Я все проверила, ссылка еще работает,просто к ней все время цепляется что-то. Попробую открытым текстом выложить.
http://www.gameoftheirlivesmovie.com...er_1400k .mov

Сегодня наконец-то Бяку посмотрела. Нора ,вы правы были,это действительно пересказать нельзя. у меня,кажется. опять температура подскочила от этого:D
Да, а Казахстан,оказывается, гиблое место. Помню я Секретные Материалы:) интересно,сколько же там тюрем.
А играть Батлеру в этом фильме,по-моему,просто нечего было. Там основная ставка на всякие трюки делалась,а не на сюжет, а он старался как мог сыграть, даже когда от него этого и не требовалось.

Вы меня опередили,только хотела запостить.Это один из моих любимых снимков. :love

Это из той же серии

сдаюсь, ссылка отказывается открываться, там постоянно что-то влезает. вместо этого запостю еще одну фотку. интересно, отчего их так перекосило:D

По информации с фильм.ру показ Дорогого Френки в России перенесен с 19 мая на 14 апреля.
И пусть у меня дома уже месяц DVD лежит. Я, кажется,все равно в кино собираюсь, на большом экране хочется все это увидеть, вот только боюсь, после этого не только крыша поедет окончательно, а и фундамент пошатнется.

Нора, :D
Гонки на мотоциклах мне тоже пришлись по душе. :) Зрелищно. А фильм... Не сказать, чтобы я ждала от него каких-то откровений, но все же хотелось, чтобы кино было немножко больше привязано к реальности. Понимаю, что фильм поставлен по компьютерной игрушке (несколько лет назад я даже пробовала в "Ларку" играть, но очень быстро бросила это занятие), но все же спецэффекты - еще не все.



А мне Терри почему-то было жаль с самого начала. Даже удивилась такой реакции. Вроде бы - негодяй, но до чего обаятельный, мерзавец! :) И потом, любил он все-таки Ларку. :D То-то он все порывался выяснить, кто он для нее. "Ты можешь сломать мне запястье, но я все-таки тебя поцелую!" :p Романтик, однако. :) И тут же: "Вообще-то я не это имел в виду, но ладно. Так и быть". :D :D А Ларка... нельзя так с мужиками поступать. :)

Journalist, согласна с Вами. Может, я просто к Ларе предвзято отношусь?..
Proza, а что, неплохая идея - зато можно быть уверенной, что фильм понравится :-)) У Вас температура? Принимайте Витамин G в умеренных дозах! ;-)
Давайте у всех спросим: кто пойдёт в кино смотреть "Фрэнки"?

я про Ларку...
смотрела, конечно, тока из-за Батлера (тут вроде все так...) (сравнить захотелось, к тому же мне кассету "принесли" с фразой "посмотри обязательно...", так что... у меня выбора не было) *улыбка*
про Терри Согласна со всеми «хорошими» высказываниями (и сыграно, и образ удался, и…ну не выглядел он там негодяем!!! и влюблен был...
Короче мне был глубоко симпатичен!!! (даже если отвлечься от актера, даже как образ!)
А вот что мне действительно непонятно, что совершенно НЕ логично, «резкоизменчиво», притянуто за уши и все в этом же духе – ЕГО резкая перемена «на негодяя» в конце фильма!! И его смерть.
Ну зачем ему ящик этот сдался!? Не логично! Он про деньги говорил… Денег бы ему и за эту операцию подкинули! Он ведь дураком-то не был. Знал (в отличии от «ну слишком типичных негодяев, которые, как водится, хотели захватить весь мир), что от этого ящика с деньгами или без денег ничего хорошего не жди… (я бы даже больше поняла, если бы он его не продать захотел, а «хотя бы одним глазком взглянуть» - любопытственно, что тут поделаешь..
А так - нелогичная и «ни с чем не вяжущаяся»» (кроме сценария, вероятно) перемена…
У кого-нибудь тут было такое же оЧуЧение?

Proza , а откуда информация про Френки в России? (я фильм-то так и не смотрела, хотя заочно уже наизусть знаю....) ;)

Я пойду стопроцентно. По двум причинам. Во-первых, хочется посмотреть "Фрэнки" на большом экране (ну и любопытно, каким будет дубляж). Во-вторых, очень мне хочется глянуть на реакцию зрителей. Надеюсь увидеть слезы на глазах особо впечатлительных из них. Все-таки фильм замечательный и очень необычный, не вписывающийся в рамки современного кассового кино. Зато ему как нельзя лучше подходит определение - прост, как все гениальное. А снят так, что должен, нет, просто обязан понравиться российской публике. Любят наши люди такие вот тонкие, психологические, камерные, душевные картины. И я очень удивлюсь, если это окажется не так. :love

2 Journalist:


Эээ, а по-моему, там такие жирные намеки были рассыпаны по тексту, что это она его любила, а он ее – ну, так. В начале, когда они с мотоциклов слезли и на каком-то пригорочке отношения выясняли, он ее спросил, так кем же он все-таки для нее был или что-то в этом роде. Что-то значил или просто развлечение на три месяца. Она его поправила: четыре месяца. Я думаю, этот разговор надо понимать так, что она все их отношения помнит в деталях и в отличие от него помнит, сколько точно все продолжалось. А для него это так, повод побалагурить и может быть самолюбие свое слегка полечить.
Да и сам персонаж Терри Шеридан как бывший возлюбленный Ларки был, наверное, придуман для того, чтобы сделать ее более человечной, более интересной как героиню. Т.е. ее любовь к нему как бы в самой идее ввести ей бывшего возлюбленного заложена. Ну и там тяжкие муки выбора из-за его предательства и прочее.
А то, что получилось видимо не совсем так – вот вам кажется, что все дело обстоит прямо наоборот… Так в том, что Батлер хороший актер, я больше не сомневаюсь. Джоли же в том, что она хорошая актриса, я никогда даже и не подозревала. Чувства же тоже надо уметь играть. :-))) Она не умеет.
В итоге в сценарии прописаны одни отношения, а в кино мы получаем другие.

Ну я-то, поскольку симпатизировала скорее Ларке, нежели Терри (поскольку сама в Ларку играла немножко ;-), больше слушала текст, чем пыталась вникнуть, чего же там играют актеры. Поэтому я все поняла «по сценарию».
И добрым мне Терри не показался. :-))) Показался – опасным, ненадежным,

2 Alise:


Нет, у меня другое ощущение. :-))) Да там и намеков на такой его выбор немало рассыпано. Например, когда он в лаборатории имел возможность этого главного злодея пристрелить и – не пристрелил. Кажется, Ларка обратила на это внимание?


Ну а в целом чего говорить, персонаж получился неоднозначный, интересный – в отличие от Ларки, живой – опять же в отличие от нее.

Получился персонаж, ради которого пожалуй можно посмотреть этот дурацкий фильм. ;-)

Я пойду обязательно. И даже в хорошей компании. :-)))
Там чудные пейзажи - на большом экране должно быть ощущение, что ты сам живешь в этом городишке. Как он там? Гринок?

Статья довольно старая, но чем-то зацепила меня: вроде и факты всем известные, ничего особенного, но...

Article Date: August 7, 2004 | Publication: The Scotsman | Author: CATHERINE DEVENEY
GERARD BUTLER’S father turned up on the doorstep of the family home in Paisley when Butler was four. Cocooned in the self-absorption of early childhood, he was too young to understand the significance of the stranger. So shadowy a figure was the dad of the unexpected visit, so insubstantial, that in future years the actor came to wonder if he had made him up. Perhaps the visit never really happened at all. Perhaps it was just a dream. "I never really asked my mother about it," Butler says now, 30 years later. "But I always wondered, ‘Did I just imagine that? Did he really turn up?’"

At 16, he dreamt about his dad. It was definitely a dream this time. In the intervening years his father had been in Canada, but he stole softly back into his son’s life through his subconscious. Butler’s parents were both Scottish, but his mother had returned from Canada with three children under the age of six when Butler was two. "I went through to my mum’s bedroom," he recalls, "and I said, ‘Mum, I’m never going to see him again, am I?’ And she said, ‘No, I don’t think so. I don’t think you are.’"

Butler didn’t need much preparation for his latest role in Dear Frankie. He knew it. He wore it like a pair of comfortable shoes, long ago broken in.

