Gerard Butler beats up a paparazzo – Finally!

Gerard Butler kicks paparazzo ass according to the Icelandic yellow press.

All I can say is FINALLY!!! Gerry has been way too cool and controlled given everything that has been going on around him. Even the Icelandic yellow press has this!!! But those silly journalists mention 300 and Tomb Raider, but forget to mention that he co-produced Wrath of Gods!… and, yes… played Beowulf. The article reminded me of the stories of how he used to fight all the time as a teenager, back when he first met Tony Curran (see the long interview on the Wrath of Gods DVD) The only thing this will do is raise his profile. I’m not sure he needs more attention though. He’s everywhere these days. I thought the in-flight version of Nim’s Island was better than the one I saw in the Chinese Theater.

Nim's Island on Icelandair

Damien Rice and Amy Kuney in Reykjavik

I love surprises. Last night I had two. First of all Damien Rice is entertaining as hell and secondly, a girl from LA called Amy Kuney came out of the blue and impressed a Nasa full of Icelanders. Great voice and great songs. I looked her up on MySpace and she seemed to have mostly done cover songs and posted them on YouTube but there seems to be a CD coming out. She looks young but her voice sounds older. Somebody obviously brought a video camera to the concert and posted this on YouTube (not me).

Bjork in the park

A well timed concert. Right now we are in the middle of an economic down-turn. It is quite possible that the unemployment rate in Iceland will rise from the current 1% to 3 or 4% in the coming months. Many people are demanding that we start building more hydro dams so we can build more aluminum smelters to keep more people employed and to raise our GDP. This is the time that we need Björk and Sigur Rós to remind us not to destroy more Icelandic natural treasures because of short sighted greed. I got there too late for Sigur Rós, but Björk was fun as always.

Sabor a mi – surprise on a cruise sip

One of the first people I met on board the Delphin Voyager was Alfredo Fernando, a Scottish/Chilean musician who lives in Germany. The first thing that came to my mind was, this guy must know one of my favorite songs – Sabor a mi. Alfredo and I ended up at the Panorama bar till 5am, watching the sun not set up by the Arctic Circle as we sailed past Hornstrandir and the rest of the Westfjords.

Gerry finally hit the big time

When even the Icelandic yellow press reports on who Gerry is talking to in a club in Hollywood, I know that he has finally made it big. The afternoon paper DV said that Gerard Butler, who played King Leonidas after he played Beowulf, had been seen in intense conversation with Miranda Kerr, Orlando Bloom’s girlfriend, and clearly trying to chat her up. Butler of course clarified that they were just talking business. I find this quite interesting because for the longest time the Icelandic media didn’t make the connection. Guess they all watched Wrath of Gods when it was broadcast on Icelandic State TV and finally realized who he was. The article is here.

Jody in the background

Mr. Butler signs an autograph before the premiere of Nim

It’s Sunday and my screening at CUT is over. I wanted to stay for the Horror day but Gerry had invited Martin and I to the premiere of Nim’s Island at the Chinese Theater on Sunset. At the end of the show it was quite interesting to see Gerry being swamped by fans and Jody Foster more or less ignored by all. The most surreal moment was when two nine year old girls walked past us and one of them proudly stated that she just got Gerard Butler’s autograph.

JoJo and The Boss

This is my friend and neighbor JoJo. Few people have as much charisma as he does.

JoJo is a street musician. He played in the streets of Copenhagen for 12 years. One day Bruce Springsteen walked past him. JoJo called out “Hey, Boss! Don’t be so stuck up. Come and play a song with me”. Springsteen kept walking and then suddenly he turned around and asked JoJo if he had a spare guitar. They ended up playing 3 songs together. By the second song JoJo was singing along in harmony. After the second song Springsteen said “This guy knows my songs better than me”. After three songs they hugged and Springsteen walked away. Someone had a video camera. That night this video was on Danish TV and the next day there were pictures in every paper. JoJo became an instant star in Copenhagen.

300

I just saw some preview materials for the movie 300. It looks very impressive and I would go see this film, even if GB wasn’t in it. I think this will be an amazing year for Gerry, and he deserves it. I remember back at the Toronto Festival when he was telling me about the different kind of “hardship” they had to go through for this one. This is all about to pay off for them. The film looks masculine and tough and visually compelling at the same time. Their promotion is genious as well. They seem to have taken everything that I was attempting with the internet campaign of B&G to a new level – and done a fantastic job of it. The difference is that I had $10 to do it, but Warner Brothers has realized that it is worth spending a lot of money on the web campaign.