Post by jhawk on Mar 26, 2013 0:28:45 GMT -5
HOWARD STERN INTERVIEW ON 3/11/2013
WITH GERARD BUTLER
TRANSCRIPT
Transcribed by Jhawk Butler
H=Howard Stern
R=Robin
G=Gerry
GB=Gerard Butler
AGT=America's Got Talent
JA: Judd Apatow
V=outside voice cutting in
LDC=Leonardo DiCaprio
H: GB is here
R: Thank goodness. Get us out of this conversation.
H: GB is in a new movie. Look at you still handsome as ever.
G: How are you?
H: Eh I'm alright. I am exhausted, hey, I am exhausted from my vacation.
G: Oh yeah.
H: I worked all vacation
H: My audience thinks I was off. I was working. I got 2 jobs now.
G: Oh what were you working on...oh AGT.
H: It does seem like
R: Americans Got Talent?
G: No, I said Americas Got Talent. I know the name of the show. I have seen it.
H: I gotta tell you, do you know what it is, Gerard, it's like, it was long, people don't think it's work, but it was, it is exhausting, It took me like 3 days to recover from it.
G: Is that right, emotionally exhausting? or just the
H: Well I'd tell you about it, but my audience was so cruel about me talking about it all this time that I am not going to, I am just going to concentrate on you.
G: JA thing yeah
H: Yeah yeah he did not like it when I talked about it, so fine let's give JA his wish.
G: I shouldn't talk about it or I will never get an opportunity to work with JA.
H: When you talk about a guest coming in you, I always because you are so masculine, but yet you are huge Barbra Streisand fan and I a bit
R: He can be you've got to be very masculine to do that
H: i'm Barbra Streisand fan of her films, I thought she was a fabulous director and because I think she was a woman and a strong woman, they never gave her the credit... I think
G: Right.
H: But you like her music
R: But how many movies did she direct H?
H: There was yenter, yentel
G: Yentel....Yenter is a better name (laughing)
H: Yenter, Yentel
V: Prince of Tides
H: Prince of Tides was another one, The Way We Were she didn't direct, but she did the one with Ryan ummm O'Neal
G: Ryan O'Neal oh yeah, yeah
H: I think she directed
R: The boxing one?
V: The Main Event
H: Yeah... I think she directed that one, but I am not sure. Did she direct Main Event?
V: (unintelligible)
R: I don't think so
H: Are you a Barbra Streisand fan musically?
G: Yeah I like her music I just like everything about her you know, I grew up with Barbra Streisand and she's just I mean even when you look at singers today the difference in the quality of voice and even just that charisma that they had in those days, she was just, she was the shit
H: Let's see how big a fan you are, I am going to
G: No, no don't TEST ME
H: Watch this...I'm going to play one note
G: By the way ....I never
R: Oh no
H: Gerard listen
G: Right
H: What song?
G: I really don't know, I don't even know the name of the Memory song
H: Do you need more than 1 note, I will give you 2 notes
G: Because I don't ever remember the name of the song
R: Oh dear
H: Wow you are not good at all
G: Well.... Hey Robin do you know that?
R: No
H: Here's 3 notes
G: No I am telling you
H: You don't know that even I know that.
G: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
H: It's this.... you don't bring me flowers.
G: Ohhh yeah yeah ...Do you want me to sing that, can I make it up ..?
H: Let's do that
(G & H sing)
H: You don't know that
G: You gave me 2 notes.
H: Here I will give 1 note
G: No, no, by the way I don't do this, no I am not doing it
H: What's was that?
G: A drum.
R: Gee... I know what that is
G: Listen, firstly, let me explain something right, here's the thing, there was a kind of a reason
H: I knew you weren't a Barbra Streisand fan...I knew you were lying...
G: But listen let me say, I actually did, I grew up with Barbra Steisand
R: Where did you grow up?
G: When I grew up up in Scotland you know she was a big hero in Scotland, i mean whenever
H: Really
G: Because she was Barbra Streisand.
H: She was known throughout the world
G: She was known throughout the world when I went to see her in concert and when you look at everybody, I mean everbody was there Uh Katie Couric was there, Barbara Walters, everybody that was anybody
H: Anybody from the news
G: It was insane when she was there and you saw how audience reacted, you go, you know for instances when Michael Jackson
R: you just saw her
G: they don't make them like that anymore,
H: Right.
G: A consumate entertainer, iconic
H: It's unbelievable what's going on in music, it's almost not even cool to be a muscian anymore, right?
H: But are you putting out a rock record
G: No
H: Did you go to Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp for advice
G: No
H: for advice
G: I don't even know, I don't even know, I have gotta, I want to just almost complement these people and their imaginations, they just sit and what what can I say you know
H: Are you the victim of a lot of false tabloids reports?
G: Yeah I get some insane stuff yeah
H: Mostly about women or mostly like about other stuff
G: Probably mostly about women
H: It's unbelievable the amount of women that they have got you linked to
G: Yeah
H: They have you having sex constantly... you were a little 2 minutes late
R: You don't have time to act
H: I think you are having sex in the elevator
G: BTW I was having sex in the elevator It's not that I am always, I am not always innocent, but uh but the stuff that I hear, oh come on really?
H: You are not that busy sexually
G: I am not that busy sexually I got tell you there is many a time, I sit .... when I am living in LA there is so much ... sit in your bed on your own, you switch on the tv, you are watching tv and I know that right now there is some story out there about me shagging 3 women.
H: Right
G: I wish they could see me now.
H: You are by yourself you are like why is my life so boring. But you know what seriously.. As a guy I wasn't blessed with your kind of looks and machismo and so
R: May I say he looks very good
H: He looks good right?
G: Thank you.
H: You do look good. I own that same jacket, I look like shit in it
R: I never noticed that jacket on you
G: I like that jacket by the way... maybe we should swap
H: It would look a lot better on you... this jacket pissed that I own it....so I should give you all my clothes actually. You know what for AGT I went out to Jon Varvatos I bought all his clothes
G: I love Jon Varvatos.
H: His whole wardrobe, they helped me out, John helped me himself and you know at the end of the day I still look like shit so you have gotta look like you. When you were in Scotland growing up were women always interested in you or did it happen when you got in the movies.
G: That's a tough question, I mean I...
H: How old were you when you lost your viriginity?
G: I was 17.
H: I was 16
R: What the women couldn't get to you, what happened?
G: I just didn't know what I was doing
H: You weren't considered to be a very good looking kid?
G: No I mean... I was pretty popular at school..... btw I remember the first time I ever flirted with a girl and she walked up the stairs and I said something to her and she said something back and we just looked at each other and I held this look and she gave this smile and my heart went,you know it almost exploded and I went that's what you do, hold a look, give a little smile and that was first time I felt some stirrings down below you know
H: 17 it was a girl a serious girlfriend?
G: It wasn't a GF, it was just a girl at school and she was walking up the stairs and I made a joke and she looked at me and I held the look and I am like OMG this is fun, so I have got such an addictive personality that all I did was flirst constantly so I became
H: So before you got laid, were you getting blow jobs & stuff a lot when you were like 14 and 13?
G: No
H: No
G: Other stuff, but not blow jobs.
R: Just making out and stuff.
H: I would get freaky chicks to make love to me and that it would be like long between girls it would be like months
R: A desert
H: A desert, it was awful with this face, I didn't have that good a personality so everything was working against me you know what I mean
G: ...There was one girl in the chemistry class and I remember we use to always have bunsen burners in front of us and we sat at the back and she use to wear these black stockings and she OMG I would get so turned on and we start putting our hands on each other's legs as a dare and start working our way up to see what
R: Oh really
G: Yeah, to me that was even more exciting then losing my virginity
H: Right that's hot
G: It's hot
H: Because if you get caught you're screwed ... the whole thing
G: Everytime go a little further
H: Did you ever consumate with her or
G: No
H: No
G: Never
H: It was just something that happened in that class
G: Well once in the toilet at my house, as well but never
R: What?
