Gerard Butler: My new film Olympus Has Fallen would be boring if it was set in Downing Street

 

Albertina Lloyd
Thursday 04 April 2013 10:37 BST
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Gerard Butler at the Olympus Has Fallen premiere
Gerard Butler at the Olympus Has Fallen premiere

Gerard Butler tonight joked he did not think his new action film would have been as exciting set in Downing Street.

The Scottish actor joined Aaron Eckhart at the premiere of new action thriller Olympus Has Fallen at the BFI Imax in London last night.

Butler plays a disgraced former US Secret Service man battling to save the world when Korean terrorists take over the White House.

Butler said: "To me you watch this universally, you don't have to be American. It's an attack on the free world. It could just as easily be Downing Street, it could be anywhere."

He chuckled: "But it would be quite interesting to see... I don't know how many Secret Service they have... There's like 80 Secret Service in the White House. I can just imagine Downing Street with two coppers running out with their batons...

"I shouldn't say that, I'm sure it's way more protected than that. Maybe that'll be our next movie - Downing Street Has Fallen!"

The 43-year-old action star - who was also a producer on the film - was left battered and bruised by the stunt scenes, so much so he worried he had seriously damaged his arm.

Butler revealed: "I broke two little bones in my neck. My arm turned black from getting punched in my arm for literally two days. It looked like a dead person's arm, it was weird.

"I hurt my throat, I don't even know how that happened. But you know what, that's all part of it. You're in it! And you come out feeling like you're really in the White House fighting terrorists."

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Eckhart, 45, plays the President of the United States, a role he had always dreamed of.

He confessed: "It's interesting as an actor playing a President, because every American kid grows up wanting to be a President."

But he admitted it was frustrating not being in the centre of the action, as he spends much of the film chained up.

Eckhart said: "You always want to hit somebody, you always want to be more proactive. I tried to use my mind more. But the challenge was to keep up that intensity while being chained up."

Olympus Has Fallen was directed by Training Day's Antoine Fuqua and the ensemble cast also includes Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo and Dylan McDermott.

PA

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