Post by Dianne on Oct 1, 2008 22:13:01 GMT -5
Gerard Butler
Growing up in Paisley was perfect practice for Hollywood's hard-man, who tells Chris Prince that he and his Doctor 'Buddy' couldn't cure Scotland's ills Held up as a paragon of male physical fitness following his breakthrough role as the musclebound King Leonidas in 300, Gerard Butler dismisses any suggestion his physique was CGI enhanced, although his finely toned bulk has diminished since completing the film.
"The thing is, I'm an actor, I have to play many different roles," he says. "If I walked around with that physique I would look a bit ridiculous in every other role I played since then." When The Big Issue meets him, Big Gerry is bone tired after a gruelling day spent promoting Guy Ritchie's latest slab of cockney carnage RocknRolla.
The Glasgow-born actor plays One Two, a clueless crim who falls foul of old school London gangster Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) following a dodgy land deal.
"I think there are a lot of similarities between the inner depths of Glasgow and cockney London," he says. "Definitely, there's a lot of the same characters, they just have different accents."
One Two also goes head to head with Russian mobsters and philosophy-spouting crack heads, although, having grown up in Paisley, Butler is no stranger to the less seemly side of life. "I'm not going to exaggerate and say that that is how I spent my life, but I grew up in quite a working class area so you can't avoid coming across that every now and again," says Butler, who graduated from Glasgow University with a law degree before committing to acting.
"Funnily enough, when I started studying law, in some ways I became even more involved, because then you start going out to the clubs in Glasgow where there is a real mixture of middle class and crazy people. So in my time I've known a few gangsters but it's never been a big part of my life.
"But the experience of growing up in Glasgow, I think, endows anybody with a lot of personality for better or worse. There's a lot of Glasgow in me and there's a lot of Glasgow in One Two." Despite his sex symbol status and reported romantic dalliances with Cameron Diaz and Naomi Campbell, Butler is amused by the suggestion Scotland, with its manifest health and social problems, could benefit from more successful, physically fit men like himself or fellow Paisley "Buddy" David Tennant. "I think everywhere needs more men like me," he laughs. "That's the one thing that I'll be quoted for! But no, I don't think that myself and David Tennant would be the answer to Scotland's problems.
"It has pretty dodgy areas but it also has some really nice areas. I don't think that by cloning myself it's going to increase the life expectancy, if anything it'll just lower it!"
Chatting ahead of RocknRolla's premiere about a comically quick tryst he enjoys with co-star Thandie Newton in the film, he chortles: "The sex scene is hilarious. It's kind of like sex with me." But the taxing nature of the promo merry-go-round is starting to show, even on a fella with such a famously robust physique.
"I'm really excited about the premiere but right now, if someone gave me the choice, premiere or sleep, I'd do sleep."
