It is now official: Gerard Butler is the world's premier kicker of ass. His band might be doomed in 300, but they whoop a lot of bottom on the way armed only with leather pants and a lot of facial hair; and the US box office frankly didn't stand a chance in the face of Butler and his mighty brawn, as he opened $70million worth of whoopass on it over the weekend. You could pit the guy against Godzilla, with Godzilla all dressed up in spiky armour and with a giant lion as his plucky sidekick and the lion can breathe fire and has a big magic gun. Butler would still win with both hands tied behind his back and his head chopped off.
All of which makes him the perfect choice for a remake of John Carpenter's 1981 classic Escape From New York. There aren't many modern actors who could conceivably take over double-hard bastard duties from the legendary Kurt Russell, who played one-eyed convict Snake Plissken, a man who must rescue the president and – yes – escape from New York, which in the future has become a maximum security prison, but based on his showing in 300 and, of course, Dear Frankie, Butler would seem to be a good choice to don the eyepatch.
The script is being written by Black Hawk Down screenwriter Ken Nolan. No director has been attached to the remake. Butler could do it and kick your arse at the same time, while reciting pi to 14,352 decimal places.