H: She came over and she started to screw
G: There was a crowd of us over at my house and we ended up kissing and kind of pressing against each other and it was like, it was
H: Why do you think you never made love to her?
G: I didn't know what I was doing
H: You were, right. Did porn help you learn how to do
G: No I was
H: It was what I learned from
G: From porn?
H: From porn yeah
R: That's why he was arrested several times
H: Yeah I think I was suppose to rip a woman's clothes off and do whatever you wanted to her. I didn't know you have to have permission.
G: You are leaving me with so..... I went to my brother's house to visit him in Edinburg when he was student. I just started law school and the guy in his room had a box I swear about 4' high full of porn magazines, I didn't have any porn magazines, he was throwing them out, my brother said do you want some of these and I was with 3 of my friends we were all law students and I took a bunch, we get in the car and we drive back to Glasgow and I am going into the university and they dropped me in the middle of Fifth Street where everybody crosses, everybody who is in the university, they all cross and I used to be craic.. crazy I 'm still bit crazy so I decided to do my French Connection impersonization, so I opened the door while he was still moving and I dived out and rolled along the street
H: Are you insane.
G: I am insane
H How fast was this car moving
G: It was just slowing down 40 mph, no I'm joking it was just like a couple miles an hour, I roll on the ground and I am thinking the boys are going to love me that's crazy. My buddy (name) gets out of the car with all the porn magazines, he throws them on the ground and he says "Stay away you fucking pervert," he drives off and I left with about 20 porn magazines all over the ground and everybody looking at me and I had to start picking them one by one.
H: So embarassing
G: It was the most humilating
H: Like kiddie magazines
G: Oh worse, they were like German, they were serious deep throat porn
H: Guys who love animals
G: Yeah
H: Very bad stuff
G: I don't smile, I couldn't just walk away, so laughing at people, this is just silly, picking them all up
H: That reminds me of a story that happened to my wife We get so much free porn here, sex toys and stuff, so we had a friend she said H gets all those dildos, she hadn't been dating, she said bring a couple of those dildos that he gets over to the house. So she wrapped them up in a paper bag. I give them to her. She is walking down the street, what are the odds of this happening, the paper bag rips and there are dildos all over the ground and she like in front of tons of people picking up a black dildo like 12", this long, you know what I mean, so f**king embarassing right? It was too much when you are picking up porn off the street and people, women are probably looking like making you are dirt
G: Yeah (during H's talking, he is also laughing)
H: It was awful
G: there was another thing, you just reminded me, I was in a bar and for some reason it was not like I use to carry a lot of condoms around, but I got a bunch, i had 5, and I put them on the inside of my pocket and I sitting in a bar. It was an old beaten up denium jacket and it had a hole in the inside so I am sitting talking to this guy, there is a bunch of girls and this girl walks over and says excuse me buddy and she picks of 5 condoms from the ground that looked I had crapped them out
H: And then you look like a stooge
G: yeah it was not my best moment
H: Check it out.. there's Gerard Butler that guy carries 5 condoms because he knows he's going to get lucky
G: BTW now that I look back probably made me look pretty bad, yeah babe what about it?
H: Do you still wear rubber when you are with a new chick?
G: Yeah
H: You do
G: huh yeah
R: you have to?
H: You have no idea how many guys I have interviewed single guys like yourself, good looking dudes and they don't use rubbers and they laugh at me because I use one
G: You still use one?
H: Yeah, like that, you are going to laugh at me
R: He's laughing at you too.
H: Yeah I use one how am I suppose to have birth control?
G: Oh yeah that's
H: Seriously I don't want to have more kids
R: Does G like have children floating around out there?
G: Apparently not
H: Right (Robin laughing)
G: I always thought when 300 came out it was a big success, I was waiting for a call, but if there is somebody out there
H: You would know
R: This is the time
G: Yeah, but I didn't hear anything
H You know do you worry about your looks, honestly, seriously because I mean everyone, all these women carry on about, everyone how good looking and part of the reason you get all these leading roles because you look like a leading man and I mean a new movie is coming out, you are a leading man type,
G: Yeah
H: Do you worry when you go and play sports or something that your face is going to get f**ked up I mean I would be paranoid about that
G: I am not saying you don't look in the mirror and say oh god I look like shit today or I need to get more botox or something (laughs)
H: Right. Do you get botox?
G: No, no I don't
H: Would you ever do it?
G: No, I don't think like that
H: Why not?
G: I don't think... you know its funny because I said to somebody, look at this, look at all these wrinkles I am getting here and he's like "dude its," if a guy you are lucky it works to me its character
H: In a way I always considered myself blessed because I can never lose my looks, I never had them, but guys like you'd have to worry about it. I don't.
G: You are a good looking lad
H: Oh yeah, but seriously if a producer says to you look like they have the role of a lifetime for you, if you read this script you're gonna love it, hey listen man do a little botox around your eyes or something would you do it?
R: Do they say that?
G: If it's for a role. I would just be as happy to make myself look ugly you know or get fat
H: Right
G: You know, If its for a role and it something you are really willing to commit to, then yeah, I mean I would do it for that, but not for my life, I don't care enough like that, there are certain things that in coming from Scotland that you are not wired that way.
H: Scottish dudes are very masculine. They just don't sit and think about botoxing
G: Yeah but actually what we are doing, guys started talking about trimming and stuff and I am like
H: Trimming your bush. You don't trim your bush do you?
G: NO
H: No I don't either
R: Are you circumcized?
G: NO
H: You're not?
G: We don't do that, I still have umbilical cord (laughing, overtalking)
H: Let me cut that... You've got that big giant belly button
G: Btw, that's why I didn't lose my virginity until I was 17 beause I tried it with my umbilical cord when I was 13 and it was
H: Ah you have like a big belly button like a thing
R: An outie?
H: See that thing sticking out of your belly button?
G: Yeah, right
H: I grew up in a very poor community and some of the kids had belly buttons where there was like a stick coming out of it
G: Oh really
R: What?
H: Like they had botched umbilical cord detachment I guess, it was crazy stuff I use to see
G: Oh wow
H: It was like a tail in front, I am not kidding you, so if you are not circumscribed, which by the way I am so against circumcision I mean you know that's manmade f@#king thing, it has got to cut down on your sensitivity you know on your penis.
G: For sure.
H: I am circumcised. Hell I grew up in America that's what they do cut you, its gotta be wrong
G: I never having being circumcised so I can't say, but all I know is for me it is very sensitive, that's when I am having sex that's the amazing
H: But do chicks freak out, do they ever sit there and go oh no he is not cut because some women just can't deal with it
G: Yeah there are times they are like oh wow look at that, I have never seen
H: Because they have never seen it before
G: Yeah and they have never seen one that small I have never really seen one
H: Bet you got that a lot, they cut off too much off with my circumcision. But do you have to teach a woman how to be with you sometimes because they don't know how to handle a circumcised, um uncircumcised male
G: No I don't think that it is that different I mean I don't
H: They have to pull back that skin right? and they blow you
G: Definitely have to pull back, oh no I don't know that, I know don't enough about that, oh really its not pulled back I don't know, I have never handled uncircumcised cock only circumcised I have never handled a circumcised cock
H: If it was the right role would you circumcise
G: No that woud be going too far
H: You know Fred is uncircumcised, he always talks about how he had to learn to clean the thing, there's always cheese in there and shit all kinds
G: No BTW you only get that if you haven't been you know haven't been careful in the first place you gotta that's the thing hygiene, you gotta be a little bit careful about hygiene
H: Rightly so, absolutely.
G: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is a good conversation
H: Let me tell you something...you could sell your cheese people will pay you I am telling you...these girls want it
G: Okay
H: Hey Robin, Gerard says Robin going to make love to you, but I haven't showered in a week
R: Oh stop
H: You would, you would, you know would
R: No
H: You know you would
R: No stop it
G: Seriously Robin?