It is the story of a little deaf boy, Frankie, and his mother, played brilliantly by Emily Mortimer. Mortimer is on the run from Frankie’s violent father, but she creates a fantasy for her son. She tells him the name of a real ship and says his father is a sailor, even writing letters from this imaginary dad and sending them via a post-office box. Frankie (played by Jack McElhone) tracks the ship around the world, but when it docks in the Scottish town where the family is living, he naturally expects a visit. Mortimer needs to find a dad for the day. Enter Butler.

Clearly, the plot is hokum. Apart from anything else, a mother desperate to get a stand-in dad at short notice would inevitably get a man with the girth of a sumo wrestler and the height of Snow White’s dwarves. Instead, a brooding Butler, 6ft 3in and sporting an Elvis leather jacket, lands on her lap. As if. But if the literal truth of Dear Frankie stretches credulity, the emotional truth is utterly convincing. "We were well aware that we had to keep away from schmaltz and being overly sentimental," says Butler.

On the whole, they do. It is beautifully shot, has a terrific cast, and the central relationship, between Frankie and his mother, is moving. One male critic called it a "gobbling, squawking turkey", but then some critics cope better with beheaded soldiers or gangland bloodbaths than they do with more tender emotion. The audience at the Cannes film festival was less macho. The film got a cheering, standing ovation, so unexpected that Butler doubts anything in his career will ever make him feel quite that way again.

But then Butler understands the real emotions behind not having a father. Is that why the role was appealing? "Totally," he agrees. "It was really a cathartic experience. It was one of the easiest jobs I ever did because I so naturally felt I understood the situation that was going on. I really felt the character, and sometimes when you do that you don’t want to think too much about it. Every scene was as I both hoped and imagined it would be."

There’s a scene where Frankie has run away, and Butler played it over and over in his head like his own personal movie reel. He knew that scene: where everybody stood, what everybody felt. "Sometimes I can be a pain if a scene doesn’t go the way I imagine it to go. I said, ‘They have to be standing here and here and here...’ I just felt strongly that there was a physical shape to it. I had seen it in my head so many times, where she says, ‘Frankie, this is your dad,’ and he looks up. It gets me every time," says Butler, an entire movie beginning to unfold in the expressions on his face. He sounds emotional too, and it becomes hard to know if he’s talking about himself or Frankie. Probably both.

"Because it’s a child, and when you think of yourself in those lovely moments you had as a child, you feel so vulnerable and unprotected. And that little boy didn’t ask for that. What has he ever done to anybody? And suddenly he’s put in this position of being told, ‘This is your dad.’ You imagine him looking up and thinking - what is he thinking? And I think about the years when I used to wonder, ‘Where is my dad?’"

Don’t get him wrong, he says later, calmer. It didn’t screw up his entire life, not having a dad. But it taught him stuff. At 15 he had dreamy visions of being in the movies. But then he had what he describes as "an epiphany". "I just thought I should stick in at school and get a really nice professional job and marry a nice woman and have kids." It is doubtful such a dream of stability occurs to a 15-year-old unless there is a good reason.

As a result, Butler studied law at Glasgow University, although he doesn’t remember ever actually wanting to be a lawyer. Off campus he played in a band and behaved more like a rock star. He developed a drink problem, like his father before him. Just alcohol? "Mostly alcohol. Some drugs as well. And wildness. A lot of the time I had this craziness, an uncontrollable energy that was, ‘I could stand here, or I could throw myself in front of that car.’ Sometimes it was an exciting feeling, on the edge." But ultimately destructive? "Self-destructive and self-loathing," he acknowledges. He once jumped from pillar to pillar on the roof of a 46-storey building. And he literally hung, drunk, from the railings of a cruise ship at five in the morning, singing ‘We Are Sailing’. They wanted to throw him off next morning.

The trouble was that he had spent years creating a life he didn’t actually want to live in. "I was miserable. I used to go home and count the hours until I had to go back to work. I couldn’t sleep. When I was 16 I had terrible panic attacks about dying. I had so much to look forward to. At 24 I thought dying might be a relief."

The week before he qualified, he got sacked from his law firm. "I was on warnings and I just... days off and..." He pauses. "I was hardly the kind of person to satisfy rules about codes of conduct and integrity." To get that close and be sacked sounds like deliberate sabotage: I don’t want to do this, but I can’t say so, so please sack me. "Maybe," he says. "Yeah, absolutely. I was pretending to be this lawyer in a very traditional Edinburgh firm, but I felt like a little Glasgow boy who was totally at sea and could barely scramble a meal, let alone deal with clients and do complicated legal work."

But through all the misery, he felt "guided" by a higher power. He was being allowed to mess things up so he could take another route. "I once heard a guy say that you couldn’t have any regrets until the day you die, because only then does everything fit into place. The day I was fired was the worst day of my life, but now I think, ‘If that hadn’t happened where would I be? Would I be alive?’"

The day after being sacked, he left for London to begin his acting career, starting with a bit part in Coriolanus. "I was sitting with nothing after all those years of studying, so why not aim for the stars?" Was his mother mad at him? "Mad," he repeats immediately. "But I think more sad. I think she got to the stage where she just didn’t know what to do. I’ll never forget a letter she sent me when I went to London. I know how hard it was for her to write it. She just said, ‘Whatever you do in life, I don’t care so long as you are happy.’ We have always had quite a tempestuous relationship. She can drive me crazy and I know that I have driven her absolutely crazy, and still can. But I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her, and I wouldn’t be what I am if it wasn’t for her."

Butler no longer drinks. But he has an addictive personality - he smokes 60 cigarettes a day, and the day after the interview has an appointment to start his 26th attempt at kicking the habit. Acting, too, has become an addiction. "I have a very addictive nature, and unfortunately I have become addicted to my work. I love acting - and that’s great - but it doesn’t quite solve the problem."

As an actor, you are surrounded by people. But it’s often new people, on each new set. Relationships are difficult to sustain. Butler has a friend who is just like him. They cry at romantic movies and have big romantic ideals. But they are rubbish at the real thing. "I’m sure there will be a few ex-girlfriends reading this thinking, ‘Aye, you’re f**king right there, mate,’" laughs Butler. But he’d like to be a father one day. "There are certain moments when you think, ‘God, wouldn’t it be great to have a little kid.’"

When he hears the word ‘father’, what does it make him feel? He exhales slowly, deeply, like he’s gently releasing his thoughts on the breath. There is a long pause. "I don’t... I don’t even... I have a sense of ‘father’, but I don’t know if I can put it into words. You almost want to start describing the functions of a father, but I never really, in terms of an actual father, had one. I have a fantastic stepfather, but in terms of an actual father I wouldn’t really know. The word ‘father’ makes me feel something. It makes me feel something, but I don’t know... I think almost... heartache," he says, and his voice lilts upwards, as if in a question.

FIVE weeks after dreaming of his father, 16-year-old Butler came home to find his mother’s boyfriend, later his stepdad, waiting. "Keep your jacket on," he was told, "your father’s here." They met in a restaurant, Butler walking past tables of strangers and wondering which face he should know every curve and line of. "I was literally going, ‘Which one of these guys is my dad?’"

Words seemed inadequate. "I thought, ‘What do you say? This is my f**king father in front of me.’ Until I sat down, and then I said, ‘Why didn’t you get in touch?’" Butler cried then, hours of tears for years of absence. "I couldn’t stop. I could barely speak. I always remember that, and thinking, ‘Where did that come from?’ I didn’t know it was in there until those words came out: ‘Why didn’t you get in touch?’ It was such a mixture of pain and anger, but relief and joy and just complete... surprise. I can’t think of a better word than surprise." He laughs. "Oh hello, there’s my dad!"

It was the start of a special relationship, but the possibility of having a father had gone. "It was like having a friend, a very crazy one." His father owned a shop selling novelty umbrellas and hats. "My dad was nuts. He was a very entertaining man, the best story-teller, the best joke-teller, like a big kid. I realised I had a lot of anger in me about not having spent my childhood with him, but when I met him and got to know him I realised he was just trying his best, the way he knew how. He was quite an irresponsible man, but I don’t think he had a lot of evil in him. He was very childish in a way, but a good man. I am really glad I got to know him."

