Gerard Butler: 'Olympus Has Fallen' is really a tale of 'redemption' (LA TIMES)

By Steven Zeitchik
March 22, 2013, 6:01 p.m.

If you head out to see the Gerard Butler action movie “Olympus Has Fallen” this weekend, you’re probably going for the pyrotechnics: The White House is blown to smithereens, the Washington Monument dramatically implodes, many bad guys die violently.

But Butler, who stars as the fallen Secret Service agent and one-man wrecking crew Mike Banning in the D.C.-under-fire-from-North-Korean-terrorists tale, sees in it something a little more … nuanced.

“This movie is a hero's journey about a guy who faces his demons and finds his redemption,” Butler told The Times when asked what he thought the movie was really about. Butler's character is wracked by guilt over a mistake that led to the death of the first lady.

READ MORE: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-gerard-butler-olympus-has-fallen-movie-reviews-theaters-20130322,0,2187797.story

'Olympus Has Fallen' Screening: Gerard Butler, Angela Bassett Get Handsy on the Red Carpet (PHOTOS) Posted: 03/13/2013 1:12 pm EDT

Angela Bassett and Gerard Butler attend a screening of FilmDistrict's "Olympus Has Fallen" hosted by the Cinema Society with Roger Dubuis and Grey Goose on Monday, March 11, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/A

Gerard Butler and Angela Bassett looked very happy at the New York City screening of their new movie "Olympus Has Fallen" on Monday.

The co-stars hugged and laughed on the red carpet, and posed with the film's director, Antoine Fuqua, at the event, held at the Tribeca Grand Hotel.

In "Olympus," the President of the Unites States (Aaron Eckhart) is kidnapped, and the White House is overrun by terrorists. The president's and the nation's safety lies in the hands of a disgraced presidential guard (Butler).

READ MORE: http://news.moviefone.com/2013/03/13/olympus-has-fallen-screening_n_2867447.html?just_reloaded=1

Olympus Has Fallen Trailer Revealed With Awful Timing (But Sexy Gerard Butler)! (PEREZ HILTON)

Basically, it's Die Hard: White House Edition, with Gerard Butler going "Yippee Ki-Yay, Motherf***ers" all the way to the bank! LOLz!

Here's the plot synopsis:

"When the President (Aaron Eckhart) is taken hostage by a terrorist (Rick Yune), disgraced former agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is called back into service. Unfortunately, Banning is still haunted by the death of the First Lady (Ashley Judd), whom he could not save after a car accident."

READ MORE:http://perezhilton.com/2013-01-23-gerard-butler-olympus-has-fallen-movie-film-barack-obama-president-terrorists-poor-timing

James McAvoy: Wanted 2 Will Find James McAvoy Recruiting New Female Character Wednesday, October 24th, 2012 at 7:45am by Kevin Melrose (SPIN OFF ON LINE)

When last we heard about Wanted 2, the long-promised sequel to the 2008 action film very loosely based on the comic by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, director Timur Bekmambetov revealed he’d finally had a breakthrough on the story and original screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas were hard at work on the script.

Now, some four months later, Haas tells Hollywood.com that he and his collaborator are about to deliver a second draft that picks up with James McAvoy’s William Gibson four years after the events of the first film. “The only thing I can tell you is that Wesley is now, four years later, recruiting a young woman who is in his situation in the first movie,” he said. “She’s got a shitty life. He’s sort of in the Fox role. This new girl is brought into the world.”

Wanted starred McAvoy as a frustrated accountant who discovers he’s the son of a professional assassin and decides to join the thousand-year-old secret society for which his father worked. The film, which grossed about $340 million worldwide on a $75 million budget, also starred Angelina Jolie as Fox, who becomes Wesley’s mentor, and Morgan Freeman as Sloan.

READ MORE:http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2012/10/24/wanted-2-will-find-james-mcavoy-recruiting-new-female-character/

Four minutes with Helen Mirren

HELEN Mirren talks about her insecurities, going naked and working with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in the film Red.

1. GAME DAME BATTLES INSECURITY

"It was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done," says Dame Mirren of her new movie, The Door. "You can't see that, but it was."

Set in post-war, Communist Hungary, she plays a stern maid who reveals her past to her new employer. "I had to strip all my artform, all my technique away - the performance had to be naked. I was very insecure. Is this enough? Is it too much?"

2. THAT'S NOT ALL THAT WAS NAKED!

"I had absolutely no make-up on - which, incidentally, is brilliant," says Mirren, whose killer looks at 66 are well-chronicled. "I literally took five minutes to get ready in the morning. There's a liberation in that: take me as I am." She got back in the make-up chair for Hitchcock, playing wife to Anthony Hopkins as the famed director. "He's so wonderful, it was fantastic."

READ MORE: http://www.news.com.au/news/four-minutes-with-helen-mirren/story-fnejnl1p-1226428423079

NEW DARK KNIGHT RISES PLOT DETAILS REVEALED IN LICENSED MERCHANDISE TIE-IN (THE DAILY BLAM)

BY PIETRO FILIPPONI
PUBLISHED: MARCH 18, 2012 - 4:52PM
 in Film Movie News Collector's Corner

Scheduled for theatrical release this summer, The Dark Knight Rises is the third and final film in director Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy and stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway.Film Cell Ltd., and official licensee of Warner Bros film products, has debuted one of their upcoming film cell plaques from The Dark Knight Rises.

Accompanying the product details is a brief synopsis for the film featuring information not yet released. As with their other licensed plaques, while the promotional artwork and the film cells themselves are subject to modification or change, the film's description is furnished by the studio:


READ THE REST:  http://www.dailyblam.com/news/2012/03/18/new-dark-knight-rises-plot-details-revealed-in-merchandise-tie-in