Gerard Butler, who had promised a brilliant career, especially after “300”, gradually ended up in B movies. And today he’s making a big comeback in cinemas with “Kandahar”.
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
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Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum in The Phantom of the Opera.
We often forget, but Gerard Butler played the title role in Joel Schumacher’s The Phantom of the Opera (yes, yes), in which he gives Emmy Rossum the answer. It’s also coincidental that he was chosen, the first choice of the filmmaker who focused on Hugh Jackman. But impressed by his performance in Dracula 2000 (often thought of as a turnip), the filmmaker told him about the character Erik. Although the feature film failed to garner critical acclaim, it was well received by audiences, who praised the performances of the two main actors.
300 (2007)
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Gerard Butler in “300”.
It’s obviously Zack Snyder’s peplum that propelled Butler to the forefront of the international stage. The Scottish actor, unforgettable as Leonidas, King of Sparta, makes his mark in this super production with stunning special effects. Grossing $456.1 million at the international box office made the relatively unknown film a star in its own right. The happy coincidence of the studios’ release schedule resulted in PS – Je t’aime being released in December of the same year. In Richard LaGravenese’s romantic drama, Gerard Butler stars as Holly’s (Hilary Swank) cancer-stricken husband, who uses his afterlife letters to teach her how to live again. This feature film was also a commercial success, and when the family film The Island of Nim hit theaters in April 2008, it was confirmed that the actor can do anything.
Rock and Crooks (2008)
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Gerard Butler and Idris Elba in Rock and Crooks.
Because Gerard Butler is versatile despite his physique and does not disdain auteur films – admittedly on a reduced budget – he was chosen by Guy Ritchie for “Rock and Crooks”. Butler plays One-Two, a member of the Scottish underworld and leader of the Wild Bunch, a trio of petty criminals. He gives the answer to Tom Wilkinson, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba and Thandiwe Newton. Then he devoted himself to romantic comedies and we find him alongside Katherine Heigl in La Vérité tout crue (2009), without forgetting the role that made him famous: the big guys starring in thriller films like the very interesting gamer (2009) can play a role. This will be a flop.
The Bounty Hunter (2010)
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Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston in The Bounty Hunter.
Butler, now confident in his critically maligned commercial success, becomes a bounty hunter in the romantic comedy of the same name, which confronts him with Jennifer Aniston, whom he is responsible for arresting. The film was so successful in cinemas that the actor was not forgotten, and in the same year he became the original voice of Stoick the Brute, Harald’s father, in the excellent animated film Dragons. Then, in 2011, he surprised with Tullus Aufidius, Enemy of Caius Martius in Coriolanus by and starring Ralph Fiennes, adapted from Shakespeare’s play.
Attack on the White House (2013)
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Gerard Butler in “The Attack on the White House”.
Gerard Butler seeks – and finds – a franchise with this series directed by Antoine Fuqua, in which he plays Mike Banning, a Secret Service agent in charge of protecting the American President (Aaron Eckhart) who has been taken hostage by North Korean terrorists. The idea isn’t bad, but the feature film suffers when director Roland Emmerich, a big-budget apocalypse filmmaker and “Independence Day” or “The Day After Tomorrow,” decides to make “Blanche in Danger,” the one was released a few months later and was shot in Montreal and starred Channing Tatum. Assault on the White House co-producer Butler chews on the track. In addition to the sequels and the ridiculous Geostorm, the actor continues to make more or less good action films, although the pandemic limits him to titles released directly on digital platforms, with his Last Seen Alive (2022) being included in the list of available via Netflix is the most watched feature film.