Prone to mishaps, though. He went to Africa to buy gold but got conned with copper and he ended up in hospital with malaria. Butler was supposed to rescue him, but then his father’s French-Canadian second wife said she would go. "I weel go," says Butler, adopting a French accent. "I am French and nobodee weel make a fool of me..." She broke her leg and ended up in the bed next to her husband. "Now the two of them are in f**king Togoland with 70,000 worth of copper, and a massive fall-out with his business partner, who abandoned him. They eventually made it back home, even more broke than before."

When Butler was about 23, his father developed cancer. "He told me he was dying, and basically said. ‘Let’s go on a Caribbean cruise.’" Later, Butler spent the final few weeks of his father’s life at home with him in Canada. "I am especially glad I could be there in his last moments," he says. "I felt his fear in the end, and I could really see how important it was to him that I was there. He was pretty much in a coma, waking up only for minutes at a time, and when he woke up he knew he was dying. He wanted to hold our hands, and he would say, ‘I am so glad you are here.’ Then I was glad I was there."

He gained so much respect for his father in those last weeks. Before he began losing consciousness, his father had laughed and joked. "I loved his swan song, that he went out with such a brave face. I hope I could be as brave as him if the same thing happened to me, to keep such humour."

His father never lived to see his son’s acting career. Butler starred opposite Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, which is success in anybody’s book. But right now is an interesting time for him. He’s on the cusp of the super league, having won the lead role in the film version of Phantom of the Opera, which will be released in December. The role was both physically and emotionally exhausting. "The Phantom descends into madness, heartache, loss and tragedy. Towards the end, when you see my deformity, I was getting up at 3.30 in the morning and going in for five or six hours of prosthetics. Then I was crying my eyes out and screaming and shouting, and finally getting to bed at ten at night so wound up that I couldn’t sleep."

And the result? "I haven’t seen the whole thing, but I know I did the best I could. I’m more excited about this than any movie I’ve ever done. I think everybody involved is hugely, quietly confident. I saw a ten-minute preview and it makes my spine tingle, and I can’t stop myself from crying."

Is it frightening that the role could be life-changing? "Frightening and exciting." But he already knows acting is not everything. "I have enough experience and foresight to know that my career will never make me happy. It can cover up cracks and give me a lot of fulfilment, but it can never fully fulfil me because a career is not a spiritual thing. I would be scared to think that it could. You have moments of convincing yourself it could because you always base your happiness on some future event - ‘If I get that part, everything will be all right.’

"Even when I said, ‘If I can only get sober, I’ll be happy.’ No. I got sober, I’m much happier, but it didn’t make me 100% happy. I used to think if my career took off as an actor, I’d be happy. No. It has made me much happier, but not 100% happy."

He says he is much happier than he once was, but you do sense the circle is not quite complete. At the end of Dear Frankie there is the possibility of a future relationship for Butler, Mortimer and the child. Is that what is missing for Butler? "If I were to fall in love and have a wonderful relationship and a family, I could imagine saying, ‘Wow, this is what it’s all about.’ But how many people have that? But if you could say it would be a relationship that was good..." He laughs. "And the film would go mega. And my family would live forever. Then I’d be happy!"

Возможно, ты и права. :) Батлер хороший актер, а вот Джоли - не очень. Намеки намеками, пусть даже жирными, но как-то очень сложно было поверить что Лара испытывает к Терри нечто большее, чем профессиональный интерес. В изображении чувств Анжелина никакая, хотя "крутизны" хоть отбавляй. А вот в то, что подонок и злодей Шеридан был влюблен в леди Крофт, я почему-то поверила сразу и безоговорочно. Самообман? Или умение Батлера создавать образ буквально из ничего? :D :D Снова в ход было пущено его проверенное оружие. :) Все эти взгляды, полуулыбки, интонации голоса, жесты, пластика.

Хех, позабавило, что самого главного злодея в "Ларке" изображал тот же актер, который играл месье Фирмена в "Призраке оперы".

Приезжайте во Владивосток. У нас пейзажи еще лучше. :) Но как они все-таки похожи на те, что в "Дорогом Фрэнки"! Те же сопки, то же синее море, та же галька. И небо - голубое до невозможности. А еще корабли, корабли, корабли. Только город наш куда поболе, как и порт. Один минус - такие вот батлеровидные :D Незнакомцы по улицам не ходят.

А я бы согласилась и без моря, и без невозможно-голубого неба, и без кораблей, - лишь бы только батлеровидные товарищи были:D

послностью с вами согласна. ощущение при просмотре возникает, что неплохой, в общем-то, парень Терри. но его иногда по непонятным причинам клинит. помутнение рассудка что ли наступает и он начинает творить странные вещи. Ящичек ему зачем-то понадобился или в лаборатори стрелять не стал. Не логично и не понятно. Невозможно объяснить эти действия, только если вдруг на его месте совершенно другой человек со совей логикой оказывается. У меня, повторюсь, ощущение сложилось, что при съемках фильма основной упор не на сценарий делался,вот и получилась у них такая петрушка. Да еще и Батлер со своим взглядом... ну ... мягко говоря, не совсем похожим на взгляд последнего негодяя. Но посмотреть стоит. и вообще, обращая пристальное внимание на героя топика, мне почему-то казалось,что там не все так обстоит, как подразумевалось. У меня чувство такое было, что как раз Терри несчастный брошенный, да еще в Казахстанскую тюрьму посаженный. А в конце его еще и пристрелили. За что? Как-то настолько не вяжется это со всем его поведением, что кажется, ну помутился у человека рассудок на доли секунды, дать ему оплеуху хорошую, он бы в себя пришел, оставил ящичек на месте законном. Кстати, я не очень помню, зачем ему так приспичило этот ящик ухватить. Что он с ним делать собирался?Отвлеклась на физиоличико, видимо:love

Alise а информация про фильм с сайта www.film.ru там пока только про Френки есть. Остальные еще в прокат даже на Западе не выходили, кажется. Будем надеяться, что как выйдут, наши приобретут и покажут.

к вопросу, кто пойдет в кино на Френки. Я, пожалуй, еще и подругу с собой возьму. Обатлерю ее, или как это покультурней назвать:) В общем,проведу разъяснительную работу,а то она увидев у меня обложки кассет Дракула и Власть огня, кажется, считате, что я умом тронулась, смотрю ужастики :D
И еще маме на этой неделе покажу. Пусть в нашем полку прибывает. ВОТ!

и еще Джери в необычном ракурсе. Ох. пожалуй, я уже и Игры посмотреть хочу.

Я тут поизвращалась со сслыкой на трейлер. Пришлось создать txt-шник. Открывайте. теперь вроде ничего прицепиться не должно.

Всё нормально открылось, спасибо!;) Мне понравилось, честно! Музыка красивая, подборка кадров впечатляющая - думаю, неплохой фильм будет. И я ещё раз удивилась, насколько хорошо некоторые актёры могут перевоплощаться от одной роли к другой: ну вот совершенно же другой человек на экране!

Proza, это не Терри тогда клинит, а режиссера:))
Для меня этот фильм был нелогичным во время просмотра. Хм, может потому, что я ногти красила и отрывалась, чтобы посмотреть на Джерри:D

Здравствуйте! :ale:
Я, похоже, тоже пойду в кино на "Фрэнки", хоть уже посмотрела его... много раз ;) Да, а с собой надо взять человека, который этот фильм не смотрел, и приобщить его, так сказать, ввести в ряды поклонников Джерри :D
Little Viper, а ты как, в кино собираешься?
К вопросу о The Game Of Their Lives - я когда трейлер смотрела, всё это мне напимнило фильм "Фаворит" или ещё что-то подобное, показывающее торжество американцев над кем-нибудь. Возможно, я неправа (надеюсь), и фильм окажется душевным и замечательным. Что Джерри будет хорош, сомнений у меня не вызывает :-))