R: (chuckles)
H: I know she was
G: We will talk afterwards
H: We will talk smack afterwards
R: Please
H: So you are growing up in Scotland and I remember the last time we talked you were a lawyer which is crazy, you went to law school
R: You went to law school
H: And then you decided to become a movie star I am thinking about this I am looking at you now and I remember the movie 300 where you really bulked up, because you are saying earlier you would get fat for a role and stuff and you are supertrim right now
G: Yeah
H: You must have put on 20, 30 lbs of muscle for 300
G: It was about 30 lbs yeah.
H: Geez
G: Yeah that was months, months, months of training and I don't know that I have that drive now, but then I was so driven because when I got that role, its funny... it was crazy how I got that role because the producers and the director said we want you to play this but they were in a weird situation because the movie had just been greenlit, Warner Brothers were very nervous about it so they didn't want to put me forward to the big cheese... Warner Bros
H: They were nervous because you weren't a big name
G: Basically yeah at that point you know and they didn't know also that's is Alan Horn, who's the President, is going to say that the guy they want, so they said we are going to do this in a weird way, we want you to personally call Alan Horn
H: Who is Alan Horn?
G: Alan Horn was the president of WB. He is a sweetheart and I knew him. I called him and it was embarassing because an actor does do that you don't call the President of the studio
H: Wow
G: He didn't know because they had told him that I was their guy So I had to call him and he said look I appreciate the call, but this is not really the way we do it, you get nominated by these guys, they come to me and my right hand man and I said I know, I know, but just let me come in. I have never done that before. My way would be normally oh oh ok sure, just let me come in... you know what just come in and have a coffee
H: Because you are not forward like that
G: Not normally forward like that and yet the roles that I got were always the ones I actually was very proactive just took a gamble
H: So just a good lesson for actors that you just have to sometimes be that pushy and aggressive guy even though its against your nature
G: Yeah you know what's interesting, I was just talking about this the other day as an actor I think what happens when you start getting offers you just look at these offers and you forget the quality is always going to get higher when you have to fight for a role so the roles aren't coming your way, so you got to keep looking up rather than on a parallel level and I think I was getting to a stage where I was just looking at a parallel level because actors get egos, you start with thing thing I only read this if this is a offer BTW you get a lot of scripts and you can't sit and rewrite all day you can only do so much, but it has always been at those times that when I had to fight for something that the actor comes out
H: You known you are right, after a couple hit movies you are like hey I don't have to audition for this, I don't have to go in and beg for this, but meanwhile you are right you can't lose that hunger because the good roles are the ones everybody is fighting over
G: Exactly
H: Who you are up against all the time is it like type, like you know
R: There is some guy yeah
H: Who's your guy?
G: Who is my guy? You know it depends on the role because sometimes they are, kind of a slightly little bit older, so they might say its you or Russell Crowe.
H: Right.
G: Other times you know it maybe Jeremey Renner or a Tom Hardy when they go younger and those guys are phenomenal and you know sometimes come your way and sometimes and I always think they go where they are suppose otherwise you just make yourself crazy and I learned that early on as this role I wanted so much and the guy that got it is an English actor called Max Beasley and it was a Scottish role, he's English and I thought you know what I can look at this 2 ways I can be angry or I could say good for him He managed to pull off getting that role in another accent so that should just inspire me to work harder and one day I will be that guy and he had more of name than me, so one day I will be glad I am the guy who has that name and will get those roles, so I try to look at it that way.
H: How hard is it for you to remove your Scottish accent when you go up for a role I mean is that difficult for you?
G: No, no I have done it, btw I feel like I barely talk Scottish anymore I listen to myself and I am going say what I am sounding like, you know I am a hybrid because I have done Americans in so many movies
H: How do you learn to speak American so to speak?
G: You go
H: Like who do you emulate? You can't go to a guy from Boston because he has sort of a Boston accent
R: Unless you are playing a Boston guy and that's a tough accent
G: Most people in movies speak in a general American accent and I don't try and focus on one person because then you are going to start getting caught up in their habits, but as much as watching tv and movies, what you do is work with a dialect coach and literally you sit and you run sounds, so you will be like for your actors in Scotland say breight leight, we go "ite" and in America go bright light so you watch and go it's a bright light on a fine night but the thing is the same rules for every accent is "I" has a certain sound in Ameria and ooh for moon in Scotland you go mune, we say gud, and in American you say good.
H: If I said to you say the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain without your accent?
G: Okay, right because you know wa la la la la
H: Its the hardest thing
G: The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
R: Wow
H: Wow. Yeah, yeah that was pretty good.
G: You know normally you do warmups because you gotta for American you got to relax the lips, relax the tongue and you've got to start talking like that.
H: If somebody hired me to play a Scottish guy, to stay in that vernacular, to stay in that accent
R: That was what I was going to ask on the set do you stay American?
G: I do, but you know that was the biggest thing as an actor that I did because I was very shy to just walk around and improvise and I realized one day it doesn't work when you just going in for an audition and putting on an accent, what starts happening you start talking like this you either get the performance or the accent.
H: Right because that's so forced, you got make it part of you, you've got to walk around all day
G: So I started walking around, I started talking and I thought it does not even matter if its bad because people don't know, they don't think its a bad American accent, they think he has just lived here for certain amount of years and you get every accent imaginable and my best buddy was like dude you sound like an idiot. He's a director, you are suppose to be supporting me stop telling me it doesn't sound American it doesn't matter right now, what matters is that I am learning to laugh, to sigh, to go high,
H: To make it natural
G: To make it natural and It made all the difference to me
H: When I hear Daniel Day Lewis walking around all day as Lincoln I think he's a f*&king tool, but I get in a sense, you got stay in the voice right?
R: And he is British so he's dealing with it
G: He should say that in speech BTW I am the tool that won the Oscar that's right that's why I act like a tool
H: The guy is a great actor, amazing but geez imagine walking around all day as Lincoln and all of sudden you take out your cell phone and he goes what's that, I am the Presdent and I have never seen
H: He's probably still living as Lincoln
G: Yeah, his wife says why do you never answer my calls because I don't know what's a call
H: What's a phone?
G: Did you shout?
H: Why aren't you yelling out the window? Who knows. In your new movie you play an American?
G: I am an American yeah
H: Is it tough or is it action
G: No, It's tough.
H: You play a guy who is, everybody now, the new enemy is North Korea because don't you play a guy who is protecting the President or something
G: Yeah
H: From North Koreans.
G: Yeah, but it is
H: What are you CIA or FBI?
G: I don't know, no I am Secret Service
H: You are Secret Service. That's cool.
G: It's cool, he is exSpecial Forces and they often move into the Secret Service afterwards so he was
H: So what's the story, the North Koreans are attacking and you have to protect the President?
G: It's a, yeah that's basically what happens, we cut into the story earlier where I was Special Agent in Charge, so I was the President's right hand man
H: Who plays the President?
G: Aaron Eckhart.
H: Oh no kidding
R: That's a very young President isn't it... yeah
G: We wanted to as you often with Presidents in movies there is often a standard, very polished, a little bent, there is a cariacture they have of Presidents, and we wanted to make ours young and fresh with a bit of attitude because you know its really a movie about heroes and how in a situation like that, you know it your darkest hour, how do we rise to the challenge and we wanted a President with a bit of a bite. I mean we open with a boxing scene, I'm boxing with Aaron, I am kicking the movie is really about keeping your guard up
H You're boxing with him, so you teach him how to fight
G: Yeah we fight, most Presidents stay fit, they go running, they train, they play golf especially Bush and we
H: Bush couldn't get him off the golf course
G: that's all he did
H: Afraid Obama maybe turning into that to, we gotta get him off the golf course
G: You gotta go back to the White House, what's that?
