Okay, so as a member of Gerard Butler’s Fan-Girl Club, I’m primed to love anything he does, even when he makes a really crappy movie. It’s been hard for us G-But Fan-girls, because the man has made some really hideous career choices in the past few years. But I’m starting to wonder if Gerard is on a new career path, because I’ve just watched the second trailer within a week of a Gerard Butler film which actually looked interesting. The first was Coriolanus, which, IMO, looked awesome. And now I’m watching the trailer for Gerard’s starring turn in Machine Gun Preacher, and… it looks good? Like, qualitatively good. This isn’t just a fan-girl getting tingly for Scottish dong. This actually looks like an interesting movie, and Butler looks like he’s giving a solid-to-excellent performance. WTF?!?!

You know what I think it is? I think it’s spared the “he’s over-acting” criticism because it’s a true story. Butler is playing a real guy, Sam Childers, who was quite a sketchy drug dealer and criminal. Childers changed his life when he found Jesus, and he really did go to Sudan to try to help out. The promotional bit is:

“When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed–in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens. But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives–and eventually his own. This [is an] explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from starvation, disease and enslavement.”

If they had simply made it up, if it was a fictional screenplay, I think people would hate it. But you can’t write this.

Also, on the superficial level, how great does Gerard look once he ditches the mullet? When he accepted Jesus, he also accepted a decent haircut. AND! For the first time ever, Gerard’s American accent is decent. There were moments in the trailer where I didn’t hear any Scottish brogue in there. Is it possible for my beloved G-But to have actually done a really good movie? Gasp!

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.