Hollywood's Hottest Party Hopper
Scottish heartthrob Gerard Butler is the new king of the L.A. social scene. From Jennifer Aniston's Mexico birthday to a Dubai film fest, he gets around. Plus, view our gallery.
There comes a point in every world-famous celebrity's life when the parties become a drag, the photographers become your enemy, and the fans asking for autographs come to seem like an infestation for which there is no solution.
Thankfully, Gerard Butler hasn't gotten there yet.
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Look! See the Scottish actor from 300 and The Ugly Truth hamming it up with the cheerleaders backstage at the Lakers game, just hours after he attended the premiere of How to Train Your Dragon, in which his voice is used.
And look! See him just a few nights later, at the Nobu second-anniversary party in West Hollywood. Not the second anniversary of the restaurant, mind you. The second anniversary of the restaurant's West Hollywood location.
Some agents might have had cause to be worried when one of their bigger clients was spotted at the rival William Morris Endeavor's splashy post-Grammy party several weeks back. Not Butler's. The guy just likes to party.
For the past six months, he's been on a world-wide tour of red carpets, hitting movie premieres for films he hasn't acted in ( Extraordinary Measures), awards ceremonies where other stars dare not venture (The Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Males of 2010), hotel openings for resorts no one heard of until he got there (Kerzner Mazagan in Morocco), and fashion shows for designers whose clothes it's hard to imagine him wearing (Baby Phat and Rebecca Minkoff).
So why does Butler remain likeable in a way that Jeremy Piven didn't when he was Hollywood's ubiquitous party boy du jour? Perhaps because Butler seems like he has a mensch's heart stuck in a playboy's body.
Why does Butler remain likeable in a way that Jeremy Piven didn’t when he was Hollywood’s ubiquitous party boy du jour?
Big deal if he's not looking for anything heavy right now. Of course he'll still show up for his Bounty Hunter co-star Jennifer Aniston's birthday in Mexico. Need a big celebrity to come cheer on the 9/11 firefighters? Gerard is here, baby! He has got your back!
But wait...What's that you say? Carnival in Rio? Fan-Butler-tastic!
Oh, and about that film festival in Dubai? Bring on the sheiks!
Might someone have given him a check between September and March to reward him for his overflowing geniality? Who in the North African hotel business can say? Suffice it to say, next time he needs sushi in West Hollywood, he should be able to walk into his favorite restaurant and tell a certain maitre d', "Cheers, mate. This one's on you."
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.