H: In the movie do you bring in Ambassador Dennis Rodman to meet with the... wouldn't that be a cool move?
G: Yeah, yeah
H: So
G: But we btw the political backdrop, yeah there's a lot of tension between North Korea, South Korea and America
H: Right
G: The North Koreans in this are not the bad guys they are just the unpredictable guys, we don't know its a black hole there, we don't know what they are going to do because you just don't know what they are going to do anyway, you always want to set a movie... you look at the global climate and if we made a movie about Spanish terroists, nobody would go see it .... say what.. you know, they are from Jamaica
H: You know what is that guy from gangum style in your movie at all? Does he play the enemy
R: He's the leader of North Korea
H: Gangam style
G: It's like everybody is just like...what the hell is that
H: You talk to the President and he has to box the guy from gangum style I can't wait to see this.
G: That's great
H: A big dance attack
G: but they are actually terrorists, its a militia force So it's even more stuff then Osma Bid Laden where yeah he has his politics this is a personal vendetta going on because of what happened in his own life and
H: Costner played a good Secret Service guy Kevin Costner when he was protecting
R: No Way Out
H: Np he was protecting Whitney Houston
R: That's Bodyguard.
G: Do you want to hear something crazy?
H: Yeah
G: I was an extra in that movie
H: You're kidding.
R: You're kidding
G: I took a year out in America and I was wandering like a bum, I ended up joining a traveling carnival and working it.
H: This is after you became a lawyer? And your parents wanted to kill you because you wanted to be an actor
G: No this was before that, this is when they wanted to kill me because I took a year out after my honor's degree, but I still had to go back and do a diploma and legal practice and then train in a lawfirm for 2 years
H: Right
G: So this is before that, I went over there and worked an exchange program for the summer and the day I was suppose to come home, I was still technically the President of the Law Society in Glasgow. I called my Mom and said I'm not coming back.
H: You joined a circus
G: I am going to join the traveling circus
H: I would have killed you, I would have beat your ass into the ground
G: That was pretty much her
H: Why are you wasting your time on this for
G: Yeah
H: You must be the biggest screwball on the planet
G: Screwball, but I think she also knew that listen once I went back, I was facing a life as a lawyer and that sounds like you know
H: For you that would be hell
G: But not just hell, no matter what it was going to be, you were committing to a lifelong career where you have your 2 weeks holiday a year and I thought I need to go....I need to do some damage
H: Imagine you as a lawyer with your looks, so much corporate pu**y
R: Wait a minute do they wear those wigs and stuff?
G: BTW what side do I go now
H: I think God knows, II can't even keep up with you
R: Do they wear those wigs in Scottish court?
G: Yeah they do
H: You would look good in them
R: So you would have
H: I don't need a wig I have got that...I got that look
R: that poofy hair.... so what did you do in the traveling circus?
G: No it was a traveling carnival so I was working on what was a device called wackywire that goes around in a spiral and you
R: You ran a ride?
G: No it's a concession stand, so people come and they pay $2 and they try to take it down without touching the wire, its pretty much impossible to do, especially because you know there is an arm at the back that holds it and if you do it standing behind it then you can do it, but if you are in front you can't, you can't...you win a massive teddy bear COME ON WIN THE BIGGEST BEAR IN THE FAIR, $2 A SHOW
H: That was you?
G: That was me
H: You guys ripped me off, I think I lost... so while you are doing that you say hey let me go check out the movie business and you go and you are an extra on that movie
G: Yeah I wasn't even checking out the movie business, but my buddy who I had met years before in Spain who turns out his father was Alan Marshall and he was a big producer and he produced Basic Instinct, he produced Bugsby Malone you know, he did Jacob's Ladder. BTW he's now an assistant director and a 2nd year director and check this out, this is 23 years later. When I was in Spain I was on holiday with my family who were there for 2 weeks, I met him, I had to go home and like he said dude stay, I have other buddies coming out, so I stayed at his place and I had no money, so I painted his house, his mom gave me money to paint his house, so I could stay out in Spain, he just worked on this movie OHF
H: Wow how amazing full circle
G: A full circle, it's kind of amazing that all these years later
H: So when is the moving coming out, OHF
G: OHF
H: comes out when?
G: The 22nd of March
H: The 22nd of March, what's today?
G: I don't know
R: Today is like the 11th
G: Is it?
H: No, is it? Yeah yeah. Are you nervous?
G: You know what you always get nervous before a movie comes out, but the reason I am nervous about this movie is because
H: You got (talking over couldn't get it)
G: Well I always do, but recently I haven't seen even close to anything on it.
H: Sorry
G: But you know honestly these last couple of days have really been exciting. I did 80 interviews yesterday, 80.
H: Do you like that?
G: No, I don't like it, but I like it when people are coming in because what we did was really smart because the movie is fantastic, it's exciting and it is very provocative, its emotional and its packed
H: Have you already gotten reviews yet?
G: Yes people, we have been getting reviews, they give you quick reviews. Their reviews don't come out until day of but the reviewers have been loving it and we have been screening at least 300 word of mouth screens all around the country and they are screaming, they are shouting at the screen
H: Action film?
G: Its an action film but it is also
H: Any nudity?
G: No.
H: Any chest
R: Gerry
G: No that would still be nudity, but no
H: No chicks naked?
G: No chicks naked.
H: Who decided that?
G: I tried
H: You don't make love to any woman in the movie?
G: No
H: Wow that's the mood now, no one is James Bond anymore, most of these action dudes don't actually make love to women, they are almost above it, Sylvester Stallone started that I think
G: Yeah Yes that's a good point actually because it does really, it becomes a little namby pamby after that and then it goes toward the romantic thing
H: This is hard core
G: It's hard core but at the same time, its a very emotional experience, hey I have a wife in it, because after a tradegy at the beginning of movie where me in performing my duty there's a car accident I have to save the President but in doing so I literally have to pull him off of his wife and they go over the
H: Would you love to be James Bond? I can see you as a James Bond type.
G: I could listen
H: Is this your James Bond this movie?
G: Any movie that is an action thriller where you are working for the government against the bad guys could be compared to James Bond, but it does not feel anything like James Bond
H: Would you love that, would that be something you want or
G: to be honest to be Bond #17 is not
H: Because you are going to be compared to all the other ones
G: Compared to all
H: If you don't do well
G: Yeah Sean Connery who's pretty hard to top, Daniel Craig ... I really loved the last movie that's what
R: A lot of people did
G: That's when it clicked in that was a piece of class
H: I can see you doing that though
G: BTW I totally think I can do it
H: Of course you could. When you pull the President off his wife she's not naked?
G: No
H: What kind of movie is this where the President's wife isn't naked?
G: What do you call that when you pull a costume and it just comes off?
H: uhhh
R: A breakaway
G: A breakaway.
H: Yeah, yeah
G: I suggested it
H: He's banging his wife, you pull him off and she's not nude?
G: She's not nude
H: Does you character go WTF, whay are you wearing clothes while you are making love to the President?
G: He's says WTF my wife just died you dick
H: Laughing.
G: Anyway, so you cut into the movie and I am now on a desk job, I am like a caged animal, I am bouncing my ball off my screen, I trained in my life you know to be of service
H: Did you audition for this movie?
G: No I produced this movie
H: Oh you got this role, this is your role
G: And it's Antoine Fuqua who directed Training Day, so, its with Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett
H: Morgan Freeman that's good
G: Melissa Leo won the Oscar for the FIGHT, we have Ashley Judd, Dylan McDermott, Cole Hauser
H: Did you have sex with Ashley Judd, she's newly divorced right?
G: I had sex with Dylan McDermott.
H: You did?
G: It's
Did he mind you are uncircumcised?
G: Laughing
H: Glad to hear you have a small penis though with all the women you had
G: Oh yeah
R: Do you believe him?
