Butler jetting in to film tough IRA role

[canadia]

Butler jetting in to film tough IRA role
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By Aoife Anderson

Saturday May 29 2010

Dublin is set to get an injection of heat this summer when Hollywood heartthrob Gerard Butler jets in to film a new movie.

The Scottish actor will no doubt set pulses racing when he arrives in the capital in a matter of weeks for an extended stay to shoot his latest flick alongside legendary Irish actress Brenda Fricker. Butler is rumoured to have nabbed the lead role in the controversial new IRA movie Crossmaglen, after Ben Kingsley decided to pull out ahead of filming.

The film, which will be directed by Kevin Connor, tells the tale of IRA gunner Dermot McGarvey, who accidentally kills a mother and her two young children on a stakeout to kill British soldiers. Butler is no stranger to Irish shores having previously spent months in Wicklow filming the romantic blockbuster PS I Love You here in 2006, alongside Oscar winner Hilary Swank and former Friends star Lisa Kudrow.

BOUNTY

The 300 star has become somewhat better known for his love life over the past year after rumoured romances with numerous of his leading ladies including Jennifer Aniston, with whom he starred in the box office flop The Bounty Hunter.

But the 40-year-old hunk, who starred in a popular Guinness ad here before he hit the big time, is likely to get his acting career back in focus with this new meaty role alongside Thora Birch and Fricker.

Meanwhile Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall, Bette Midler and singer Pixie Lott will all also shortly arrive on Irish soil to shoot Bootstrap Films' Sweet Baby Jesus.

The film, set in Bethlehem, Maryland, will see Pixie playing a pregnant young hippy who visits her mother for Christmas along with her boyfriend Joe.

The crew is scouting Irish locations for the film which is expected to shoot in July or August this year.

www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/butler-jetting-in-to-film-tough-ira-role-2200006.html

[canadia]

Now this is confusing since it seems Machine Gun Preacher is all set to go.

However it looks like the star of this movie Ben Kingsley pulled out at the very last minute and maybe they made an offer Gerry couldn't refuse and/or the MGP production was willing to work around it? Because I like the sound of this movie. If Neil Jordan was directing it I'd be even more excited. Have to check out this Connor guy.

Also possible that Gerry wanted this role but they gave it to Kingsley so he jumped at the chance when it came back to him?

If he does this, MGP and Coriolanus that is three potentially good movies that could prove his chops as an actor, apparently he is already now considered bankable, according to that Screen Daily article posted in the MGP thread in Movies.

[canadia]

Maybe we need a rumour thread, LOL, .net is saying this is a false story. Given that it appears MGP is a go, inclined to see that has to be the case.

[lolab2711]

Since when are Gerry and Ben Kingsley considered for the same role???

[canadia]

Well that is another conundrum lolab, good point unless Ben was really going out of his comfort zone, I can see Gerry playing an IRA commander which was the role Kingsley supposedly was signed on for. And Kingsley is a guy who does test himself all the time. We tend to think of him as Ghandi but he's played some real SOBs too.

Apparently some of the fans around longer than me at Just Jared said Gerry was attached to this project in 2009 but it got pushed back, not sure which role though. His friend Tony Curran according to IMDB has the main lead role now in this film but I'd have thought that would be the role Gerry would have wanted not the IRA commander. He would have been brilliant in that role. That's a movie I'd like to see this Crossmaglen.

[dawne27]

May 29, 2010 10:40:30 GMT -5 canadia said:

Now this is confusing since it seems Machine Gun Preacher is all set to go.

However it looks like the star of this movie Ben Kingsley pulled out at the very last minute and maybe they made an offer Gerry couldn't refuse and/or the MGP production was willing to work around it? Because I like the sound of this movie. If Neil Jordan was directing it I'd be even more excited. Have to check out this Connor guy.

Also possible that Gerry wanted this role but they gave it to Kingsley so he jumped at the chance when it came back to him?

If he does this, MGP and Coriolanus that is three potentially good movies that could prove his chops as an actor, apparently he is already now considered bankable, according to that Screen Daily article posted in the MGP thread in Movies.

i understand this film MGP will commence filming within a month or two? and, what does your girlfriend say....will she be in pennsylvania or africa???