Gerard Butler doesn’t consider himself to be a movie star despite his films taking over $3.62 billion at the worldwide box office. In fact, the Den of Thieves actor isn't even convinced there is such a thing as a movie star anymore.
Thanks to a big screen heritage that includes the likes of 300 ($456.1 million) and franchises such as the Has Fallen films, Olympus and London ($170.3 million and $205.8 million worldwide respectively), and the two How to Train Your Dragon movies ($494.9 million and $621.5 million worldwide respectively) he remains very bankable and enduringly popular with audiences - despite the occasional blip. It’s worth noting too that the Dragon and Has Fallen franchises, whose takes get stronger with each new installment, are both adding a third film to their catalog.
Butler’s latest is heist movie Den of Thieves, an action drama he seems to be particularly proud of, which isn’t the case for all of his work. I caught up with him in Beverly Hills to talk about the film, why he’s less concerned about box office than he used to be and why it’s never been about the money.
Den of Thieves is done and dusted and this is where you start selling it. This the hardest part for you, right?Gerard Butler: It can be. It's very clear when the journalists don't love a movie, and sometimes it's hard to pretend yourself, so then when you end up doing hundreds and hundreds of interviews it does take it out of you. I love making moviesOnce the movie is out, is that it for you personally? You disconnect, it's done and dusted and you don't worry about things like the opening weekend box office?
GB: I really try to disconnect, I can't say that I completely avoid it but I'm getting better at it. Basically, with the way the market is now, you just never know what you're going to get unless you have a Star Wars or a Marvel movie, it's such a gamble. All you can really hope for is that you make the best movie possible, you sit down and talk about it and then you leave it up to God.Is it hard for you when you know, or you feel, you've made a good movie but the audience just don't get out and buy tickets?GB: You do scratch your head but you actually scratch your head less and less because I think nowadays nothing is guaranteed.
It's almost like there are no movie stars anymore, you don't know what movie is going to hit. One of my favorite movies last year was IT and there were no stars in that movie, it was full of kids and they were awesome. I really loved that movie and it was huge. At the end of the day when you look at a movie like Den of Thieves, most people are going to see it at some point so you trust that if you make a good, creative, interesting story then people will see it and enjoy it, no matter what platform. Obviously, you hope they'll go and see it at the cinema because, to be honest, the way this is shot and especially the sound design, it's incredible to watch on a big screen. If they don’t catch it in the theater, I hope you get to see 'Big Nick' at some point, somewhere because I loved playing him.
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