Extended Gerard Butler interview

Are you saying there is a link between gaming and movies, and the way violence progresses in society?

There must be some. Everything has an effect of osmosis, or rubbing off on you or informing you in some way. And I don’t doubt that watching excessive amount of violence, then yeah, it must have some effect. What I like about this movie is that you see it in the context of videogames. And it manages on the one hand, if we’re being honest and frank, to make videogames look a hell of a lot of fun, but on the other hand it’s also saying be careful not to let it go too far.

True of false, you were in Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies?

Oh man, I forgot about that. That’s true. I had one line in it and they took it off me. It was like “torpedoes are bearing 11 knots” or something. The director couldn’t understand what I was saying because of my accent, and they gave it to a really effeminate chap. He was a good bloke, but he delivered the line like it was a piece of gossip. I was gutted.

Could you picture yourself as James Bond?

Because I enjoy doing an array of films. If I was to play Bond that would quickly stop. How likely would I be accepted doing those roles after having played Bond? People outside the world of movies think “how amazing it must be to play 007” but as an actor you think “well, I don’t know because, from then on...”

Exactly. [Butler gets to his feet and paces the room with enthusiasm] It’s like Christopher Plummer in the Sound of Music. Great actor, but he will forever be remembered as that guy from The Sound of Music. But, think about it, it would be far worse. You do a lot of movies as Bond and you’d become even more synonymous with the role. I think Daniel Craig is a great Bond and good for him, but I would much rather create a role from nothing. I feel blessed to have done 300 because I think it will go down as a seminal movie and a classic. And it came out of nowhere.