There's lots of testosterone at the movie theater this weekend: Brad Pitt takes on the business of baseball in Moneyball, Gerard Butler wields a weapon to try to make a difference in Machine Gun Preacher, and Taylor Lautner tries to figure out if his is the face on the milk carton in Abduction. If you think you might head out to see one of the films, get a taste of each of them first in this gallery of pictures from each film.
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures
Gerard Butler stars in this week's new release Machine Gun Preacher as Sam Childers, a man who left a life of crime and drug addiction to devote himself to his children who'd been affected by the violent attacks of the Lord's Resistance Army in the Sudan. Butler, who also serves as executive producer, and his costar Michelle Monaghan, who plays Sam's wife Lynn, chatted with us during a recent press day in San Francisco. They talked about what it was like portraying real people, how Butler prepared for the role, and the difficulties he endured while filming some of the more disturbing scenes in Africa.
Did you know about Sam's story, and what did you think of the title when you heard it?
Gerard Butler: It was my agent who'd heard about it for a long time, and he loved it, was very passionate about it for a long time. He pitched the story to me, so I immediately connected Machine Gun Preacher with a guy who fought for children in the Sudan. I like the [title] Machine Gun Preacher, I think it's very catchy, but I think that it allows the movie to reveal the far deeper, interesting, more complex story. And yet to let people know that it's a crazy ass movie at the same time. He's a crazy ass guy, a hell of a powerful adventurer as well. I didn't know about it before, and [then] I wanted everyone to know about it.
Michelle Monaghan: I mean obviously, I got the script and saw Machine Gun Preacher, and I was intrigued — come on! I was completely inspired when I'd read it. This is definitely a project I wanted to be a part of, and certainly knowing that Gerry was on board to tell his story, as was Marc Forster, only cemented the idea of being a part of it even more.
To find out what else Butler and Monaghan had to say, like how hard it was shooting the violent scenes, just keep reading.
Machine Gun Preacher is one part biopic, one part agenda film, but it's not satisfying in either respect. Gerard Butler stars as Sam Childers, an ex-convict who finds his calling in the form of helping orphans in Sudan, victims of the violent acts of the Lord's Resistance Army. Michelle Monaghan costars as Lynn, his frustrated wife trying to turn her life around. The film follows Sam back and forth from his home in Pennsylvania to the Sudan as he attempts to aid its citizens.
When we first meet Sam, he has just been released from prison, and he immediately goes back to what he was doing before he landed in jail: drinking, doing drugs, and committing crimes. After he almost kills a man while on a bender, Sam takes it as a sign and starts going to church. When he finds out about the plight of children in Africa, he travels overseas and sets about trying to help, eventually founding a refuge for the Sudanese kids. While the story itself is powerful, the subject matter of Sudan loses the spotlight in favor of the grandiose personality of its main character. To find out more, just keep reading
Michelle Monaghan, clad in a lace-print Prada dress, joined Gerard Butler at Saturday night's Creative Coalition Spotlight Initiative Awards dinner, where she was honored by the nonprofit. The actors both headed north for the Toronto Film Festival as they readied for yesterday's debut of their film Machine Gun Preacher. The movie stars Gerard in the role of Sam Childers, a real-life reformed drug dealer turned humanitarian. Gerard has been getting emotional as he does interviews for the project lately, and Michelle told us his tearful talks don't come as a surprise to her. She said: "The subject matter is really emotional and it's an intense subject matter . . . I think anybody that's seen this movie thus far, anyone that's seen it and commented on it, is visibly, visibly moved . . . [Gerard] sat with this movie for a good year, so it's incredibly important to him, and as it should be. He's so phenomenal in it. He's incredible." The admiration was clearly mutual between Michelle and Gerard — the duo posed for pictures with their arms around each other before sitting down to dinner with fellow actors like Anna Kendrick and Juliette Lewis.
Gerard Butler never seems to stray far from the tough-guy persona he solidified in his breakout role in 300; however, in the trailer for Machine Gun Preacher, he adds a softer side. In this real-life story, Butler plays Sam Childers, a biker and drug dealer who's up to his ears in trouble until he decides to reform his life. He takes off for Africa, leaving his lifestyle and family behind (including his wife, played by Michelle Monaghan).
He ultimately finds his calling in helping Sudanese children, and he goes about finding a sanctuary (the Angels of East Africa rescue organization) to prevent the land's youth from being forced into the army or sex slavery. Though the preview gets a bit treacly toward the end with the inspirational music and captions, the movie seems like it might be a powerful look at how one man's desire to change himself brought about greater change for the world. Machine Gun Preacher comes out Sept. 23, but watch the trailer when you read more
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Colin Farrell and Gerard Butler both spent the last few days hard at work on new movies. Gerard was in Michigan this morning on the set of Machine Gun Preacher, sporting a leather vest and a slicked-back mullet. Colin, meanwhile, showed off his fake comb-over Friday on the LA set of Horrible Bosses. Neither actor looked their hottest, but fortunately, they're just in costume. Tell us whose make-under you think is more dramatic — Colin's or Gerard's?
