Q: It’s great to see you get bigger projects and more profile, will this spoil you, will you ever do something like Dear Frankie again, which is one of my favorite movies?

Gerard Butler: No. I’m done with the low budgets (everyone laughs) Absolutely, I mean, I hope so. You know, Nim’s Island to an extent, and it’s a bigger budget, but it’s – for me in some ways it’s quite a square film, it’s a children’s film, it’s a lot of fun and it’s beautiful, but it’s no 300. Even this movie to an extent, it’s so the opposite, if I read this script and the budget for this film had been $500,000 I’d still have done it, because I go by the script and the character, and you have your paydays and then you have your ones that aren’t paydays, and to be honest the first three movies I did after 300, none of them were really paydays for me. There’s Guy Ritchie’s film, which is definitely not a payday, and even Nim’s Island because it wasn’t my movie, and they’re all fine but there was a point where I said, ‘I’ve got to start thinking about that a little more.’ So I would absolutely go back. At the end of the day I can survive, I make enough to get by, and that’s my sustenance anyway, to do that. My sustenance is not just to do the smaller ones, it’s to do them all, it’s to get a chance to do the bigger ones, the smaller ones, the medium ones, the comedies, the dramas, the action, the thriller. It’s as much to keep myself interested and to keep trying new things all the time.

Q: Which do you prefer the action or the romantic comedy?

Gerard Butler: There’s things I prefer about both. Normally when I’m doing action I think I prefer comedy, and when I’m doing comedy I think I prefer action. I think that as much as I’m loving – I’m doing an action movie right now and in terms of – you don’t get much more fun than the action in that because it’s all encompassing, it’s everywhere, you’re surrounded by it, explosions, gunfire, and just like 300 it’s the best set up, none of it is gratuitous because it’s all – the plot sets it up perfectly. It’s set in a game, you have to see all this. Just like in 300, it’s like, look, here’s 300 bad-asses, but let’s put them against an army of a million, it’s the perfect set up for the most kick-ass battle you’ve ever seen. Likewise, in a way, so is Game. But that’s cool, but while I’m doing I’m like, I definitely don’t want to do that kind of stuff forever, and yet I’m having the best time on it, I really am, but it’s hard work, it’s hard work and you miss the chance to sit down and do scenes where you’re just having a regular conversation, you’re getting the chance to be funny. Just like as a human being, I wouldn’t want to work every day of my life, I want to have some leisure time, I want to have some sexy time, I want to have some – you know, you want to be able to experience all the parts of your psyche and all the parts of humanity and life, and it’s like that in films, I want to be able to do all the different areas, you know. I couldn’t just do acting.

Q: It was so important that you and Hilary had some chemistry in this, what did you do at the beginning when you met to get some sparks going? Did you have any rehearsals at all?

Gerard Butler: Yeah we had rehearsal. Well, we had rehearsal and we hung out. I actually though don’t think that it was something we really had to work at. If we had to work at it maybe we would have, but we never had to do that, we have a great spark together and also we’re both, I mean – she’s a pretty amazing actress, so maybe she – you know, I felt we actually had it, maybe she had to play it a little bit, I don’t know. I feel that we have great chemistry together, so that part of it is just you have. I know for me, before I went in, I made a decision that I was going to get out of that leading man head you get into, which is not – I’m not a diva in any way, I think I’m very down to earth, but when you’re playing the title role in a film or the lead in it is a huge role, you can’t help but get caught up in your own head, and sometimes you just want to throw that away, and I thought, ‘I’m going to try the opposite,’ which was throw my focus completely onto Hilary and Richard, and I said that to Richard when I met him, I said I’m just going to go, ‘How are you doing today? And how’s Hilary doing?’ And I really tried that, and I had so much fun doing the movie, taking all the pressure off myself, and I felt no pressure in my performance, I felt so relaxed and at ease, and I know that if anything that just opened up more of a trust in Hilary as well.

Q: It looked like you were having fun

Gerard Butler: Yeah, that’s exactly it. I knew that she wasn’t out to get me, I wasn’t out to get her, we were just having fun and making something that we both loved.

Q: Speaking of big paychecks and big action movies, the rumor is that you’re going to be playing Sabretooth in the Wolverine movie. Are you looking forward to fighting Wolverine?

Gerard Butler: It’s not true.

Q: It’s definitely not true?

Gerard Butler: I haven’t even met on it. I haven’t spoken to anybody and I haven’t seen a script. And I think I’m working when it’s going on. So it’s not…

Q: So if they were to offer it to you after you wrap Game, would you be interested in doing it?

Gerard Butler: Listen, I’d be interested in anything up to I read a script.

Q: And what’s the story with Untouchables? Are you still in the running for this DePalma thing?

Gerard Butler: Yeah, I was signed up to do it but now it’s a little bit on the backburner at the moment… trying to get everything together, financing…what do you call it Capone. It’s like a lot of things, you get involved with them and it takes a little longer, you know.

Q: So what does that mean for after when Game wraps? Do you have anything lined up?

Gerard Butler: There’s nothing I’m doing for definite, but there are a few things that I’m close to. It’s hard because of the strike right now to know what needs to be re-written and what doesn’t. What can come before the actors strike…if that happens. There are too many variables to have a definite.