Gerard Butler Once Shared That He Felt Like Slapping 50 Cent in ‘Den of Thieves’
50 Cent once starred in the action film Den of Thieves, one of many movies sure to give audiences an adrenaline jolt. The business mogul famously teamed up with Gerard Butler for the role. Along the way, however, Butler got to know the kind of person 50 Cent really was. And the 300 star quipped that it left him disappointed.
Gerard Butler once revealed his first impression of 50 Cent
50 Cent was no stranger to controversy. The rapper was known for feuding with many celebrities, with perhaps his most notable rivalry being fellow artist Ja Rule. Law Abiding Citizen star Gerard Butler somewhat expected 50 Cent to live up to his reputation as hip hop’s villain when they did Den of Thieves. The two ended up playing robbers in the action thriller in the midst of performing a massive heist. 50 Cent revealed in an interview that he’d been attached to the project for quite some time, and was thrilled to portray a villain.
“I like the bad guy,” he once said in an interview with The Breakfast Club. “I read the script six years ago. I don’t mind being typecasted. I’m a rapper. I don’t mind. My check’s the same. Gerard’s is a little bigger.”
However, according to Butler, 50 Cent was anything but the bad guy on set. Butler shared that 50 Cent was actually the exact antithesis of his rap persona behind the scenes.
“He’s actually a complete gentleman, he’s hilarious,” Butler revealed in an interview with NOVA’S Fitzy and Wippa (via Daily Mail).
50 Cent even showed the Plane star his more generous side when he helped celebrate his girlfriend’s kid’s birthday.
“My girlfriend’s kid had a birthday and I asked maybe would he record a message. And I hate doing that kind of thing, you know, but this guy was like: ‘Not only am I going to record you a message, I’m going to call him in the middle of his birthday party,’” Butler said.
“And [50 Cent] said: ‘Are there any other artists that he likes because I’ll get them on the phone like that and I could even do a little thing and I could put them altogether!’ That’s who this man is,” he added.
However, Butler joked that he took some issue with 50 cent’s generosity. The actor asserted that he would’ve preferred for the “Candy Shop” singer to be a bit meaner.
“I was actually disappointed myself. I felt like slapping him about and saying: ‘When I ask you to do a video for my girlfriend’s kid, you tell me to go get lost, you don’t wan’t to speak to me again and you don’t give a s*** about the kid,’” he quipped.
50 Cent and Gerard Butler cleared the air on rivalry rumors
As good of a time Butler and 50 Cent had together, there were still reports that the two had a competitive rivalry on set. But the Power creator was quick to debunk the rumors, while also giving context to how he ended up in Den of Thieves. He explained that his official involvement with the project, and the rivalry rumors, began when he met the film’s director Christian Gudegast and its producer Tucker Tooley.
“[Gerard Butler] actually had the script at that point and I just got a chance to read it,” 50 Cent once told Screen Rant. “And then I met Christian and I ran into Tucker and it was at Relativity at the time so I spoke to Tucker about it, and then it was just random like, I brought up the idea of working on a project, and later it came around full circle and six years later they came to make it and I was like oh yeah I want to do that, I want to be in that.’”
Likewise, Butler also agreed he never had a rivalry with 50 Cent. He theorized that the rumors started because he was told 50 Cent wanted to play the main character Enson, which Butler ended up portraying.
“Yeah and it wasn’t rivalry,” Butler said. “The second I heard that he was interested in being involved literally I was, you know Christian said ‘by the way Fifty really wants to do the movie and play Enson.’ And I’m like’ no he doesn’t.’ And he goes, ‘no he does.’ I go ‘come on.’ And he goes ‘dude, he loves it, he really wants in.’”
However, Butler clarified that he very much looked forward to working with the Before I Self-Destruct artist.
“So it was always different roles, but the second I knew he wanted to be involved, and then when I heard O’Shea Jackson wanted to be involved, then you go we got a movie, you know, we have a movie we know is going to be a great,” Butler said.
