The Wildest Moment In Plane Came Straight From Gerard Butler
This piece contains massive spoilers for "Plane."
With a title as unique and original as "Plane," did you really expect something entirely cookie-cutter out of this new film? While definitely populated with standard action tropes, there were a few off-the-wall moments that were worth the price of admission. Perhaps the craziest and most unexpected of these moments came near the film's conclusion, where Pilot Brodie Torrance (Gerard Butler) decides to end the reign of terror caused by militia commander Dele (Yoson An) once and for all.
How exactly does he do this? Well, it's simple: Brodie commandeers a plane right into Dele on a runway. Literally. He pulverizes this man with a whole-ass airplane. I mean, were you expecting anything less?
As it turns out, that show-stopping conclusion came straight from Butler, and he's pretty damn proud of it. He made the revelation in an interview with Uproxx, with the website's Mike Ryan calling it a cheering moment. He's certainly not wrong! "I just want everybody to know that, that was my moment," Butler, who is also a producer on "Plane," replied. "Although I'm sure a lot of people will be like, 'Are you kidding me, that's ridiculous.'"
Eating tarmac
According to Gerard Butler, the pitching process for the kill wasn't as easy as one might expect. He told Uproxx that he had to pitch it to "everybody" involved in the production, likely including Lionsgate executives and director Jean-François Richet. Obviously, the pitch was successful, but it ultimately serves as an example of what Butler says he loves most about the creative process.
"I love developing scripts," he said. "I love being able to put into big ideas, the small ideas, and think of them from an actor's point of view."
He went on to describe some of the many questions that come to him when reviewing a script, such as how certain big or small moments are handled and what moments help audiences bond with the characters. His input is actually pretty insightful because audiences can tell when an actor is thinking of the bigger picture when it comes to their performance. No matter what type of movie he's in, it's hard to pinpoint a time in his career when Butler was phoning it in. "Plane" certainly isn't one of those moments, and that's likely because he approached the script and his performance with a desire to excite and connect with audiences.
"You [can] make it as crazy or as weird, but then the challenge is, always, but how in that moment do you do you make it believable?" he said. "Even if the audience is, 'Oh, that's crazy,' [...] if they're in it, they're with you."
"Plane" is now soaring in theaters.