'I'm a breath of fresh air for Hollywood'

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'I'm a breath of fresh air for Hollywood'

What's it about? A former Scottish football star turns up in small-town America to try to rebuild his relationship with his son and ex, and gets roped into teaching the local little league football team.

Released: Tuesday, January 1.

G erard Butler might be a Hollywood hotshot who can demand about $15m a movie, but he is far from your typical film star.

"I always try to remember that it's just me, just little ol' Gerry, I'm just a dude," says the 43-year-old Scot, who is in town promoting Playing For Keeps, a feel-good romp in which he plays a washed-up footballer.

"It's not reinventing the wheel but it's a funny, poignant little story," says Butler.

He is fresh from Oslo where, along with Sarah Jessica Parker, he hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert.

"I did think I'd turn up, rehearse, and present the concert, and then suddenly we're being thrown into interviews with the artists and [European Commission] President Barroso who is the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize," he recalls, smiling and shaking his head.

Far from declaring it an all-out success, Butler admits he could have been better "prepped".

It is the sort of admission that is typical of the self-deprecating actor, a man as tough to encapsulate as his varied movie roles.

Back in 2000, and just two weeks after arriving in Hollywood, he was cast as the lead in the TV movie Attila. In the ensuing dozen years he has appeared in films spanning all genres, portraying the hulking King Leonidas in 300, the masked lead in the musical Phantom Of The Opera, the cheeky boyfriend in weepy rom-com P.S. I Love You and a drug-dealing biker turned crusader in Machine Gun Preacher.

A no-nonsense Scot, he prides himself on being able to cut through the hype, and denounces the type of actors who believe themselves to be superior.

"Honestly, there are plenty of things I'm not good at but I do think I'm a breath of fresh air for Hollywood," he says.

"I'm not a guy who takes it all too seriously, who you'll find stuck at the back of the VIP room surrounded by security at a party."

Tall, broad and ruggedly handsome in his jeans and a long-sleeved fitted top, Butler boasts an old-school manliness.

Combined with a smattering of stubble, blue eyes and a cheeky, roguish charm, it is little surprise he has rivalled Colin Farrell in the ladies' man stakes.

"I don't hear so much of it now but without a doubt a lot of it [my reputation] was deserved," says Butler, who's now dating Romanian supermodel Madalina Ghenea, 24.

"In saying that, I'd say 80 per cent of who I was accused of having affairs with, such as Jennifer Aniston (his co-star in 2010's bomb The Bounty Hunter) was never true.

"But have I been a ladies' man? Yeah, but I'm a dude.

"I'm a boy from Scotland who's had fun in life. I've had a lot of luck, I've worked hard and I've enjoyed myself, you know, and I feel I've always been a gentleman and never set out to hurt anyone."

To give Butler his dues, he is not a bulking mass of testosterone. He is thoughtful and as at ease discussing his spiritual wellbeing as he is the perks of fame, all the while exuding a charisma that he is unapologetically aware and proud of.

He is really not so different from his Playing For Keeps alter ego George Dryer, a former Scottish football star who turns up in small-town America to try to rebuild his relationship with his son Lewis and ex Stacie, played by Jessica Biel.

After getting roped into teaching the local little league football team, his attempts to finally "grow up" are thwarted by the gaggle of attractive "soccer mums", including Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman and an overzealous soccer dad in the shape of a back-slapping Dennis Quaid.

"George is a guy who seems to bring chaos wherever he goes because women like him and men want to be him, but he's not very centred and he doesn't necessarily know how to handle all that," explains Butler, who was also the film's producer and championed the project from the start.

"It was originally a baseball movie and I was American but then I thought, 'What am I thinking?' What a chance to really allow for that fish out of water element!

"George is the guy who's trying to start afresh but doing it in a place where he's befuddled by everybody."

It wasn't so different when Butler first moved to LA, having taken up acting after he was fired from a law firm.

"You jump into the antics but at the same time you have a sense of humour about yourself in that world and spend a lot of time scratching your head about who people are and their attitudes towards life," he says, laughing.