G: Can I just say it's thin
H: It's thin? Mine's thin and small, I am not even thick.
R: Oh my God.
WITH GERARD BUTLER
TRANSCRIPT
Transcribed by Jhawk Butler
H=Howard Stern
R=Robin
G=Gerry
GB=Gerard Butler
AGT=America's Got Talent
JA: Judd Apatow
V=outside voice cutting in
LDC=Leonardo DiCaprio
H: GB is here
R: Thank goodness. Get us out of this conversation.
H: GB is in a new movie. Look at you still handsome as ever.
G: How are you?
H: Eh I'm alright. I am exhausted, hey, I am exhausted from my vacation.
G: Oh yeah.
H: I worked all vacation
H: My audience thinks I was off. I was working. I got 2 jobs now.
G: Oh what were you working on...oh AGT.
H: It does seem like
R: Americans Got Talent?
G: No, I said Americas Got Talent. I know the name of the show. I have seen it.
H: I gotta tell you, do you know what it is, Gerard, it's like, it was long, people don't think it's work, but it was, it is exhausting, It took me like 3 days to recover from it.
G: Is that right, emotionally exhausting? or just the
H: Well I'd tell you about it, but my audience was so cruel about me talking about it all this time that I am not going to, I am just going to concentrate on you.
G: JA thing yeah
H: Yeah yeah he did not like it when I talked about it, so fine let's give JA his wish.
G: I shouldn't talk about it or I will never get an opportunity to work with JA.
H: When you talk about a guest coming in you, I always because you are so masculine, but yet you are huge Barbra Streisand fan and I a bit
R: He can be you've got to be very masculine to do that
H: i'm Barbra Streisand fan of her films, I thought she was a fabulous director and because I think she was a woman and a strong woman, they never gave her the credit... I think
G: Right.
H: But you like her music
R: But how many movies did she direct H?
H: There was yenter, yentel
G: Yentel....Yenter is a better name (laughing)
H: Yenter, Yentel
V: Prince of Tides
H: Prince of Tides was another one, The Way We Were she didn't direct, but she did the one with Ryan ummm O'Neal
G: Ryan O'Neal oh yeah, yeah
H: I think she directed
R: The boxing one?
V: The Main Event
H: Yeah... I think she directed that one, but I am not sure. Did she direct Main Event?
V: (unintelligible)
R: I don't think so
H: Are you a Barbra Streisand fan musically?
G: Yeah I like her music I just like everything about her you know, I grew up with Barbra Streisand and she's just I mean even when you look at singers today the difference in the quality of voice and even just that charisma that they had in those days, she was just, she was the shit
H: Let's see how big a fan you are, I am going to
G: No, no don't TEST ME
H: Watch this...I'm going to play one note
G: By the way ....I never
R: Oh no
H: Gerard listen
G: Right
H: What song?
G: I really don't know, I don't even know the name of the Memory song
H: Do you need more than 1 note, I will give you 2 notes
G: Because I don't ever remember the name of the song
R: Oh dear
H: Wow you are not good at all
G: Well.... Hey Robin do you know that?
R: No
H: Here's 3 notes
G: No I am telling you
H: You don't know that even I know that.
G: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
H: It's this.... you don't bring me flowers.
G: Ohhh yeah yeah ...Do you want me to sing that, can I make it up ..?
H: Let's do that
(G & H sing)
H: You don't know that
G: You gave me 2 notes.
H: Here I will give 1 note
G: No, no, by the way I don't do this, no I am not doing it
H: What's was that?
G: A drum.
R: Gee... I know what that is
G: Listen, firstly, let me explain something right, here's the thing, there was a kind of a reason
H: I knew you weren't a Barbra Streisand fan...I knew you were lying...
G: But listen let me say, I actually did, I grew up with Barbra Steisand
R: Where did you grow up?
G: When I grew up up in Scotland you know she was a big hero in Scotland, i mean whenever
H: Really
G: Because she was Barbra Streisand.
H: She was known throughout the world
G: She was known throughout the world when I went to see her in concert and when you look at everybody, I mean everbody was there Uh Katie Couric was there, Barbara Walters, everybody that was anybody
H: Anybody from the news
G: It was insane when she was there and you saw how audience reacted, you go, you know for instances when Michael Jackson
R: you just saw her
G: they don't make them like that anymore,
H: Right.
G: A consumate entertainer, iconic
H: It's unbelievable what's going on in music, it's almost not even cool to be a muscian anymore, right?
H: But are you putting out a rock record
G: No
H: Did you go to Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp for advice
G: No
H: for advice
G: I don't even know, I don't even know, I have gotta, I want to just almost complement these people and their imaginations, they just sit and what what can I say you know
H: Are you the victim of a lot of false tabloids reports?
G: Yeah I get some insane stuff yeah
H: Mostly about women or mostly like about other stuff
G: Probably mostly about women
H: It's unbelievable the amount of women that they have got you linked to
G: Yeah
H: They have you having sex constantly... you were a little 2 minutes late
R: You don't have time to act
H: I think you are having sex in the elevator
G: BTW I was having sex in the elevator It's not that I am always, I am not always innocent, but uh but the stuff that I hear, oh come on really?
H: You are not that busy sexually
G: I am not that busy sexually I got tell you there is many a time, I sit .... when I am living in LA there is so much ... sit in your bed on your own, you switch on the tv, you are watching tv and I know that right now there is some story out there about me shagging 3 women.
H: Right
G: I wish they could see me now.
H: You are by yourself you are like why is my life so boring. But you know what seriously.. As a guy I wasn't blessed with your kind of looks and machismo and so
R: May I say he looks very good
H: He looks good right?
G: Thank you.
H: You do look good. I own that same jacket, I look like shit in it
R: I never noticed that jacket on you
G: I like that jacket by the way... maybe we should swap
H: It would look a lot better on you... this jacket pissed that I own it....so I should give you all my clothes actually. You know what for AGT I went out to Jon Varvatos I bought all his clothes
G: I love Jon Varvatos.
H: His whole wardrobe, they helped me out, John helped me himself and you know at the end of the day I still look like shit so you have gotta look like you. When you were in Scotland growing up were women always interested in you or did it happen when you got in the movies.
G: That's a tough question, I mean I...
H: How old were you when you lost your viriginity?
G: I was 17.
H: I was 16
R: What the women couldn't get to you, what happened?
G: I just didn't know what I was doing
H: You weren't considered to be a very good looking kid?
G: No I mean... I was pretty popular at school..... btw I remember the first time I ever flirted with a girl and she walked up the stairs and I said something to her and she said something back and we just looked at each other and I held this look and she gave this smile and my heart went,you know it almost exploded and I went that's what you do, hold a look, give a little smile and that was first time I felt some stirrings down below you know
H: 17 it was a girl a serious girlfriend?
G: It wasn't a GF, it was just a girl at school and she was walking up the stairs and I made a joke and she looked at me and I held the look and I am like OMG this is fun, so I have got such an addictive personality that all I did was flirst constantly so I became
H: So before you got laid, were you getting blow jobs & stuff a lot when you were like 14 and 13?
G: No
H: No
G: Other stuff, but not blow jobs.
R: Just making out and stuff.
H: I would get freaky chicks to make love to me and that it would be like long between girls it would be like months
R: A desert
H: A desert, it was awful with this face, I didn't have that good a personality so everything was working against me you know what I mean
G: ...There was one girl in the chemistry class and I remember we use to always have bunsen burners in front of us and we sat at the back and she use to wear these black stockings and she OMG I would get so turned on and we start putting our hands on each other's legs as a dare and start working our way up to see what
R: Oh really
G: Yeah, to me that was even more exciting then losing my virginity
H: Right that's hot
G: It's hot
H: Because if you get caught you're screwed ... the whole thing
G: Everytime go a little further
H: Did you ever consumate with her or
G: No
H: No
G: Never
H: It was just something that happened in that class
G: Well once in the toilet at my house, as well but never
R: What?