Interview With Gerry Butler
 

Ещё одно интервью... большое. Надеюсь, не слишком. :-))
PART TWO - EXCLUSIVE FAN SITE INTERVIEW
The phone is ringing as I run across the room to prevent my toddler from breaking yet another sentimental collectible.
“Hello?” I pick up knowing who it is already.
“Hello, can I speak to Tamara?” The deep voice resonates as he actually pronounces my name correctly.
“Speaking.” I reply as the anxiety and thrill of doing this interview reaches its peak.
“Tamara. It’s Gerry.”
Gerry? Gerry is the name of a Spice Girl. Gerry was the name of my last boyfriend before I met my husband, albeit minus the killer Scottish accent.
No, this was Gerard. The same Gerard I have looked at and read about almost every day for more than three years in the administration of the fan website GerardButler.Net. Yet, after a couple of minutes of conversation about cell phones, girls and politicians, I am not sure I can ever say “Gerard” comfortably again.
Gerry, the informal and casual name, is endearingly right for Gerry, the man, who laughs easily, remains humble and puts a little bit of himself into every role he plays. Even amongst the anticipation of his roles in Dear Frankie and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, he barrels ahead on new journeys of acting with Beowulf & Grendel and Burns.
But this interview was really more about the fans. They supplied the questions. Gerry supplied the answers…and more. Gerry had agreed to do this interview, knowing it would be the fans asking the questions this time around. Not being a journalist, I was a little nervous but the fans’ questions were to be a guide to get us both through the process.
Simple.
When we were about to get down to business Gerry says, “How does this work? So tell me. I don’t know what to do.”
Not so simple.
I explain that the list we sent to him was the bulk of what we had chosen from all the fan questions we had received. We joke a bit about what would not be asked, personal details fans really wanted to know, but wouldn’t find out in this interview.
“It’s as simple as that?” he asks. Sure is I thought but I quickly realized that no answer was simple for Gerard….uh….Gerry Butler.
A simple inquiry about The Jury, a miniseries in which Gerard portrayed Johnnie Donne, one member of a 12-person jury, all with personal dilemmas outside of the life altering case they were there to decide, turned into a recollection of the filming of the final scene in question.
“A lot of the stuff in that scene was adlibbed… a very real feel because that was the time when it was all about the energy between all these people. Finally you had a combination of all these lives coming together and the combination of the case coming together. And it was the time when you really wanted the scene to be more truthful and energetic. I loved that scene. It was kind of a massive scene, but it was very gripping.”
It was with this that I knew we have been given a glimpse into the man Gerard is with every role. Even when all is said and done, the moment, the feelings continue to live with him and a little bit of himself is left behind on film.
Take Dear Frankie, a small Scottish film that had just had a successful screening at the Cannes International Film Festival the week before we spoke. Gerry could not contain his excitement for the film itself and the reception it was given by a notoriously tough Cannes crowd.
“I’ve never seen a reaction like that [in Cannes]. We got like a ten minute standing ovation,” he marvels. “We didn’t even know if the audience would like it.”
“In terms of applause and credit, and I haven’t done a huge amount of movie festivals, but I can say in all my life I haven’t seen a reaction like that afterwards.”
“It was essentially a small sweet little feature. It was a great experience right from the start and the producer was there, the director, the writer. It was the director’s first feature, the writer’s first feature and there was no pretension about them as we walked up the blue carpet. They’d come to me, they were like, ‘We’re so excited, this is lovely’ and I was excited for them because this was great.”
“But then to go in and then to watch the movie and not know if I was going to turn around to an empty cinema, or was there going to be a trickle of applause. You know as the movie’s going on, you are listening to the Scottish accents and it’s a movie that you have to be patient with it’s just very well drawn out but it’s not in any way an action packed movie.”
“It’s all about emotion and humanity and you panic cause you don’t know if they are going to get it and to turn around at the end, and see, like a thousand people, clapping, cheering, shouting, but yet crying and smiling. I swear there was like three or four friends who said they had never seen a room so full of love. It seemed at that moment everyone had forgotten their life and was enjoying the kind of warmth and happiness of that space and what they movie had done. It was more powerful because we didn’t expect it.”
“It’s just been one great thing after another with that movie. Miramax basically [fought] for it and just to see the reaction that people have which is lovely when you feel something, which is very powerful but in an understated way, because this is a kind of gentle movie. When you feel like other people get that, which they really did, because everybody was crying and at the same time smiling in this massive theater so full of love then you think, ‘Oh My God, that’s what it’s all about.’”
It’s about inspiration and admiration as well. One fan wanted to know what actors he admires. No easy answer for this fan of movies. He couldn’t name just one, but puts Gary Oldman at the top of his list for his ability to transform himself for a role. A quality Gerry obviously admires.
“I don’t do it to the same extent, but I think one of the reasons I’m still largely unrecognized [is] I play very different characters, a lot of which hasn’t been seen because I’ve done a lot of independent work. The look and the physicalities of [the characters he’s portrayed] are so very different.”
“You do something like Dear Frankie and then the Phantom. Then you play an Italian-American in a soccer movie. And next I would love to go out and do some pretty zany comedy. I want to let the real me out.”
He continues to reflect on where his career has taken him and how he has left a little bit of himself in each role he has portrayed.
“A lot of my career, in a more commercial worldly way, I had never done before. Before I went to America I had never played a role like Attila or Dracula. That made me take myself somewhere, and fortunately I could do that, and then I went to the other side and did something like the Phantom, but yet I still don’t feel like I have had a chance to do some solid acting roles where you can see Gerry Butler, the man. I love the fact that I’ve managed to do all these roles without ever letting anybody in to Gerry Butler, the man, who has all of those things going on. Has the zaniness, has the darkness, has the sensitivity…all the good and the bad, the warts and all. I haven’t had a chance to do that [in just one role] and yet it’s all there [in many roles].”
What about the future of his career?
“There are a lot of [roles] I’m looking at right now. I am sure even if I was to watch an actor play the Phantom and then see him do this role that I’m considering I would have to say the question ‘Is that the same guy?”
“You know, I love that!”
“My biggest passion about this is to be able to constantly surprise people and hopefully the more time goes on the more I can surprise people. I don’t feel, having done a few action movies, which all served me well, that I haven’t had the opportunity to surprise as much as I would like.”
He’s got to be kidding. Taking the role of a lifetime in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera didn’t surprise people? There was a lot of negative reaction from Phantom loyalists to the announcement that Gerry would be the big screen’s Phantom in Lloyd Webber’s version of the haunted tale. Even Butler admits to being surprised at even receiving the script, but then laments, “…in some ways it was the easiest role I ever got…”
He recalls a meeting with Joel Schumacher many months before hearing of the director’s involvement with the Phantom project. They talked about “pretty much everything except acting.”
Yet now, Gerry reflects, “I think now he was already thinking of me for the Phantom then but he didn’t mention it at that point. He just wanted to meet me and say hello.”
He recalls receiving the script shortly after that and thinking, “What the hell is this?”
But slowly, he began to convince himself that the idea of him playing the Phantom was not so far fetched. “I sat down and listened to the music while I read it and it suddenly blew me away and I thought I have so much in common with this guy…coming from my dark places, but I felt by the end of reading that script that I was this guy and it went from there.”
To hear him describe it, the Phantom landing in his lap was destiny.
“This project could have been made 15 years ago with somebody completely different, or 10 years ago or 5 years ago or even 2 years ago. I probably would not have been either right or in the proper stage of my career but it all just coincided perfectly. Just in the right stage for somebody like Joel to come along and say that’s my man and he’s not a huge star…and on top of that, my identification with the role.”
“I went from thinking what the hell am I reading to I HAVE to play this role and if I don’t get it I’m going to be devastated. That’s what happens to me and that’s why once I like something I become very dogged about it. I take as many precautions as possible and I’m as pro-active as possible to make sure that I get the role.”
And proactive he was. After already being given a vote of confidence from Schumacher at their first meeting about Phantom, Gerry says “he essentially said there and then once he found out how I felt about the Phantom, ‘I’m so happy you feel that way because I really want you to play this role. I’m not looking at anybody else.’ So it was just if I could sing.”
The singing was what would determine if he got the role so he began a long journey to strengthen his vocal skills for the job. He dove into voice training, driving his co-stars crazy on the sets of Tomb Raider 2: The Cradle of Life and Dear Frankie with vocal exercises between every take.
“That’s the thing that drives me down to compulsiveness and is what has fueled a lot of my success. If I want something I work like a bastard to get it.”
That’s when I wonder to him, echoing the Phantom critics, even after all that practice, if he was confident enough in his vocal skills to get the part he had become obsessed about. His answer is straightforward and honest.
“It wasn’t up to me. I can go and I can sing for them and they can decide whether I can do this or not. I had to pass a lot of tests.”
Auditions with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher and musical director Simon Lee would follow.
“They were very keen for me to do the role. Nobody denied that I needed work because you suddenly start singing with completely different rules than you’re used to and that’s what I am good at. Getting my head down and getting on with the work.”
“Probably the hardest task was [not only] learning the technicalities of [singing] and getting through all that but then getting the soul and the heart and the longing and the pain and the sexuality back into [the Phantom].
His emotional connection to the character is obvious. As much as he seemed to master the technicalities of the vocal requirements of the role, Butler also fought to bring originality, freshness and soul to the character for another generation of Phantom fans.
