The “fantastic” 2002 movie Gerard Butler was way too confident about: “It never fucking happened”
Gerard Butler has recalled how a supposedly "fantastic" audition for the 2002 Jennifer Lopez thriller Enough fell through despite his confidence that he had landed the role, a near-miss that shaped the rest of his career path. The Scottish actor's failure to secure that part left him free to instead star in Reign of Fire, the 2002 dragon disaster film that became something of a breakthrough for him and set him on the road to major franchises including 300, Olympus Has Fallen and How to Train Your Dragon.
Butler said his agency at CAA had told him an offer for Enough was coming after two strong auditions, only for it to "never fucking happened", leaving him to co-star instead with Matthew McConaughey and Heath Ledger in Reign of Fire, a film about dragons unleashed by a London Underground tunnelling project. Enough, in which Lopez played an abused wife seeking revenge, ultimately underperformed at the box office and drew poor reviews, while Butler went on to lead The Phantom of the Opera and build a lucrative action career, with the Olympus Has Fallen series alone grossing over half a billion dollars; he now has Den of Thieves 3 and Night Has Fallen on the way.
- Butler lost the 2002 Jennifer Lopez film Enough despite strong auditions
- He instead starred in dragon film Reign of Fire that year
- That led to 300, Phantom of the Opera and his action career
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Gerard Butler nearly starred alongside Jennifer Lopez in the 2002 thriller Enough, after two auditions he believed had gone well, only for the offer to never materialise. That near-miss is the focus of his recent recollection, looking back on how close he came to a very different career path.
Missing out on that role instead put Butler on track for Reign of Fire, a 2002 film about dragons unleashed during a London Underground tunnelling project, in which he starred alongside Matthew McConaughey and Heath Ledger. That film helped establish him in Hollywood, eventually leading to lead roles in The Phantom of the Opera and the action franchises 300 and Olympus Has Fallen, as well as How to Train You to Dragon.
Enough, the film Butler missed out on, went on to underperform commercially and critically. Butler, meanwhile, built a successful career in action cinema, and has further projects including Den of Thieves 3 and Night Has Fallen still to come.