H: She came over and she started to screw
G: There was a crowd of us over at my house and we ended up kissing and kind of pressing against each other and it was like, it was
H: Why do you think you never made love to her?
G: I didn't know what I was doing
H: You were, right. Did porn help you learn how to do
G: No I was
H: It was what I learned from
G: From porn?
H: From porn yeah
R: That's why he was arrested several times
H: Yeah I think I was suppose to rip a woman's clothes off and do whatever you wanted to her. I didn't know you have to have permission.
G: You are leaving me with so..... I went to my brother's house to visit him in Edinburg when he was student. I just started law school and the guy in his room had a box I swear about 4' high full of porn magazines, I didn't have any porn magazines, he was throwing them out, my brother said do you want some of these and I was with 3 of my friends we were all law students and I took a bunch, we get in the car and we drive back to Glasgow and I am going into the university and they dropped me in the middle of Fifth Street where everybody crosses, everybody who is in the university, they all cross and I used to be craic.. crazy I 'm still bit crazy so I decided to do my French Connection impersonization, so I opened the door while he was still moving and I dived out and rolled along the street
H: Are you insane.
G: I am insane
H How fast was this car moving
G: It was just slowing down 40 mph, no I'm joking it was just like a couple miles an hour, I roll on the ground and I am thinking the boys are going to love me that's crazy. My buddy (name) gets out of the car with all the porn magazines, he throws them on the ground and he says "Stay away you fucking pervert," he drives off and I left with about 20 porn magazines all over the ground and everybody looking at me and I had to start picking them one by one.
H: So embarassing
G: It was the most humilating
H: Like kiddie magazines
G: Oh worse, they were like German, they were serious deep throat porn
H: Guys who love animals
G: Yeah
H: Very bad stuff
G: I don't smile, I couldn't just walk away, so laughing at people, this is just silly, picking them all up
H: That reminds me of a story that happened to my wife We get so much free porn here, sex toys and stuff, so we had a friend she said H gets all those dildos, she hadn't been dating, she said bring a couple of those dildos that he gets over to the house. So she wrapped them up in a paper bag. I give them to her. She is walking down the street, what are the odds of this happening, the paper bag rips and there are dildos all over the ground and she like in front of tons of people picking up a black dildo like 12", this long, you know what I mean, so f**king embarassing right? It was too much when you are picking up porn off the street and people, women are probably looking like making you are dirt
G: Yeah (during H's talking, he is also laughing)
H: It was awful
G: there was another thing, you just reminded me, I was in a bar and for some reason it was not like I use to carry a lot of condoms around, but I got a bunch, i had 5, and I put them on the inside of my pocket and I sitting in a bar. It was an old beaten up denium jacket and it had a hole in the inside so I am sitting talking to this guy, there is a bunch of girls and this girl walks over and says excuse me buddy and she picks of 5 condoms from the ground that looked I had crapped them out
H: And then you look like a stooge
G: yeah it was not my best moment
H: Check it out.. there's Gerard Butler that guy carries 5 condoms because he knows he's going to get lucky
G: BTW now that I look back probably made me look pretty bad, yeah babe what about it?
H: Do you still wear rubber when you are with a new chick?
G: Yeah
H: You do
G: huh yeah
R: you have to?
H: You have no idea how many guys I have interviewed single guys like yourself, good looking dudes and they don't use rubbers and they laugh at me because I use one
G: You still use one?
H: Yeah, like that, you are going to laugh at me
R: He's laughing at you too.
H: Yeah I use one how am I suppose to have birth control?
G: Oh yeah that's
H: Seriously I don't want to have more kids
R: Does G like have children floating around out there?
G: Apparently not
H: Right (Robin laughing)
G: I always thought when 300 came out it was a big success, I was waiting for a call, but if there is somebody out there
H: You would know
R: This is the time
G: Yeah, but I didn't hear anything
H You know do you worry about your looks, honestly, seriously because I mean everyone, all these women carry on about, everyone how good looking and part of the reason you get all these leading roles because you look like a leading man and I mean a new movie is coming out, you are a leading man type,
G: Yeah
H: Do you worry when you go and play sports or something that your face is going to get f**ked up I mean I would be paranoid about that
G: I am not saying you don't look in the mirror and say oh god I look like shit today or I need to get more botox or something (laughs)
H: Right. Do you get botox?
G: No, no I don't
H: Would you ever do it?
G: No, I don't think like that
H: Why not?
G: I don't think... you know its funny because I said to somebody, look at this, look at all these wrinkles I am getting here and he's like "dude its," if a guy you are lucky it works to me its character
H: In a way I always considered myself blessed because I can never lose my looks, I never had them, but guys like you'd have to worry about it. I don't.
G: You are a good looking lad
H: Oh yeah, but seriously if a producer says to you look like they have the role of a lifetime for you, if you read this script you're gonna love it, hey listen man do a little botox around your eyes or something would you do it?
R: Do they say that?
G: If it's for a role. I would just be as happy to make myself look ugly you know or get fat
H: Right
G: You know, If its for a role and it something you are really willing to commit to, then yeah, I mean I would do it for that, but not for my life, I don't care enough like that, there are certain things that in coming from Scotland that you are not wired that way.
H: Scottish dudes are very masculine. They just don't sit and think about botoxing
G: Yeah but actually what we are doing, guys started talking about trimming and stuff and I am like
H: Trimming your bush. You don't trim your bush do you?
G: NO
H: No I don't either
R: Are you circumcized?
G: NO
H: You're not?
G: We don't do that, I still have umbilical cord (laughing, overtalking)
H: Let me cut that... You've got that big giant belly button
G: Btw, that's why I didn't lose my virginity until I was 17 beause I tried it with my umbilical cord when I was 13 and it was
H: Ah you have like a big belly button like a thing
R: An outie?
H: See that thing sticking out of your belly button?
G: Yeah, right
H: I grew up in a very poor community and some of the kids had belly buttons where there was like a stick coming out of it
G: Oh really
R: What?
H: Like they had botched umbilical cord detachment I guess, it was crazy stuff I use to see
G: Oh wow
H: It was like a tail in front, I am not kidding you, so if you are not circumscribed, which by the way I am so against circumcision I mean you know that's manmade f@#king thing, it has got to cut down on your sensitivity you know on your penis.
G: For sure.
H: I am circumcised. Hell I grew up in America that's what they do cut you, its gotta be wrong
G: I never having being circumcised so I can't say, but all I know is for me it is very sensitive, that's when I am having sex that's the amazing
H: But do chicks freak out, do they ever sit there and go oh no he is not cut because some women just can't deal with it
G: Yeah there are times they are like oh wow look at that, I have never seen
H: Because they have never seen it before
G: Yeah and they have never seen one that small I have never really seen one
H: Bet you got that a lot, they cut off too much off with my circumcision. But do you have to teach a woman how to be with you sometimes because they don't know how to handle a circumcised, um uncircumcised male
G: No I don't think that it is that different I mean I don't
H: They have to pull back that skin right? and they blow you
G: Definitely have to pull back, oh no I don't know that, I know don't enough about that, oh really its not pulled back I don't know, I have never handled uncircumcised cock only circumcised I have never handled a circumcised cock
H: If it was the right role would you circumcise
G: No that woud be going too far
H: You know Fred is uncircumcised, he always talks about how he had to learn to clean the thing, there's always cheese in there and shit all kinds
G: No BTW you only get that if you haven't been you know haven't been careful in the first place you gotta that's the thing hygiene, you gotta be a little bit careful about hygiene
H: Rightly so, absolutely.
G: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is a good conversation
H: Let me tell you something...you could sell your cheese people will pay you I am telling you...these girls want it
G: Okay
H: Hey Robin, Gerard says Robin going to make love to you, but I haven't showered in a week
R: Oh stop
H: You would, you would, you know would
R: No
H: You know you would
R: No stop it
G: Seriously Robin?
