Gangster Gerard Butler

Wow, Gerard Butler needs to relax! Maybe he’s concerned about the looming Hollywood strikes, but the guy is stockpiling more projects than most actors get in their careers.

In the past couple of months he’s attached himself to GAME, NIM’S ISLAND, the UNTOUCHABLES prequel, the ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK remake, and now the latest overly stylized crime caper from Brit director Guy Ritchie (SNATCH). Butler will star in ROCKnROLLA, a heist tale that also counts Tom Wilkinson, Ludacris, Idris Elba (of HBO’s mesmerizing THE WIRE) and the delectable Thandie Newton.

Butler plays a mobster in the London-based flick that “is set in motion when a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal and millions of dollars are thrown up for grabs, with all of London’s criminal underworld players wanting in on the action.” Given Ritchie’s history, expect an overdose of freeze-frames, excessive violence, preposterous dialogue, quirky characters and unlikely names. The flick comes from Joel Silver’s horror home Dark Castle, of all places.