Gerard Butler Replaces Liam Hemsworth In Sci-Fi Action Flick ‘The Raven’

Years ago Gerard Butler and action were synonymous. There wasn’t an action film that came to mind that didn’t have Butler’s name on a short list of potential leads. Now he’s been second string for awhile. Hopefully his new flick The Raven will put him back on short list for the action genre.

Butler is reportedly replacing Liam Hemsworth in the lead role for The Raven. The film began as a short film in 2010, and was optioned for a feature length film with Mark Wahlberg, who was eventually succeeded by Liam Hemsworth, the latter is everyone’s current favorite action guy. Butler will play the lead role of Chris Black as a young man who is on the run from a robotic police force.

Back while Butler was promoting Olympus Has Fallen he had this to say about his familiarity with action films:

“I’ve done a lot of it and produced a couple of movies that were about violent reactions, like Law Abiding Citizen and 300. I didn’t produce 300, I wish I’d f—ing produced 300! [The room bursts into laughter] So it was amazing how in cahoots and how co-ordinated Antoine and I were about creating this project, because when I first got the script the second that C130 flies in and you go, “Oh, wait a minute what have I gotten myself into here!”

While he’s still in some action films, his luck has since fizzled as far as the critics are concerned. Olympus Has Fallen was lambasted by critics, but it did fairly well in the box office by surpassing its estimates. Before that Butler was in the two dud films Chasing Mavericks and Playing For Keeps.

In addition the actor didn’t quite capture material that would blossom his skill as an actor and settled for more block buster worthy films and random romcoms opposite Jennifer Aniston and Katherine Heigl. Let’s hope he scores both the box office buzz and meaty material with The Raven.