R: (chuckles)
H: I know she was
G: We will talk afterwards
H: We will talk smack afterwards
R: Please
H: So you are growing up in Scotland and I remember the last time we talked you were a lawyer which is crazy, you went to law school
R: You went to law school
H: And then you decided to become a movie star I am thinking about this I am looking at you now and I remember the movie 300 where you really bulked up, because you are saying earlier you would get fat for a role and stuff and you are supertrim right now
G: Yeah
H: You must have put on 20, 30 lbs of muscle for 300
G: It was about 30 lbs yeah.
H: Geez
G: Yeah that was months, months, months of training and I don't know that I have that drive now, but then I was so driven because when I got that role, its funny... it was crazy how I got that role because the producers and the director said we want you to play this but they were in a weird situation because the movie had just been greenlit, Warner Brothers were very nervous about it so they didn't want to put me forward to the big cheese... Warner Bros
H: They were nervous because you weren't a big name
G: Basically yeah at that point you know and they didn't know also that's is Alan Horn, who's the President, is going to say that the guy they want, so they said we are going to do this in a weird way, we want you to personally call Alan Horn
H: Who is Alan Horn?
G: Alan Horn was the president of WB. He is a sweetheart and I knew him. I called him and it was embarassing because an actor does do that you don't call the President of the studio
H: Wow
G: He didn't know because they had told him that I was their guy So I had to call him and he said look I appreciate the call, but this is not really the way we do it, you get nominated by these guys, they come to me and my right hand man and I said I know, I know, but just let me come in. I have never done that before. My way would be normally oh oh ok sure, just let me come in... you know what just come in and have a coffee
H: Because you are not forward like that
G: Not normally forward like that and yet the roles that I got were always the ones I actually was very proactive just took a gamble
H: So just a good lesson for actors that you just have to sometimes be that pushy and aggressive guy even though its against your nature
G: Yeah you know what's interesting, I was just talking about this the other day as an actor I think what happens when you start getting offers you just look at these offers and you forget the quality is always going to get higher when you have to fight for a role so the roles aren't coming your way, so you got to keep looking up rather than on a parallel level and I think I was getting to a stage where I was just looking at a parallel level because actors get egos, you start with thing thing I only read this if this is a offer BTW you get a lot of scripts and you can't sit and rewrite all day you can only do so much, but it has always been at those times that when I had to fight for something that the actor comes out
H: You known you are right, after a couple hit movies you are like hey I don't have to audition for this, I don't have to go in and beg for this, but meanwhile you are right you can't lose that hunger because the good roles are the ones everybody is fighting over
G: Exactly
H: Who you are up against all the time is it like type, like you know
R: There is some guy yeah
H: Who's your guy?
G: Who is my guy? You know it depends on the role because sometimes they are, kind of a slightly little bit older, so they might say its you or Russell Crowe.
H: Right.
G: Other times you know it maybe Jeremey Renner or a Tom Hardy when they go younger and those guys are phenomenal and you know sometimes come your way and sometimes and I always think they go where they are suppose otherwise you just make yourself crazy and I learned that early on as this role I wanted so much and the guy that got it is an English actor called Max Beasley and it was a Scottish role, he's English and I thought you know what I can look at this 2 ways I can be angry or I could say good for him He managed to pull off getting that role in another accent so that should just inspire me to work harder and one day I will be that guy and he had more of name than me, so one day I will be glad I am the guy who has that name and will get those roles, so I try to look at it that way.
H: How hard is it for you to remove your Scottish accent when you go up for a role I mean is that difficult for you?
G: No, no I have done it, btw I feel like I barely talk Scottish anymore I listen to myself and I am going say what I am sounding like, you know I am a hybrid because I have done Americans in so many movies
H: How do you learn to speak American so to speak?
G: You go
H: Like who do you emulate? You can't go to a guy from Boston because he has sort of a Boston accent
R: Unless you are playing a Boston guy and that's a tough accent
G: Most people in movies speak in a general American accent and I don't try and focus on one person because then you are going to start getting caught up in their habits, but as much as watching tv and movies, what you do is work with a dialect coach and literally you sit and you run sounds, so you will be like for your actors in Scotland say breight leight, we go "ite" and in America go bright light so you watch and go it's a bright light on a fine night but the thing is the same rules for every accent is "I" has a certain sound in Ameria and ooh for moon in Scotland you go mune, we say gud, and in American you say good.
H: If I said to you say the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain without your accent?
G: Okay, right because you know wa la la la la
H: Its the hardest thing
G: The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
R: Wow
H: Wow. Yeah, yeah that was pretty good.
G: You know normally you do warmups because you gotta for American you got to relax the lips, relax the tongue and you've got to start talking like that.
H: If somebody hired me to play a Scottish guy, to stay in that vernacular, to stay in that accent
R: That was what I was going to ask on the set do you stay American?
G: I do, but you know that was the biggest thing as an actor that I did because I was very shy to just walk around and improvise and I realized one day it doesn't work when you just going in for an audition and putting on an accent, what starts happening you start talking like this you either get the performance or the accent.
H: Right because that's so forced, you got make it part of you, you've got to walk around all day
G: So I started walking around, I started talking and I thought it does not even matter if its bad because people don't know, they don't think its a bad American accent, they think he has just lived here for certain amount of years and you get every accent imaginable and my best buddy was like dude you sound like an idiot. He's a director, you are suppose to be supporting me stop telling me it doesn't sound American it doesn't matter right now, what matters is that I am learning to laugh, to sigh, to go high,
H: To make it natural
G: To make it natural and It made all the difference to me
H: When I hear Daniel Day Lewis walking around all day as Lincoln I think he's a f*&king tool, but I get in a sense, you got stay in the voice right?
R: And he is British so he's dealing with it
G: He should say that in speech BTW I am the tool that won the Oscar that's right that's why I act like a tool
H: The guy is a great actor, amazing but geez imagine walking around all day as Lincoln and all of sudden you take out your cell phone and he goes what's that, I am the Presdent and I have never seen
H: He's probably still living as Lincoln
G: Yeah, his wife says why do you never answer my calls because I don't know what's a call
H: What's a phone?
G: Did you shout?
H: Why aren't you yelling out the window? Who knows. In your new movie you play an American?
G: I am an American yeah
H: Is it tough or is it action
G: No, It's tough.
H: You play a guy who is, everybody now, the new enemy is North Korea because don't you play a guy who is protecting the President or something
G: Yeah
H: From North Koreans.
G: Yeah, but it is
H: What are you CIA or FBI?
G: I don't know, no I am Secret Service
H: You are Secret Service. That's cool.
G: It's cool, he is exSpecial Forces and they often move into the Secret Service afterwards so he was
H: So what's the story, the North Koreans are attacking and you have to protect the President?
G: It's a, yeah that's basically what happens, we cut into the story earlier where I was Special Agent in Charge, so I was the President's right hand man
H: Who plays the President?
G: Aaron Eckhart.
H: Oh no kidding
R: That's a very young President isn't it... yeah
G: We wanted to as you often with Presidents in movies there is often a standard, very polished, a little bent, there is a cariacture they have of Presidents, and we wanted to make ours young and fresh with a bit of attitude because you know its really a movie about heroes and how in a situation like that, you know it your darkest hour, how do we rise to the challenge and we wanted a President with a bit of a bite. I mean we open with a boxing scene, I'm boxing with Aaron, I am kicking the movie is really about keeping your guard up
H You're boxing with him, so you teach him how to fight
G: Yeah we fight, most Presidents stay fit, they go running, they train, they play golf especially Bush and we
H: Bush couldn't get him off the golf course
G: that's all he did
H: Afraid Obama maybe turning into that to, we gotta get him off the golf course
G: You gotta go back to the White House, what's that?
H: In the movie do you bring in Ambassador Dennis Rodman to meet with the... wouldn't that be a cool move?