“…you get so caught up in musical line…you think ’I don’t feel like singing anymore.’ That’s when you have a serious confidence crisis but you know you fight through it and you trust that you’ll get better again and that’s what happens. By the end, I was singing so much, I was singing every morning with my technical teacher Mary Harmon. I would go out and sing with Simon Lee and we would go in a room and play the piano and sing songs and mess around with them. I would also sing with other people who were brought in. I would be singing all day on set…by the end of it I was very serious about the singing and my voice was always improving and always giving me more and was allowing me to express myself in a freer way but also with a stronger voice.”
Even once filming began Gerry recalls a sense of anxious anticipation on the set. Several weeks of filming would happen before he would even take his place in a full scene.
“They had been filming for five weeks by the time I started filming and every day I had to go onto the set because I would be training around there. Movement classes, singing classes, costume fittings, chats with Joel, sometimes rehearsal. And everyday there was hundreds of people there and they would say “when do you start, when do you start” and that was the pressure that I felt more than anything.”
“The people physically there, they were only being nice, but they were driving me crazy with “when do you start, when do you start” because I knew the pressure of ‘who is this guy playing the Phantom, what has he got for us?’”
It was his entrance onto the soundstage, in his Don Juan costume, that he describes as his favorite scene and the realization by all involved that he WAS the Phantom.
“I walked out on that stage and it reminded me of my first day as an actor in a full on role when I played Renton in Trainspotting. I think everybody was a little scared in rehearsals as to whether I could do it, right up until the night I walked out on stage and then it just came alive.”
His voice fills with excitement as he recalls that first scene. “It was electric. There were people from every part of the crew coming up and they could barely speak after that scene just because of the music and the sets and Emmy (Rossum, who plays Christine) and I working together. It was so powerful and so sad and so heartbreaking and to do all those things at the one time. I love it when acting can do things that are diametrically opposed feelings one of incredible sadness or one of incredible sexuality or one of sadness, but sweetness, or one of comedy and frustration. And that scene to me felt like that. I felt such incredible power within my body as I was doing the scene. I really felt, ‘Oh My God’, I didn’t expect to discover the Phantom so quickly.”
So confident were the crew in the realization that Gerard was the right choice for the role, a call was placed to Andrew Lloyd Webber to come down and view the scene and witness the power of his musical creation finally being immortalized on film.
He laughs about how hard it is to impress a reaction-less crew that make movies for a living, and how it’s one aspect of acting he dislikes. “Even these people were coming up and a lot of them were speechless and they were saying, ‘What a great scene.’“
But along with the good, comes difficulties in playing any part. For Gerard those were all about make-up and where he had to take himself to bring life and reality to the character.
“There were so many difficult parts of playing the Phantom, but at the same time I always knew I was on a journey. I was on a journey to find this guy’s soul to his voice.”
“Wearing a mask, it was all the more important I express so much with my voice and he is so much more an emotional character than any other character that I have played.”
“It was the physical exhaustion of playing it because much of the Phantom’s story is spent, especially in much of the first act, going down into madness, into heartache and complete destruction and bitterness and anger and to have to play that solidly every day for two and a half months sometimes after six hours of prosthetics…it’s like torture or what I would imagine torture would be like.”
“You can’t move and people are sticking their fingers in your eyes, they’re gluing your eyes together and they’re pulling your skin. It drove me crazy.”
“Then I had to go and film for 12 hours and literally always be in the darkest saddest space and to do that day after day, sometimes I would literally get home and have 4 ? hours sleep knowing that I had another five days of finishing up late at night and getting up at 5 in the morning to go through the prosthetics again. There was a couple of times that I just thought, ‘I can’t do this.’ But there was also the constant alert knowing that I was making something very special and that I was working with the most incredible people.”
Despite the difficulties of transforming into the Phantom every day and forcing himself into the dark despair of the role, he recalls fondly that the project “was just a powerful and rewarding experience.”
“I’ve seen a ten minute preview and I can honestly say I’ve never seen such a fantastic preview. It makes the hairs all over my body stand on end and I cry every time I watch it. It’s beautiful and the music is better than ever.”
Despite his confidence in the project, he is well aware of the concerns of Phantom loyalists although it surprised Gerry when I remark that some of his own fans had a similar reaction to the news he would be playing the man with the mask.
“I find it surprising that you tell me that a lot of fans weren’t happy about me playing the Phantom. I really hope that when they see the movie they’ll understand why I did it.”
Not being able to help himself, he curiously inquires further, “They thought it was a bad career choice because I wasn’t up to it?”
I explained that the minority, but vocal sector, of his fans that felt that way are among those that just don’t care for the musical genre as a whole. He seems to accept that explanation, even though he continues with an explanation of why he accepted the challenge of the role.
“Those fans…didn’t have the benefit of sitting down and reading the draft of the script that I had, Joel Schumacher’s interpretation, which is just fantastic. It’s incredibly filmic and powerful. I hope that when they finally see the movie they will [understand the] reason behind the decision because I think there was a certain genius behind the decision.”
At the time of this interview he was working with an orchestra in finalizing the soundtrack. He has obvious love for and belief in the project, and pride in his portrayal of The Phantom, which leads to the remark that summarizes why Gerry was destined for and deserved this role, “I am very quietly confident that we have just made a classic.”
I can’t help but smile at the comment. His optimism is infectious and one can’t help but root that he is right as the world awaits the film’s release in December 2004.
What’s up next for this actor who take chances? Beowulf & Grendel.
Set to begin filming in Iceland this August with director Sturla Gunnarsson at the helm, this film is adapted from the Anglo-Saxon epic poem that inspired J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings. The medieval adventure tells the blood-soaked tale of a Norse warrior's battle against the great and murderous troll, Grendel. Gerard has taken the lead role based on the script.
“It [the storyline] probably sounds really cheesy, but it’s one of the most beautiful, in-depth gorgeous scripts I’ve read in a long time. I love it and I also want to go hang out in Iceland for a couple of months.”
Nothing like choosing your roles by location, but it is clear that there is much more to the role for Gerry than Iceland.
“I loved this script and I loved the character. I think it’s such a great comment on life and I love this story. It’s a risk. Funnily enough there was some fighting going on with some agents because they didn’t get it. My manager got it, I got it, but they were thinking that maybe I should be moving in a different direction, but there is just something about this that just struck me that I thought I really wanted to do.”
And so, he’s back in training. Working on eating right and regaining the muscle he had while making Tomb Raider 2. All for another role, he feels passionately about.
Speaking of passion. Passion for any Scotsman is that of Robert Burns. He has signed on to play the Bard in Burns, set to begin filming in the summer of 2005.
“I’m nervous, I’m always nervous about parts, but I’m playing a Scottish icon and so as soon as you have the gall to take on a character like that, no matter what a good job you do, there will be a whole bunch of people out there to rip you apart.”
This time Gerry re-teams with his One More Kiss director, Vadim Jean. He isn’t only acing, but participating in other aspects of filmmaking for the project, a learning experience for the actor.
“That was really interesting for me at Cannes….I essentially had three movies there. There was a screening of a preview of Phantom. There was Dear Frankie and then I was with my director of Burns, Vadim Jean and my producer Andrew Boswell. I did a whole bunch of meetings with financiers and packagers and it was really interesting to be on the other side, which I have been a lot with this movie, from screen testing girls, to getting involved with suggestions for rewrites and all of that and who to go to and casting discussions. It’s been really a big learning curve for me.”
What about the rumored roles?
007? Has that rumor been some of the best free PR of his career?
“Honestly, no I don’t think so, because I’ve heard it about so many people. More recently I’ve heard quite a lot about me from more reliable sources, but so much is just press bullshit.”
Another project that even has name up on their website is The Drop. What about that project?
“No. It’s my friends who are making it. My friends who made Shooters and I at one point was going to do it, but I’ve just run out of time. I don’t think I’m going to do it. I don’t think in the time that their making it, later on the summer, I’m not going to be around to do it.”
Our questions now refer back to some of the more mundane, typical, fan questions. What cologne do you wear? What is the most exciting place you have ever visited? What types of books do you like to read? It’s then I venture to ask if he would ever do another stage play.
The answer is conflicted.
“Oh, absolutely. I would love to get back on stage I just think at the moment this is my time to do movies. Sometimes when you’re filming a lot it drives you crazy and you think I need a full journey. Because if you could pick up a film script and perform the whole thing then you’d so be in the moment. By working it and working it, it’s just such a difficult rehearsal process.”
“Your character is so much deeper and richer in theatre that I think you get chance to play it a lot deeper than you do on film and you get a journey from the whole thing and that’s a buzz. Also the live audience is exciting, but when I’m doing theatre, come 2 o’clock in the afternoon I start getting edgy and I don’t eat properly. Even when I’ve been doing a play for a while I feel on edge and I hate that.”
His feelings about the stage seem to relate to everything he does. He travels between the extremes of passionate love and exhausting dislike about his performances and the mechanics involved. Not a bad trait for an actor, although it can take its toll on the man with “dark places”, but he quickly relates that he loves his life.
“It’s very busy, but I’m busy doing something that I love. It doesn’t take up my time 24 hours a day. I still get to hang out.”
My questions have run out and Gerry is obviously getting tired talking about himself, a necessary evil for any performer. I thank him for being so generous with his time and relay that his fans will be thrilled he made the effort to satisfy their curiosity about him and we say our goodbyes.
Oh yeah…and Gerry wears….Jo Malone cologne, he considers Rome the most exciting place he’s ever been and he likes to read scripts because that’s all this busy actor has time for as he searches for his next acting surprise.

