You South Africa – 29 August 2019

SPOTLIGHT/ WHATTOWATCH/

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Gerard Butler

Thepresident’sprotectoris

backinthethirdinstalment

oftheFallenfranchise

CHILLOUT|SPOTLIGHT

COMPILEDBYMAXINEPETERS

FASTFACTS

LIONSGATE,

INSTAGRAM/@GERARDBUTLER

SAfterthe49-year-

old’sMalibuhomewas

burntdowninthedevas-

tatingWoolseyfiresin

Californialatelastyear,

hehosteda fundraising

eventinaidofthere-

buildingprocessinthe

community.Starswho

attendedincludedJamie

Foxx,SeanPennand

CindyCrawford.

SGerardandactress

MorganBrownsplit

earlierthisyearafter

anon-againoff-again

relationship.

SSince 2010 Gerard

hasworkedwithMary’s

Meals,a Scottishfoun-

dationthathelpsfeed

40000 childreninHaiti

everyday.Latelastyear

hetravelledtotheim-

poverishedCaribbean

countryafterlosing

hishometothefire.

Touchedbytheexperi-

ence,heposteda pic-

tureonsocialmedia

withthecaption,“Been

cheereduptonoend by

thesebeautifulsouls

who,despitelivingina

countrythathasgone

throughsomuchhard-

ship,havenothingbut

lovetogive.Arealles-

sonformerightnow.”

BRILLIANT EXCELLENT

WORTHWHILE SO-SO IF YOU MUST

TO SERVE & PROTECT Gerard returnsasSecret

Service agent Mike Banning in Angel HasFallen,

the third movie in the Fallen franchise.Thistime

Mike has been wrongfully accused oftryingto

assassinate the US president (played byMorgan

Freeman). He escapes from custody anda coun-

trywide manhunt ensues while he goesona mis-

sion to clear his name and find the realthreatto

the president.

“It’s the same man in the same positionbutthis

time he’s on a much deeper, darker journey.You’re

really inside this character, watching himtryto

get his shit together. We made sure nottodisap-

point fans of the first two movies,” Gerardsays.

“I feel as if we’ve been brave in takingthisnew

direction. If it pays off then maybe wemakea

fourth movie. If it doesn’t then, hey, I hada blast.”

GREAT SCOT The Scottish star spent sevenyears

studyingandpractisinglawuntil he realisedthe

g

Angel Has

Fallen is in

SA cinemas

now.

profession wasn’t for him.

“I never felt fulfilled,” Gerard says. “I partied a lot

and abused the privileges of my firm. I ended up

becoming – and I’m very proud of this – the first

trainee lawyer in the history of the Scottish legal

system to be fired before he qualified.”

He moved to London to pursue his acting

dreams and soon a slew of bad-ass roles came his

way. He starred as King Leonidas in 300 (2006),

played Clyde Shelton in Law Abiding Citizen

(2009) and portrayed hardcore Los Angeles police

officer Big Nick in Den of Thieves (2018). These

days he splits his time between LA and Glasgow.

NEVER SAY DIE Gerard isn’t bad-ass only on the

big screen – he’s pretty hardcore in real life too.

He’s broken two bones in his neck, was seriously

banged up in a car crash with Pierce Brosnan

(while filming Shuttered) and nearly drowned in

thunderous waves off the California coast while

surfing on the set of Chasing Mavericks.

“I spent the night in hospital and the next day

they had to give me the defibrillator to set my

heartbeat – it was intense.”

In 2017 he was in the wars again. His motor-

bike was struck by a car, catapulting him 10m

into the air. “As I went through the air I thought,

‘If this doesn’t go the right way, I’m going to die.

It really depends on how I land’.”

He hit the ground knees first, leaving him with

five fractures and a torn meniscus.

“I’m lucky to be here,” he says. S

58 | 29 AUGUST 2019 you.co.za^ SOURCES: EW.COM, THEGUARDIAN.COM, GQ-MAGAZINE.CO.UK, BBC.COM, MENSJOURNAL.COM