Gerard Butler. Man, what is even to be said about this guy?
He’s starred in so many types of movies in the past couple years, it’s hard to place him as an actor. Look at these credentials: The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, a dead lover in P.S. I Love You, an over-the-top avenger in Law Abiding Citizen, a jacked General in 300, and a few other dismissible rom-com roles that he probably wouldn’t want us to mention.
So, what’s next for Butler? Deadline reports that he and director Antoine Fuqua may jump into Afterburn, an adaptation of the Red 5 comic by Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood. The science fiction film, written by Matt Johnson and revised by Christian Gudegast, tells the story of the world a year after a solar flare destroyed half of the planet’s surface, and the “treasure hunters” that must venture into the unknown to find things of value.
Now, this does sound like something Butler could do, but the dude — despite working in a bunch of different genres — pretty much plays the same character in every film. Yeah, sometimes he’ll kill people instead of wooing women, but he typically has the same attributes. Personally, I think Butler should commit to a direction and it should be the action genre. So in that case, Afterburn is a good choice. He’s too burly and too manly for rom-coms. I imagine him as someone who’s grabbing machine guns and blowing up bridges, not wearing a polo tee and sucking up to Katherine Heigl. And I’m assuming he’d like to win some awards one day, so solidifying himself more as an actor will make him attractive to character-driven roles. Plus, Katherine Heigl sucks.
Source: Deadline
