Actor Gerard Butler slipped into one of his most iconic roles Law abiding citizen. But he was a little apprehensive about doing the film because of the legendary performances of other actors.
Gerard Butler’s background as a law student helped him star in Law Abiding Citizen.
Before Gerard Butler became a leading man in the film industry, he was on his way to becoming a lawyer. He had dedicated seven years of his life to practicing law in his native Scotland. But after working more closely with a law firm, Butler began to question his career choice.
“Becoming an actor was a huge change for me, but I didn’t have the heart to persevere as a lawyer,” Butler once told Square Mile. “I would have done a good job but I hated the work – I partied every night and got fired. But my bosses also knew that acting is my passion. They were very realistic with me and told me to just go and do what I really wanted to do instead of wasting my time in the office. You were right.”
Ironically, Butler found himself in a courtroom years later Law abiding citizen. In the feature, Butler portrayed Clyde Shelton. Clyde would take the law into his own hands after his family was brutally murdered. The 2009 feature explores the corruption and complicated nature of the justice system that criminals sometimes take advantage of. It was the film’s focus on the law that further attracted Butler.
“Yes, that was one of the initial attractions, obviously being involved with the law and also realizing that once I was involved with the law, I didn’t want any more involvement in it. Then you come up with this idea, which in a way is a real requirement of the law or the way it can be administered,” Butler said in a 2009 interview with Fan Carpet.
Gerard Butler worried about being compared to Anthony Hopkins in Law Abiding Citizen
Butler was originally slated to play a prosecutor in the film. But the more he read the script, the more interested he became in Clyde. After playing so many heroes in his career, Butler was interested in playing a more complex role. The prosecutor’s part would go to his later Law abiding citizen co-star Jamie Foxx.
“We thought Jaime would most likely want to play the prosecutor. So when I spoke to the rest of the team, do you think if I offered to play the other role he’d still be interested, the second I said it there was a pause and I thought I had that shouldn’t say because he might say yes and he did, I was kinda screwed. But looking back I have no regrets, I’m glad we did it that way,” Butler said.
But Butler still developed some concerns after clipping the part. He stepped into a role unlike many others he was known to have played. He also had to deal with the possibility that his performance might not be consistent with actors who had played similar villains. At least in the eyes of the public.
“I’ve been talked out of it a couple of times. But the fact that people said no gave me more reason to do it. Can you do a romantic comedy or a musical and then go into a thriller and really scare people to death? What worries me, when you take on a role like this, people are going to say, ‘Well, he’s not Kevin Spacey!’ or ‘Tony Hopkins was much better,'” Butler once said Rich (via Female First).
Still, Butler maintained that he couldn’t let fear sway the roles he played.
Gerard Butler was in a dark place after Law Abiding Citizen
Law abiding citizen was not only a challenge for Butler as an actor. The 300 Star found herself producing for the first time during filming. But the combination of his behind-the-scenes duties and his role eventually took its toll on him.
“I don’t think I was always in good shape during the making of this film, partly because of the role I was playing and what he was going through, but also because I was trying to produce, I was acting in it and that role playing that I hadn’t played before was very dark,” Butler said.
After filming, Butler decided to travel and relax a bit to get back into a better mental state.
“So yeah, I’ve noticed that a lot of the time I wasn’t in a great room during filming, my stomach was turning because of the other things that were going on, but when I was done that was tough, that was literally three Weeks to a month spent in a very weird place. After that I actually came back to Scotland and went out on my own a lot, climbed a few hills, got out a tent and then went on to India,” he said.
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