Fresh out of rehab, and looking dapper hitting the Oscar parties over the weekend, Gerard Butler is wisely putting whatever troubles he had to overcome behind him, putting his head down, and getting back to work.
The actor has landed a new gig, replacing Eric Bana in the diamond heist pic appropriately titled "Brilliant." First announced last fall, the film from "21," "Legally Blonde" and "Killers" director Robert Luketic, and penned by Gillian Gorfil (producer of “Blood Diamond”) and Elizabeth Shorten, the story centers on a small-time criminal who teams with a female thief to pull off the biggest diamond heist of all time. And as much as we love a good heist flick, there are a few red flags.
First is director Luketic, who has helmed some truly lukewarm material (at best), while the male/female pairing makes us hope this isn't "The Bounty Hunter" in the guise of a crime caper. But Butler has does have some potentially promsing work on the way with the soccer comedy "Playing The Field" and Curtis Hanson's surfing pic "Of Men And Mavericks," so hopefully this material is another choice of something interesting, rather than another run at the routine. [Variety]