GB.Net Postscript from Tamara:
Listening and transcribing the interview tape. Rereading the words, trying to find my own words to write this article, I seemed to notice more and more in Gerry’s words and his voice and I was impressed with him as a person, surprising myself, since I can hardly say after one conversation that I “know” him, but somehow I felt that I did.
When I started this interview, I considered myself the spokesperson for the fans of the website. I maybe had become a bit detached from being an actual fan since starting GB.Net, accepting my self-imposed responsibility to the website more professionally than a star-struck fan may.
By the time I finished with this article I can say I was a fan once again…and more. I found myself with tremendous respect for this individual who has learned so much from the past and approaches his future with excitement, adventure and lessons learned. Discussing all of this with my husband, even he applauded Gerry upon hearing about his portrayal of Beowulf on top of already tackling The Phantom of the Opera, using those endearing words men love to reference about having a certain part of the male anatomy when someone takes chances. Now even HE wants to meet him…quite a compliment from a man who humors his wife’s fascination with entertainment figures.
Gerry, for myself, and for the GB.Net fans, I cannot thank you enough. Thank you for giving so much of yourself to the roles we anticipate and enjoy. Thank you for giving so much of your time to those fans lucky enough to ask for an autograph or picture in person. You haven’t disappointed any of us and continue to surprise all of us.

Я про то, что не выглядит Батлер (Терри), как простой "тупой" исполнитель заказа "главного негодяя" - это раз.
Два - понятно, что дваже по сценарию ОН не задумывался как "тупой" исполнитель, НО тогда странно, что зная предполагаемый "конец" в случае открытия ящика - он поперся этот ящик доставать... (ну не из-за денег же...) (чтобы Ларке не достался...)
Три - и когда это "главный злодей" успел Терри завербовать? Ведь не знал он, что леди Крофт ВДРУГ Шередан (простите, ежели с фамилией что-то не так - давно смотрела...) понадобиться....

Вот-вот!!!
Proza, ко мне можно на ты обращаться... :)

Почему не из-за денег? Главный злодей ведь хотел его заполучить именно из-за денег. Не из любви же к искусству. :-)


Ну он его как бы в данный конкретный момент не вербовал. Но раньше Терри на него работал. Так что и в этот раз решил развернуться на оба фронта. :-)))

Нет-нет-нет. В самый раз. :-))) Спасибо! :flowers: :flowers: :flowers:
И еще можно. :-)))

Главный злодей хотел, как водится, весь мир захватить и переделать :-) ну и, конечно, пошантажировать, дань пособирать... (но вот где гарантии, что он своего "исполнителя" в этом "лучшем из миров" оставить собирался...)
А денег "Батлеру" и за (морально тяжелую) работу с Леди уже бы подкинули...

че-то я, видать, пропустила...а где в фильме об этом "говориться"?
...может мне смотреть надо было "2 разА и медленно"... :-)

Alise,
да, я тоже считаю, что поведение Терри в последнем эпизоде ЛК-2 было нелогичным и абсурдным, особенно, когда он дал Ларе пощечину.

Re: Interview With Gerry Butler
 

[quote]Автор оригинала: TinySparrow
[b]Ещё одно интервью... большое. Надеюсь, не слишком. :-))

Всем вечера доброго.

Нет, не слишком. Сижу тут на работе и в свободное время читаю и отдыхаю тем самым. Читая все его интервью я убедилась еще раз, что у него не пустая душа. Он говорил хоть и в шуточной форме иногда, но с такой глубиной.

Спасибо большое, я просто в восторге.

Насчет "Френки", ну как не пойти. Хоть у меня и есть DVD, но на большом экране посмотреть, ну Вы сами понимаете.
Кстати, на выходных решила посмотреть "Френки" еще раз. Сижу и заходит папа и спрашивает, ну что там так тихо смотришь, и я решила посмотреть вместе с ним (очень интересно стало посмотреть на реакцию взрослого человека). Передать не могу, как его затронул фильм. Он так переживал за Френки, за этот обман. Он все говорил, что они таким образом могут ранить его сердце и душу на всю жизнь. И еще, когда Лиззи пошла в паб искать псевдо отца, папа решил, что она пошла на работу (ну вы понимаете кем), и был так расстроган, когда выяснилось для чего.

Естественно ему понравились актеры, но про Джери ничего не сказал и я не спросила, просто сказал - великолепно сыграли. :love

Добрый день (или вечер?) всем!
Я здесь совсем новенькая, поэтому прошу заранее извинить, если что не так...пока еще плохо умею:(….Лару я смотрела совсем недавно (3-4 дня назад) и у меня было точно то же ощущение чего-то неправильного в конце. Настолько сильное, что я несколько раз проматывала посекундно этот момент (на русском, затем на английском).
IMHO, в «Ларе…» произошло следующее (даже с поправкой на жанр):
Последовательность событий такова (в приблизительном изложении):
Терри заботливо спасает Лариных друзей, перевязывает ручку Ларе, они целуются, Лара отдыхает, а Терри начинает по-деловому паковать ящик Пандоры. На вопрос, чего он делает, он отвечает, что это ЕГО вознаграждение, затем орет Ларе, что все ее идеалы – это ерунда, говорит, что она не сможет его убить, бьет ее по личику (не очень сильно), потом вежливо просит освободить дорогу, она мягко, но твердо отвечает «нет», он не торопясь говорит, что будет вынужден убить ее, затем МЕДЛЕННО и ПЕЧАЛЬНО начинает вытаскивать свой пистолет, и также медленно и печально оседает на землю убитый...Если учесть, что и Лара, и Терри, видимо, в совершенстве владеют всяческими боевыми искусствами и обладают профессиональной быстротой реакции, все это выглядит так, как будто парень САМ ХОТЕЛ, ЧТОБЫ ЕГО УБИЛИ. Если бы он хотел, чтобы Лара ему не мешалась, он бы сразу ее скрутил (в любой момент данной сцены), т.к. прекрасно знал, что она ему не даст ящик забрать. И если бы Лара хотела, чтобы он остался в живых, она бы тоже могла его легко скрутить - как она сделала в любовной сцене «с обломом» (ну, другим каким-нибудь методом).
IMHO, парень понял, что ее любовь к нему ушла, а сам не может перестать ее любить. По его натуре, такая мысль ему невыносима, и такая жизнь тоже (такого плана парни жизнь ценят, но смерти не боятся – смерть постоянно рядом с ними). А что его ждало бы в жизни? Квартирка в Цюрихе под колпаком у МИ-6? Так она ему и изначально была не нужна (см. сцену в тюрьме). Деньги? Деньги – вода, у таких они приходят и уходят. Ему все под силу, ему только не под силу заставить любимую женщину полюбить его. Нужна ему была только Лара, и ее признание – да или нет. И он ее провоцирует, всеми возможными методами. Она могла бы, наверное, просто сказать – Терри, я тебя люблю, не валяй дурака! И оплеуху дать. А она несет что-то про человечество, про идеалы. А потом хладнокровно стреляет в МЕДЛЕННО вытаскивающего пистолет Терри (вспомните любой хороший боевик – с какой скоростью профессионалы пистолеты вытаскивают?).
У каждого сильного человека есть своя слабость, и мне не кажется, что у Терри это были деньги. Извиняюсь, что длинное и путаное объяснение у меня получилось….

