Gerard Butler is arguably Scotland’s biggest Hollywood star since the heyday of Sean Connery. With three big-budget movies opening in the last six months, Butler has been impossible to miss.
The Paisley-born actor, 40, is a household name in US and is emerging as a frontrunner in the awards season – not for the Oscars, in which he has no chance, but for the Golden Raspberries, the awards that honour the worst movies and performances of the year.
Butler’s mix of romantic comedies and action could see him join such legendary names as Paris Hilton, Madonna and Sylvester Stallone on Hollywood’s Roll of Shame.
“I would say he has at least a 50-50 chance,” said John Wilson, organiser of the “Razzies”, which are decided on the votes of hundreds of showbiz insiders, critics and ordinary film fans in 20 countries.
The Oscars single out individual performances, whereas the Razzies consider all the films an actor has made in a year. “We list however many crappy movies they made in one year and Gerard Butler has three titles,” said Mr Wilson.
Butler was a sexist TV presenter in the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth; he was a ruthless killer stuck inside an online computer game in Gamer; and in his new movie Law Abiding Citizen he plays a man who metes out his own justice after the death of his wife and child.
“All of those got really crappy reviews,” said Mr Wilson. One reviewer called The Ugly Truth “an insult to misogyny”, while several commentators expressed concern at his latest film’s vigilante sensibility. None has done particularly well at the box office.
“We are sending out our ballots in early January,” said Mr Wilson. “We have throughout the year compiled a list of what is likely, and he will be listed on the nominating ballot as a possible worst actor. Multiple titles do catch the attention of our voters.”
Butler could be in the running for more than one award, including Worst Picture. He was also producer on Law Abiding Citizen and Mr Wilson suggested he might also be in contention for the worst screen couple award, for The Ugly Truth, in which he co-starred with Katherine Heigl.
Last year Paris Hilton managed a hat-trick of awards for worst actress (for The Hottie and The Nottie), worst screen couple and worst supporting actress.
Some stars have seen the funny side and turned up for the awards, which began in 1981 and take place just before the Oscars. Mr Wilson said he hoped Butler would attend, if nominated. He said: “He certainly seems to have a sense of humour about himself. He hosted Saturday Night Live, here in America. He seemed to have a lot of fun.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article