Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl at The Ugly Truth Press Conference
Do you listen to music to get into character and who is on your play lists?Katherine Heigl: "Yeah."
Gerard Butler: "Yeah, sometimes. I didn't for this movie. I didn’t think it was necessary. I have done it for movies, especially when it’s an emotional scene. To really put you in the mood, definitely. Techno makes me want to cry. Hard Rock. AC/DC made me want to cry or shoot myself, one of the two. How to lose a major part of the fan base? ‘He doesn’t like AC/DC? Well then I don’t like The Ugly Truth you f--ker.'"
Since we already have Katherine’s next movie info, can you talk about Gamer?
Gerard Butler: "It’s an action thriller set 10 or 15 years in the future. It’s probably based on the idea of a world of gladiators where there is a world of gamers. They are now taking on a global dimension. The avatars they play are in more of an organic process. Nanotechnology in the future can control humans within the game. I play a prisoner on death row in a game called Slayers. He’s almost made it through to the end and he would be the first person ever to do that. It’s kind of three different worlds. There is the world of society, which is a like a second life where people can go into that world where the fantasy is. And then of course the norm for reality television and pay per view, it always has to go a step further. Now we move on to a ‘Halo’ or ‘World of Warcraft’ thing, where like, ‘We don’t even need war anymore. Let's just watch it on television and watch people blow the sh-t out of each other.’ It’s fun for gamers, but at the same time it’s a bit of a comment on the lowering standards of morality we have in society with the onslaught of technology and entertainment."
Katherine Heigl: "Sounds awesome. When is it coming out?"
Gerard Butler: "It’s awesome. It’s very entertaining. It comes out September [4th]."
Katherine Heigl: "Is it depressing though? This is where society is going?"
Gerard Butler: "I don’t think it is depressing. It’s actually a fun and entertaining film. It’s very violent. It won’t be for every woman, but a lot of women I know have seen it and loved it because it’s got a lot of guy juice. It’s got that 300 thing going on and a lot of women like 300 for certain reasons. But at the same time it makes 300 look like a picnic, in terms of its violence. But It’s also, in a way, like an art house action movie because it’s surprisingly brave in the way it tries to paint the world and doesn’t stop at anything. There are no short cuts here. It’s a beautifully painted, dark world that we’ve gone into. I don’t think that anybody will have ever seen anything like it before."
How is Grey’s Anatomy going?
Katherine Heigl: "I’m actually really mad at them right now because they worked me on Wednesday for 17 hours and I thought that was mean. Yup. That’s right. I think we should all boycott Grey’s Anatomy. I think we need to make a point. This can’t continue. Is that even legal? Are they allowed to do that? [Laughing] Anyway…"
Gerard Butler: "Don’t say that! It doesn’t work in print, remember? Do you know how many people are going to write this down now as a serious comment? ‘Katie Heigl said she thinks we should all boycott Grey’s Anatomy now.’"
Katherine Heigl: "Oh sh-t. [Laughing] "I was joooooking! It’s exciting to be back because I’ve missed my friends and it was really fun to see everybody. It’s such a strange thing. It’s been two months but it doesn’t feel like any time has passed at all because you’re right back in the same set, same wardrobe, and with the same people. Maybe you haven’t seen each other for the weekend. That’s what it feels like. Aside from Ellen [Pompeo's] growing belly, last time I saw her it was just a tiny bump, and now she’s got a basketball and it’s weird. Other than that, nothing has changed and it’s wonderful, except for T.R. [Knight]. That was really actually very strange and really hard, because T.R. provided so much fun, joy, and levity for me and everyone else. We were all sitting there - I’m not supposed to talk about this. We had to do a scene about George’s death and Justin [Chambers] kept saying, ‘I just keep imagining T.R. on Broadway like [makes singing jazz hands] while we’re mourning the character’s death.’ Then we all sort of went, ‘Yeah, that’s hilarious. Oh, that’s really sad. He would be laughing really hard now too, and he’s not here to laugh with us.’ So it’s a little strange in that regard but other than that, it’s good to be back with my friends and my family."
Gerard, do you play a dragon in the DreamWorks movie?
Katherine Heigl: "Or a penis?"
Gerard Butler: "Uh, no. I play a Viking. It's actually about Vikings. It's actually about Vikings fighting dragons."
What can you say about Bounty?
Gerard Butler: "Bounty is a comedy I'm shooting with Jennifer Aniston. I play an ex-cop turned bounty hunter who is given the task of going to arrest and bring in Jennifer Aniston who is a journalist on the run. What is lethally joyful to me and sadistically satisfying to me is that she's my ex-wife, I hate her and I can't think of anything else better in the world than to bring her ass back to jail. When I go there she's doing everything in her power to escape my grasp and get on to this case about police corruption that she's trying to solve. So she's trying to bring me into that and meanwhile escape, and all I want to do is stick her in jail."
How is that going?
Gerard Butler: "It's going amazing. It's so much fun. She's incredible and I'm having a blast."
Would you be involved in a sequel to 300?
Gerard Butler: "I don't know. I don't know what's planned. I don't know what's going on with that. I hear rumors, but other than that I can't say anymore. I thought I died!"