Re: Interview With Gerry Butler
 

TinySparrow, grand merci!;) А что касаемо фильма, то так хочется надеяться, что будет стоящая вещь...

Dobie, welcome!

Dobie, здравствуйте (или привет?)! Добро пожаловать!
Toma, это интересно, то, что Вы с папой смотрели Фрэнки. Я своему никогда не пыталась показать что-либо более романтическое и душевное, чем "Король Артур" и "Троя" :-(
Ну что ж, пока не иссяк запас интервью (и пока я не начала в них путаться) - вот ещё одно, приятного всем чтения!

Up Next - Gerard talks about Timeline, Speed and breasts.
Once again Gerard Butler is apologizing profusely. He is relatively late in calling me. He's an hour and 40 minutes late to be exact.
He says, "You were probably sitting there thinking 'that bastard, he isn't going to call again.'" Pretty much, yeah. But I figured I couldn't complain he had already given me about the allotted time actors usually give for an interview.
Gerard is stretching and yawning into the phone, loud enough that I have to pull the receiver away from my ear. He finishes my thought with, "That was so rude. I am so sorry." He explains that he was up late the night before. He had attended a gala fundraiser for a new London charity called Breast Cancer U.K., at least that's what he thinks it's called.
He's talking about the most amazing woman he met last night, the organizer of the event. Gerard is explaining how they ended up chatting and somehow her breasts came up in the conversation. Too bad he can't see me rolling my eyes. Uh-huh, go on Gerard. He says he was completely taken aback when she told him they were both going to be removed the following week due to breast cancer.
"She is the loveliest woman with one of the most positive attitudes on life I've ever met," he said.
He had such a great time at the fundraiser that it was one of those nights where he just didn't want to leave. But leave he did and now as the sun is setting over London, Gerard is waking up from a much needed nap.
But before we can get down to more questions he points out that this isn't like a regular interview, that it is more like a conversation. I concur.
Sleep deprivation has not, his sense of humor, taken. It's not long before he is mocking my question asking. I ask him to "tell me about Timeline?" He jokes that he is waiting for my next question. "Your life? Tell me about it." He says, in his best Barbara Walters imitation. Or the next one after that, he continues: "So, Gerry Butler...what do you think?" This illicits laughter from both sides of the phone. He says he hates such broad questions.
Not to be outdone, I remind him of the last conversation and how I simply asked how he was and how he went on and on about what he was doing. We decide that we are mutually to blame for the line of questioning. I refine my Timeline question and ask him if he has read the book.
"I have read the book," straightforward answer. But then he continues on. "The book is fascinating, because one: Michael Crichton is an amazing writer. And it is such an in-depth book covering both the science of that subject - time travel which a lot of scientists believe is possible. And then also that time period, it goes into such detail about what these people would have loved and a myriad of things you would not have thought about. It's great for those details that are founded on almost a factual basis, but I don't like to get caught up too much in books because quite often the film version is very different. When I first read the script I thought I'm not Andre Marek and it just shows you how wrong you can be. Cause that was one of the things they said when they gave me the job was 'you are the most perfect Andre Marek, we don't even think of Andre Marek now, we think of you.' And I find that very bizarre because originally upon imagining I just thought he's not me, he's somebody else. He's a very serious kind of dull guy. But in the end that wasn't what they were looking for. They were looking for someone with a bit of spark."
He is preparing for his role in the Richard Donner film, slated to start shooting in Montreal, Canada, this spring.
Gerard says that sometimes he almost drives himself insane thinking about his character. "I remember my first movie, Mrs. Brown, I thought the movie up quite a bit before it started. I spent so much bloody time dwelling. Sometimes I do the same thing with Marek."
He explains what landed him the role.
"I played him quite like me but with a few differences, and they said 'That's him!'" he practically shouts.
"Here's the thing, you don't want to tinker with that too much. I've had a lot of thoughts about this guy and where he comes from and his philosophy on life. I think a lot of this will just come out when we get onto the set."
Gerard spent two years of his life in Montreal as a baby and he has no recollection of it. He visited the French-speaking city for two days while filming D2K in Toronto. Although he studied the language for five years at school, he didn't retain a word.
"Being a typical Scot, I don't really have the confidence to try. I managed to spend nine weeks in Spain once and managed to learn five words."
With the sound of banging pots and running water in the background, I ease him into the whole James Bond rumor mill. He is less than enthused to talk about it. Last spring the British press named Gerard as the next actor to step into the 007 persona. The international media went nuts. Everyone from CNN to www.darkhorizons.com reported this. Gerard may have fueled the fire when he jokingly proclaimed on an early morning talk show, that the only way he'd be the next Bond is if (Scottish politician??) Anne Widdecomb could be his Bond girl. As recently as January the rumors have persisted with whisperings of meetings with Eon Productions. Gerard's back is up and he says he has never had any open discussions about his playing the next Bond.
He does say though that he has met with the president of production for MGM and they talked about various upcoming projects.
"Being an actor, being Scottish, being successful, makes you perfect Bond fodder, I think."
Gerard is distracted by a firework display that is going on somewhere outside his flat. He theorizes it must be for Princess Margaret who passed away during the night. He is sipping on a strawberry protein shake. He claims it's about the only thing he can make without screwing it up. Water, powder, shake, and drink. His beverage of choice though is a Starbucks coffee. Gerard says he can be found in a Starbucks up to ten times a day. He says the boy who works at the one down the street from his place keeps giving him his coffee for free.
"I told him he had to stop or else he was going to lose his job." But Gerard seems pleased with this perk and maybe even a little embarrassed by it.
Why we're being serious and talking up stories that won't go away, I squeeze in the one about his leaving the law a week before he became a full-fledged lawyer to take up acting. The story is a little different today.
"I was a week from finishing when I was called into the boss's office and was fired," he states flatly. But he wasn't really concerned. He had already made an unconscious decision to leave law. He hadn't applied to work anywhere and didn't really care that he was about to be unemployed. And admittedly he wasn't even good at his then-chosen profession that he had just dedicated the last seven years of his life to.
"I was as much given up by them as I gave them up."
Gerard says the fact that they had given up on him gave him a good kick in the ass and left him with a blank sheet. Literally, the next day he left for London and begun to do what he really wanted to do, act.

