THE WEATHERMEN
Gerard Butler and Jim Sturgess team up to save the world in Geostorm
Gerard Butler has saved the world plenty of times — not to mention a few presidents and world leaders.
So when Earth is threatened by “extreme weather” in Geostorm, the 47-year-old Scottish actor was a natural pick to be the actor who’d save the day.
“But he doesn’t do it singlehandedly this time,” Butler’s costar Jim Sturgess says laughing. “I’m definitely a part of that.”
After climate changes leave humans facing extinction, the leaders of Earth build a network of satellites that can control the weather.
But when the satellites are taken over by nefarious individuals with an eye on creating a series of global disasters, it’s up to Butler’s Jack Lawson to save the day.
Sturgess plays Jack’s brother Max, a White House staffer, who helps on the ground.
Abbie Cornish stars as Max’s love interest, with Andy Garcia playing the U.S president and Ed Harris as the secretary of state.
With such films as Across the Universe, 21 and Cloud Atlas under his belt, the ensemble feature is Sturgess’s first actionadventure.
“I read the script and I thought, ‘With all these disaster movies, this is a really, really good one.’ This is a great blockbuster, Hollywood movie.”
Sturgess chatted about his world-saving skills and gave us tips on what you should pack if you see Armageddon on the horizon.
Q Gerard has saved earthlings on more than one occasion. Why is he so good at that and what did you bring to the table?
A He’s the muscle and I’m the brains (laughs). But this is my first time saving the world in a movie, so I’m glad I had Gerard Butler at my side guiding me through.
Q Controlling the weather with satellites — did you ask writerdirector Dean Devlin how much of this idea was actually plausible?
A I don’t care about plausibility in a giant movie like this (laughs). It’s escapism. Actually, the scary thing is, there is a plausibility to it . ... People are learning how to control and manipulate weather. That’s a real science that’s happening. Of course, this film takes that science to the absolute extreme, but I’m always of the belief that if you can dream something up in a movie you can probably get there at some point in real life.
Q Did making Geostorm change your thoughts about climate change?
A I looked into climate change — it’s the backbone of the film. Of course, once you see and read and watch a lot of the documentaries you get a bigger sense of what it is and the kind of impact it’s going to have on the world we live in. It stays with you. You can’t pretend you haven’t learned those facts.
Q Did it make you scared to think where humanity might be in a 100 years?
A It did.
Q Dean Devlin has produced the Independence Day movies, Godzilla and The Patriot, but this is the first film he’s directed.
A That was the nice thing about it. Sure, it was his first movie, but he’s vastly experienced so you get the best of both worlds. You get the enthusiasm of a first-time director with someone who’s just so excited to be behind the camera.
Dean’s mantra was, ‘It has to be entertaining. We don’t just want drama and devastation. It’s supposed to be a roller-coaster ride of entertainment.’
Q Now that you’ve done one big movie, do you have an itch for this stuff ?
A I like to move around, man. I just finished shooting an independent movie and I definitely don’t save the world in that movie.
Q People took notice of you after you appeared as Jude in the rock-musical Across the Universe 10 years ago. How pivotal was that movie in your career?
A When I made Across the Universe I thought I would make this one movie and then I’d go back to being an unemployed musician. I was thrilled with that, though, being in a movie that played in the cinema. But I never expected I would still be making films in the way that I’ve been able to do.
Q If anyone else finds themselves in an end-of-the world situation, something like what we experience in Geostorm, what should they do?
A Just hold onto your loved ones ... and your cats (laughs).