with the cigarette dangling from
his right hand. “It’s quite big. The window, I mean, not the arse!”
Sitting by a fountain in the sun-drenched courtyard of a Los Angeles hotel,
the actor Gerard Butler is in an ebullient mood. His latest movie, the
lavish swords-and-sandals swashbuckler 300, is about to hit cinemas,
and Butler is as animated today as he is on screen. “I’m always saying
stupid things in interviews,” he continues, taking another drag on his
Marlboro, our eyes wandering back to the window. “I actually get in trouble
a lot by saying these jokey things, journalists printing them, and then
people think I’m really arrogant. I’m not, really.” He stops and smiles. “I
guess I’m just enthusiastic !”
This 37-year-old Scotsman has every reason to be. The stunning visuals of his
latest film, an adaptation of a graphic novel by the Sin City creator
Frank Miller, have had the internet buzzing for months. The film recounts
Miller’s interpretation of the battle of Thermopylae in 480BC, in which King
Leonidas (Butler) and 300 of his Spartan warriors defended Greece against
the Persian hordes under Xerxes.
Miller’s novel was inspired by the 1962 film The 300 Spartans,
and like its predecessor, 300 is a live action spectacular. In the
new version, however, the actors played out their scenes against a
“green-screen” background. On to this the director Zack Snyder and his team
superimposed sprawling, digital landscapes that look like panels lifted from
the pages of the graphic novel. The overall effect is even richer and more
vibrant than in the recent Frank Miller adaptation Sin City, and as
Butler and his phalanx of Spartans move through this gold and crimson world,
it seems as though they are gliding across an oil painting, their swishing
swords adding splashes of red to the palette.
“It is an incredible world to inhabit,” says Butler, “and I love that about
it. This is an incredible story, almost incomprehensible. These men are real
heroes, who act like you want heroes to act, without the moral conundrums.
They just get on in there and do it, almost like Dirty Harry does. When you
think of what Leonidas did, who would we have that could do that today?
Who’d stand up like that?”
Leonidas and his troops certainly stand up in this movie, forging themselves
as archetypal heroes from a time before Judeo-Christian thought, in which
honour and heroic sacrifice were deemed to be the pinnacles of human
existence. Unlike the block-buster films Troy and Alexander,
which many feel botched the revival of the classical epic, 300 is a
simple and courageous tale, simmering with rage and stitched together by a
string of dazzling battle sequences. It will most likely prove a
breakthrough role for Butler, whose sincerity, deep voice and, to be frank,
astonishing muscle definition (he’s the one snarling on the previous page)
will establish him as an Alist leading man.
“It’s funny,” says Butler, rubbing at his stubble, “but I always seem to
attract more attention when playing this kind of role. People often forget
that I’ve done other things, such as Dear Frankie, The Jury,
The Miracle Match. It’s just that these epic characters are more
memorable, I guess.”
Butler’s roster of epic characters thus far includes the marauding Hun
chieftain Attila; Beowulf, the sword-swinging hero of Anglo-Saxon myth; and
the Phantom, the lonely spectre that haunts the big-screen version of Lloyd
Webber’s musical. Attila, which was shown on American
television in 2001, attracted the second-highest ratings recorded by a TV
movie at that time, and helped to establish Butler’s reputation in
Hollywood.
“I’m very grateful for these parts,” he says, “even though these kinds of
roles are not really where my keenest interest lies. I said before 300
that I was going to take a break from this stuff for a while, but how could
I resist this script?” He didn’t, and even though playing the warrior hero
is not what excites him most, these are the sort of roles with which Butler
does seem to have a natural affinity.
“From the first day I took on the role of Attila I was surprised at how easily
I could connect with those kinds of öber values, of strength, honour and
courage and heroic sacrifice.
It was the same when I was playing the Phantom. I knew that I was tapping into
something so deep; and Beowulf and Grendel was deeply spiritual,
weird and profound.
“It’s something that I always seemed to understand, not overplay, and tap
into. But I never really knew why. I’ve learnt recently that these types of
characters are archetypes. I’m really into that kind of mythology right now
and I have been reading some Robert A. Johnson and Carl Jung.”
Mythology and archetypes do not feature in many actors’ conversation, and
Johnson and Jung are absent from most of their reading lists, but beneath
Butler’s light, bustling and bantering exterior, he is a contemplative soul.
He was born in Paisley, Glasgow, and was raised along with his brother and
sister by his mother — his parents had divorced when he was young. Butler
had no contact with his father until he was 16 years old, although the two
became close friends until the latter died when Butler was 22. Butler
describes his twenties as “crazy times”. After graduating from university he
began training to become a solicitor, although he says he had no real
interest in the subject and spent much of his free time living the life of a
free-spirited yet emotionally muddled young man.
“They were crazy times. There was a lot of drinking — I think that it was
fuelled partly by fun and having a laugh, but also because of the pain I was
going through at the time. Looking back, it wasn’t that healthy, but it has
toughened me up.” Taking on the challenge of giving up booze — he hasn’t
touched a drop for more than nine years — paid dividends for Butler as he
began enjoying his first successes as a screen actor.
“I’m past all that now, I have no connection with drink at all,” he continues.
“We face challenges every day. And that’s one of the things that I like
about 300; it’s a representation of what we face in our own lives,
what we find overwhelming, those challenges, the times when we have to
question our own integrity. I have an addictive personality.” This trait
might prove a challenge in his personal life, but it has had a positive
effect on his work. Butler had to train solidly for months to build the
rippling physique that Leonidas possesses on screen, and, he notes, the
exertion becomes compulsive.
“A lot of the stunt guys are addicted to training, and that infects you. I had
quit smoking at that point and this became the perfect addiction, because
there’s a certain stamina — some muscle in your mind about endurance — that
gets bigger and stronger. And with that comes the development of the
character: the discipline, focus, and confidence in your strength. I was
training with my own trainer for a couple of hours a day in Los Angeles, and
then I would train with the film trainer for a couple of hours a day, and
then I would go off into the Valley and train with the stunt guys. Then when
we went to shoot in Montreal I took on another trainer — for my own time and
dime.”
Given the very physical nature of his bludgeoning performance in 300,
it’s no surprise that he says he is exhausted now. His immediate plans are
“to sleep a lot”, to avoid any work on strenuous action flicks, and to
finish work on his New York apartment. Butler divides his time between
America and Scotland and he feels that settling in New York will allow him
to travel easily between Scotland and LA.
“Right now I’m just going to relax, and carry on working on my plan to take
over the world,” he says with a broad smile. “I’ll build my space station,
that kind of thing.” While revamping his pad and building that space
station, he will also have to live with his growing reputation as a
Hollywood heartthrob. With 300’s displays of rippling muscle and
rather camp overtones, Butler is attracting legions of fans, of both
genders. “Being seen as a heartthrob is quite funny; although it is a
compliment of course. I’d rather that than have people saying, ‘That Gerry
Butler is an ugly f****r!’ ” He laughs. “And then I can just get back to
looking in the mirror!”
300 is out on March 23. A special IMAX version is also being released
