While doing press for Copshop, a question about how 2009’s Gamer compares to Free Guy gets Butler to admit he doesn’t watch Ryan Reynolds’ movies.

Gerard Butler says he doesn’t really watch Ryan Reynolds’ movies. The Scottish actor known primarily for action films such as 300 is currently doing press for his latest, Copshop, which released earlier this month.

Reynolds, meanwhile, is riding high on the success of Free Guy, which received generally positive reviews and is so far in this year’s top-10 highest grossing films.

On the surface, Butler and Reynolds have both had shifting star-images that have taken similar turns. Though Butler first caught Hollywood’s attention with The Phantom of the Opera and 300 and Reynolds came up through TV, they both became the kind of actor whose face goes right on the poster in the 2000s.

They were both romcom mainstays early in their careers, and each has lent their voice to a popular animated franchise: How to Train Your Dragon for Butler; and The Croods for Reynolds. And, with the Has Fallen and Deadpool films, both also entered the 2020s with successful franchises in tow.

However, according to his interview with UNILAD, Butler seems unlikely to acknowledge the similarity. The success of Reynolds’ Free Guy, in which the Canadian actor plays an NPC that becomes conscious of his existing in an open-world video game, has reignited some discussion around Butler’s 2009 movie Gamer, which sees him trapped inside a first-person shooter that allows players to control real death-row inmates. When asked about this renewed attention, Butler discusses the film’s original lack of success before revealing that he actually doesn’t know what Free Guy is:
I was hoping it was of the time, that people would get it. I thought it was genius. It could have been executed slightly differently, but I really loved the commentary it was making on where the world was going, especially in gaming and sort of losing ourselves into that world, and technology and man bonding with machine.

But, I didn’t feel people really did get it at the time. It didn’t do amazing business. It has become a bit of a cult classic, but I didn’t know about this resurgence. I actually don’t know what Free Guy is. […] Oh sh*t is it… I don’t watch Ryan Reynolds movies.

Elsewhere in their discussion, the actor reveals Copshop has been “in [his] back pocket for quite a while.” He eventually decided that the pandemic was exactly when audiences needed the “complete escapism” it offered, and he relished the chance to play the villain.

Butler also revealed that a sequel to 2018’s Den of Thieves is “supposed to shoot early next year” and promises the follow-up will be “a more glamorous journey than the last one, and probably a more fun, sexy journey.”

It’s unfortunate that UNILAD‘s interviewer didn’t have time to dig into Butler’s aversion of Reynolds’ work, but even comparing Gamer with Free Guy provides some insight.

If Butler’s action films lean into the outrageous, they do so in a way that embraces the genre, while the appeal of Reynolds’ more violent outings often comes from his character’s meta-mockery.

Despite some similarities in their career progression, they strike very different tones as performers, and it wouldn’t be too surprising if fans of Butler’s work feel the same way about Reynolds’ movies as the Copshop star does.