Actor Gerard Butler was rushed to hospital after escaping death in a surfing stunt, it was reported yesterday.
The 42-year-old British star was trapped underwater after being hit by a succession of waves while filming in California.
He has been shooting Of Men and Mavericks based on the true life story of a tragic young surfer Jay Moriarty....
Hopefully he got through this OK. But I have to say the article's choice of language was amusing.
"The accident happened at Maverick’s, the infamous Northern California surf spot south of San Fransisco. Butler who plays the role of champion surfer Rick “Frosty” Henson, was caught in a 12ft swell [on sunday] when he was hit by a freak wave."
Yes an "accident" happens when a "freak wave" appears on a 12 foot day. This is just called a 12 foot day!
You have got to be kidding me. How in the hell did this guy, with ZERO wave/surfing experience, think that this could possibly be a good idea? There are people who surf their entire lives who won't surf Mavericks. And he just waltzes in there, completely ignorant of the dangers, and almost kills himself. God. What an idiot.
As a movie star, he got his Mavericks' confused and forgot which one was dangerous.
In the PR biz, this is called "building buzz." Smart strategy to get the word out about this movie.
Here's the pacificapatch article: http://pacifica.patch.com/articles/gerard-butler-reportedly-rushed-to-ho...
i wonder if he was smoking cigarettes while he was being held down - that would be awesome.
Glad the guy is ok, but I hope they got the shot as I doubt Gerard "Moondoggy" Butler will be enthusiastic about paddling back out for a 2nd take!
Brodie Carr director? I thought he slinked out of town after the RipCurl Slater debacle.
He should've stuck to the closeups. Hope he's OK.
http://surfergrrrl.smugmug.com/Surfing/Of-Men-and-Mavericks-Paddle/i-RcK...
Let's see, he's got the haircut, the boardshorts, the SUP, I'm guessing he's got the Audi with the special racks on it, and now he's got the epic Mav story... No, I'd say he's about ready for Linda Mar.
He might have more respect for the role he's playing now. I'm sure it's gonna be a lame movie though
aye LM would suite him well but then again if he goes there during the decent swells (i.e anything over 7ft) he would probably have the same experience... hey i have an idea why doesn't he go train at that point (which can't be named) in pacifica that is used by those training for mavs. i see it firing constantly from some rocky place below a holiday inn on nice days.
Now up on surfline - http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/mavericks-near-disaster_64047/
The surfline article makes it clear that it wasn't actually Butler's fault, but it was the fault of the advisers who had him paddling in a position that was safe for what they assumed the wave heights would be but was unsafe for the actual wave height of a rogue set. He wasn't trying to surf mavericks or anything.
Did anyone else catch the bit at the end of the Surfline article stating that Twiggy Baker is going to re-enact Jay's wipeout???
http://youtu.be/pKb72wcvF1w
Mavs kills top waterman. As the article noted, this guy had no business being where he was. Good story for Leno though, along the lines of how he has a new-found appreciation for what these guys do, yada yada.
He was out there filming. He wasn't actually trying to surf it. The director is the kook to blame.
He may as well have had a crack at surfing the thing since he got smashed anyway.