"When you are the head boy of your school and you went to your school counselor and said you wanted to be an actor it would have been frowned upon." So he bucked up, swallowed his dream and followed his family's advice to use his good grades and get something behind himself before going into a fanciful career. He has no regrets in making the career choices he has made.
"Things wouldn't have happened for me the way they did," he reflects. "Or I may be dead."
The whole time he was training as a lawyer he was a wild child. It was during this time that he was part of a rock band called Speed. The mere mention of it brings Gerard around and once again he is in playful mood.
"God! I'd love to play in a rock band again!" He laughs excitedly as he races over to his stereo pops out his Omar CD, but not before making me listen to some of the decidedly jazzy music, and searches for Speed's demo tape. He explains that he buys anywhere up to 15 CDs at a time and has an extensive collection of music.
Gerard finds the demo tape and pops it in. He plays a few bars to a song called "Going Down Slow." It's edgy, guitar-driven beats echo through the flat and across the phone lines. The vocals are solid and could be a fairly strong single even now. The song was written about Gerry by one of his best mates, the lead guitarist.
"It's about experiencing the more dubious pleasures in life as you crash and burn," you can hear the grin spreading across his face.
With Gerard on lead vocals, he was backed by two friends from university, three other lawyers and one was "just a freak," he laughs.
"We did some fantastic gigs, gigs like they were straight out of The Doors movie. They were just blinding packed and sweating. Dancing on tables and chairs and swinging and falling," his words come fast. "It was just wonderful and I love the band."
He pauses, sighs and adds, "But you never knew what you were going to get with me, if I was going to turn up and do a cracker or if I was going to turn up and get into a fight and forget all the words."
He said singing and performing live was a buzz but a different kind of a buzz that one gets performing in theatre.
Gerard calls theatre a more fulfilling style of acting and says it is a great base to build any technique off of. Although he started his career in theatre, he doesn't have any plans to tread the boards any time soon.
"Right now I'm on a roll in films and I think it would be stupid to walk away from that."
I tell Gerard that I am out of questions and that our time has come to an end. Once again he apologizes for not calling sooner. I say he can make it up to us by calling the web designer of GB.Net, Tamara. He laughs and asks for her number. With her number in hand, we say our good-byes. Her call comes faster than mine did. But how can one stay angry at a man who could melt an ice berg?
:love

Чтоб усилить впечатление от всевозможных интервью;)

И правда: иногда фото в чёрно-белой гамме может передать гораздо больше, чем самое яркое и цветное...

И вот ещё: ну и у кого язык повернётся сказать, что курение вредная привычка?! Вот за такое готова простить за милую душу:D

Я прочитала почти все - кроме последнего, что TinySparrow так великодушно для нас запостила. Еще раз громадное спасибо!

Впечатления:
1. Наверное, я все-таки не возьмусь за перевод. Ну потому что я сама почти все понимаю, а вот как это по-русски сказать?
2. Так вот, друзья :-))))). Он пел всю дорогу не только во время съемок «Фрэнки», но и во время съемок «Ларки». :-)))))))))))))))) Ох, как он всем надоел, надо полагать. И правда самой популряной фразой на съемках «Фрэнки» и «Ларки» должна была быть: кто это там тянет кошку за хвост. :-)))))))))))))
Мортимер над ним еще подсмеивается в интервью за это.
Этого, конечно, мало – ну что там полтора года. :-) Но все же, господа присяжные, прошу учесть, что человек честно пел во всякую свободную минутку – пел во время перерывов на съемках, когда вполне мог бы отдохнуть – во время «Ларки» особенно. Разве это не показатель, насколько серьезно он подходил к «Призраку»?
3. «Фрэнки» очень хорошо принимали на Каннском фестивале, снобистская каннская публика ;-), Батлер там расписывает, как долго длились аплодисменты, как люди были потрясены этой простой историей. Замечательно.
4. Он поместил имя Гэри Олдмэна во главе списка актеров, которые вызывают его восхищение. Да! мистер Батлер! Это тот актер, у которого действительно стоит поучиться.
5. Интервью очень различаются – те, которые давались ДО Фантика и те, которые ПОСЛЕ. После стали более серьезными и куда более интересными. До были переполнены какой-то ерундой и дуракавалянием. Сложно сказать, почему. Возможно, потому что сами по себе фильмы были в общем-то дурацкими и спросить-то было особенно нечего. Ну, сам он отжимался на решетке в Ларке или нет… и т.п. ерунда. Т.е. она конечно ерунда интересная, но тогда, когда рядом с ней есть что-то еще. Когда я читаю или слушаю его рассказы, как тяжко ему пришлось с маской, мне интересно, потому что я знаю, как замечательно он сделал Призрака и мне все, связанное с Призраком, интересно. Тем более, что он наряду с такими вот развлекательными ужасами говорит много вещей, от которых у меня – как бы это сказать – что-то слегка переворачивается внутри.
Ну вот, например, мы тут взапуски постим фотки неописанной красоты. Я их рассматриваю и вспоминаю его слова из интервью, что он сразу понял Призрака и ему было легко его играть, потому что Призрак олицетворяет страхи и комплексы всех людей. И я думаю: откуда бы это писаному красавцу Джерарду Батлеру знать о тех комплексах, которые обуревают простых смертных?
Ну, очень интересно. Есть о чем подумать.
А в ранних интервью этого нет. Ну, не сам он там отжимался, ну спускались вместе с Джоли вниз головой раз сорок подряд – ну и что? Результатом-то явился мягко говоря не шедевр. И ему сказать о фильме в общем-то нечего, и журналисту спросить не о чем.
А еще очень интересная особенность: я по правде говоря, терпеть не могу интервью – интерактив ли, напечатанное ли, со звездами и звездочками Голливуда. Звездочкам чаще всего абсолютно нечего сказать и их убогость просто раздражает. Но даже если интервью дает явно неглупый человек, он умудряется говорить так пресно, так неинтересно, такими обтекаемыми фразами. Я понимаю, это элементарная светскость и издержки опять же профессии. Только очень большие звезды могут позволить себе сказать, что такой-то фильм, в котором они вынуждены были сниматься – полное (между прочим, Джерри весьма часто употребляет это словечко ;-) – это не роняет его в ваших глазах?). Чаще всего они стоят и говорят, как это было чудесно, какой грандиозный фильм они сделали, даже если сами прекрасно понимают, что получилось полное…
Вот у Батлера в ранних интервью много таких обтекаемостей, которые в общем скучно читать. ПОСЛЕ Фантика их количество уменьшилось просто на порядок. Нет, он не стал говорить гадости о своих прежних проектах – читай, выставлять им достойную их оценку. Он просто стал интересно – очень умно, тонко и серьезно, и притом весьма живо и искренне – говорить о своих новых проектах и себе самом.
Ну, не верю я, что человек после тридцати может так измениться за два года. Скорее всего, сегодняшние его рассказы – это вот то, какой он есть. А все эти трюизмы в ранних интервью – это различные перечисленные мною выше объективные причины.

Ух, как я его оправдываю! Что ж поделать, я к нему очень нежно отношусь. ;-)

К Гэри, кстати, тоже – весьма и весьма. :-))))))))))) Не, правда, хороший пример для подражания.
А еще мне жалко, что Батлер «Гарри Поттера» не любит. Потому что он прямо-таки идеальный Сириус Блэк – ну, конечно, если бы кастинг соответствовал книжному возрасту героев, а то они на двадцать (а в случае с Рикманом и больше) лет старше, чем должны быть. Кстати, кстати, сыграл Сириуса как раз Гэри. :-)))))

6. Ух ты, мистер Батлер хотел бы вернуться на сцену. Он весьма дельно говорит о том, насколько выгодно театр отличается от кино. Может быть, я ретроград, но я уверена, настоящий актер – это театральный актер.
7. Самое интересное интервью – вторая часть, та, что с Тамарой, для сайта. Про Призрака он там вообще дивно говорит.

Там денег было бы неизмеримо больше. :-)))
А потом Терри вроде ведь продавал оружие, тем и жил, так что никакой он не белый и пушистый. :-)))

Гхм, у меня четкое ощущение, что там об этом говорится. Поскольку я вряд ли буду пересматривать, спросим у того, кто смотрел недавно. :-)
Журналист, есть в фильме какие-то намеки на то, что Терри приходилось уже работать на главного злодея?

Ах, так вот откуда мне знакомо это неприятное лицо! :-/ Честно говоря, он и там и тут деревянный. Вот Андре другое дело - обаяааательный! :-)))
Зато этот несчастный актер получил порцию батлеровского пения в двойном объеме - см. пост выше. :-))))) Бедный, он-то наверное не был поклонником Батлера.

Нора, по существу пункта №5 соглашусь с Вами на все 100%. Думаю, всё дело именно в том, что он сейчас сделал (делает) именно то, что ему нравится и, естественно, об этом приятно говорить. Особенно когда ДЕЙСТВИТЕЛЬНО есть о чём сказать. Ведь сам же он говорит, что "Призрак" и "Дорогой Фрэнки" - любимые его фильмы.

...хотела запостить ещё пару фот, но теперь, пожалуй, воздержусь...