When you get an opportunity to sit down with Gerard Butler and Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, you don't walk. You run! And that's exactly what I did!
I was given the difficult task (cough) of interviewing both of them at the junket for their new film "Law Abiding Citizen," which opens nationwide on October 16th. I have interviewed Foxx many times before. He's always animated, and bounces in and out of character at times. But overall his interviews are definitely memorable. I'd never met Butler before, but being that he is a great actor and not bad on the eyes I was certainly looking forward to it!
I knew the interview was going to go very well when Butler answered my first question about what it was like to work with Foxx and director F. Gary Gray like this: "They loved working with me! I think it was a hugely beneficial experience for them. No, I'm joking." Butler seemed to be in a joking mood when talking about his co-stars, but got serious when we turned the talk to his film and the justice system in America.
His character takes revenge and becomes a killer after his family is murdered and one of the killers essentially gets off because the prosecutor seeks a plea bargain. Butler confided that even though he is on the other side of law in the flick, he actually favors plea bargaining. Butler studied law back in his homeland of Scotland, and has an honors law degree and a diploma in legal practice. "There's a lot to be said for plea bargaining... in terms of saving huge resources to the legal system with unnecessary court cases."
Foxx's take on the U.S. justice system, after playing a very myopic district attorney, was a little different. He said "Plea deals are anything that you make of them. You can make any kind of plea deal you want." Since the movie can be considered as an argument against plea deals, I asked Foxx what he wanted audiences to take away from the film, and he was brief, funny and to the point: "All I can tell you is this, don't ever go to jail. Don't go to jail because you will be sitting behind somebody braiding somebody's hair."
Enough said. Gotta love Foxx for keeping it real with humor!