Although Gerard Butler‘s made some questionable acting decisions over the past few years (The Ugly Truth, The Bounty Hunter), his rugged good looks and thick Scottish accent still find work. According to Variety, he’s just been hired to star in Olympus Has Fallen.
Written by first time scribes Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, the film has been described as “Die Hard in the White House,” following a “down-on-his-luck ex-Secret Service agent who becomes America’s only hope on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is taken over by terrorists.” We saw in 300 that Butler won’t have any trouble with the action sequences this Die Hard-esque film will surely call for. I’m glad to see him stick with the genre that made him famous, as his shift to romantic comedies hasn’t really bode well for his career. (Nor did Machine Gun Preacher vault him back into the spotlight, contrary to the expectations of many.)
It’s always hard to determine a project’s future with first-time scribes, but securing Butler in the leading role realistically heightens the chances of box office success. Butler will next be seen in various films throughout 2011 — Curtis Hanson‘s surfing film Of Men and Mavericks, the diamond-heist thriller Brilliant, and the comedy Playing the Field among them. He’s also returning for the How to Train Your Dragon sequel, which is scheduled for June 20th, 2014.
What do you think of Butler leading Olympus Has Fallen?