G: Yeah, yeah
H: So
G: But we btw the political backdrop, yeah there's a lot of tension between North Korea, South Korea and America
H: Right
G: The North Koreans in this are not the bad guys they are just the unpredictable guys, we don't know its a black hole there, we don't know what they are going to do because you just don't know what they are going to do anyway, you always want to set a movie... you look at the global climate and if we made a movie about Spanish terroists, nobody would go see it .... say what.. you know, they are from Jamaica
H: You know what is that guy from gangum style in your movie at all? Does he play the enemy
R: He's the leader of North Korea
H: Gangam style
G: It's like everybody is just like...what the hell is that
H: You talk to the President and he has to box the guy from gangum style I can't wait to see this.
G: That's great
H: A big dance attack
G: but they are actually terrorists, its a militia force So it's even more stuff then Osma Bid Laden where yeah he has his politics this is a personal vendetta going on because of what happened in his own life and
H: Costner played a good Secret Service guy Kevin Costner when he was protecting
R: No Way Out
H: Np he was protecting Whitney Houston
R: That's Bodyguard.
G: Do you want to hear something crazy?
H: Yeah
G: I was an extra in that movie
H: You're kidding.
R: You're kidding
G: I took a year out in America and I was wandering like a bum, I ended up joining a traveling carnival and working it.
H: This is after you became a lawyer? And your parents wanted to kill you because you wanted to be an actor
G: No this was before that, this is when they wanted to kill me because I took a year out after my honor's degree, but I still had to go back and do a diploma and legal practice and then train in a lawfirm for 2 years
H: Right
G: So this is before that, I went over there and worked an exchange program for the summer and the day I was suppose to come home, I was still technically the President of the Law Society in Glasgow. I called my Mom and said I'm not coming back.
H: You joined a circus
G: I am going to join the traveling circus
H: I would have killed you, I would have beat your ass into the ground
G: That was pretty much her
H: Why are you wasting your time on this for
G: Yeah
H: You must be the biggest screwball on the planet
G: Screwball, but I think she also knew that listen once I went back, I was facing a life as a lawyer and that sounds like you know
H: For you that would be hell
G: But not just hell, no matter what it was going to be, you were committing to a lifelong career where you have your 2 weeks holiday a year and I thought I need to go....I need to do some damage
H: Imagine you as a lawyer with your looks, so much corporate pu**y
R: Wait a minute do they wear those wigs and stuff?
G: BTW what side do I go now
H: I think God knows, II can't even keep up with you
R: Do they wear those wigs in Scottish court?
G: Yeah they do
H: You would look good in them
R: So you would have
H: I don't need a wig I have got that...I got that look
R: that poofy hair.... so what did you do in the traveling circus?
G: No it was a traveling carnival so I was working on what was a device called wackywire that goes around in a spiral and you
R: You ran a ride?
G: No it's a concession stand, so people come and they pay $2 and they try to take it down without touching the wire, its pretty much impossible to do, especially because you know there is an arm at the back that holds it and if you do it standing behind it then you can do it, but if you are in front you can't, you can't...you win a massive teddy bear COME ON WIN THE BIGGEST BEAR IN THE FAIR, $2 A SHOW
H: That was you?
G: That was me
H: You guys ripped me off, I think I lost... so while you are doing that you say hey let me go check out the movie business and you go and you are an extra on that movie
G: Yeah I wasn't even checking out the movie business, but my buddy who I had met years before in Spain who turns out his father was Alan Marshall and he was a big producer and he produced Basic Instinct, he produced Bugsby Malone you know, he did Jacob's Ladder. BTW he's now an assistant director and a 2nd year director and check this out, this is 23 years later. When I was in Spain I was on holiday with my family who were there for 2 weeks, I met him, I had to go home and like he said dude stay, I have other buddies coming out, so I stayed at his place and I had no money, so I painted his house, his mom gave me money to paint his house, so I could stay out in Spain, he just worked on this movie OHF
H: Wow how amazing full circle
G: A full circle, it's kind of amazing that all these years later
H: So when is the moving coming out, OHF
G: OHF
H: comes out when?
G: The 22nd of March
H: The 22nd of March, what's today?
G: I don't know
R: Today is like the 11th
G: Is it?
H: No, is it? Yeah yeah. Are you nervous?
G: You know what you always get nervous before a movie comes out, but the reason I am nervous about this movie is because
H: You got (talking over couldn't get it)
G: Well I always do, but recently I haven't seen even close to anything on it.
H: Sorry
G: But you know honestly these last couple of days have really been exciting. I did 80 interviews yesterday, 80.
H: Do you like that?
G: No, I don't like it, but I like it when people are coming in because what we did was really smart because the movie is fantastic, it's exciting and it is very provocative, its emotional and its packed
H: Have you already gotten reviews yet?
G: Yes people, we have been getting reviews, they give you quick reviews. Their reviews don't come out until day of but the reviewers have been loving it and we have been screening at least 300 word of mouth screens all around the country and they are screaming, they are shouting at the screen
H: Action film?
G: Its an action film but it is also
H: Any nudity?
G: No.
H: Any chest
R: Gerry
G: No that would still be nudity, but no
H: No chicks naked?
G: No chicks naked.
H: Who decided that?
G: I tried
H: You don't make love to any woman in the movie?
G: No
H: Wow that's the mood now, no one is James Bond anymore, most of these action dudes don't actually make love to women, they are almost above it, Sylvester Stallone started that I think
G: Yeah Yes that's a good point actually because it does really, it becomes a little namby pamby after that and then it goes toward the romantic thing
H: This is hard core
G: It's hard core but at the same time, its a very emotional experience, hey I have a wife in it, because after a tradegy at the beginning of movie where me in performing my duty there's a car accident I have to save the President but in doing so I literally have to pull him off of his wife and they go over the
H: Would you love to be James Bond? I can see you as a James Bond type.
G: I could listen
H: Is this your James Bond this movie?
G: Any movie that is an action thriller where you are working for the government against the bad guys could be compared to James Bond, but it does not feel anything like James Bond
H: Would you love that, would that be something you want or
G: to be honest to be Bond #17 is not
H: Because you are going to be compared to all the other ones
G: Compared to all
H: If you don't do well
G: Yeah Sean Connery who's pretty hard to top, Daniel Craig ... I really loved the last movie that's what
R: A lot of people did
G: That's when it clicked in that was a piece of class
H: I can see you doing that though
G: BTW I totally think I can do it
H: Of course you could. When you pull the President off his wife she's not naked?
G: No
H: What kind of movie is this where the President's wife isn't naked?
G: What do you call that when you pull a costume and it just comes off?
H: uhhh
R: A breakaway
G: A breakaway.
H: Yeah, yeah
G: I suggested it
H: He's banging his wife, you pull him off and she's not nude?
G: She's not nude
H: Does you character go WTF, whay are you wearing clothes while you are making love to the President?
G: He's says WTF my wife just died you dick
H: Laughing.
G: Anyway, so you cut into the movie and I am now on a desk job, I am like a caged animal, I am bouncing my ball off my screen, I trained in my life you know to be of service
H: Did you audition for this movie?
G: No I produced this movie
H: Oh you got this role, this is your role
G: And it's Antoine Fuqua who directed Training Day, so, its with Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett
H: Morgan Freeman that's good
G: Melissa Leo won the Oscar for the FIGHT, we have Ashley Judd, Dylan McDermott, Cole Hauser
H: Did you have sex with Ashley Judd, she's newly divorced right?
G: I had sex with Dylan McDermott.
H: You did?
G: It's
Did he mind you are uncircumcised?
G: Laughing
H: Glad to hear you have a small penis though with all the women you had
G: Oh yeah
R: Do you believe him?
G: Can I just say it's thin
H: It's thin? Mine's thin and small, I am not even thick.
R: Oh my God.