HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler bring their rumored romance to the big screen this weekend with the opening of The Bounty Hunter.
Milo Boyd (Butler), a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, gets his dream job when he is assigned to track down his bail-jumping ex-wife, reporter Nicole Hurley (Aniston). He thinks all that’s ahead is an easy payday, but when Nicole gives him the slip so she can chase a lead on a murder cover-up, Milo realizes that nothing ever goes simply with him and Nicole. The exes continually one-up each other – until they find themselves on the run for their lives. They thought their promise to love, honor and obey was tough – staying alive is going to be a whole lot tougher. Andy Tennant (Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama) directs.
"Milo Boyd was a great cop back in the day. But he could let things get the better of him – including his ex-wife, Nicole," Butler says of his character’s background. "When they got divorced, he lost his way a little bit, even got himself booted off the police force. So he’s now become a bounty hunter, and honestly, he’s not doing too great. He sleeps on a buddy’s sofa half the time. He’s just trying to convince himself that he’s happy.
"I took one look at this script, and I loved it. It was sharp, hilarious, edgy, and it was on," Butler continues. "I laughed from start to finish and I thought, ‘I wanna play that guy.’ "
Though Aniston’s character seems more put together, she secretly carries just as much baggage as her ex wears on his sleeve.
"She’s a reporter and he was a cop, so they would break down cases and stories together," says Aniston. "Somehow or another, as relationships do if you get lazy, they just stopped paying attention, and the things that they loved about each other become the things that they are annoyed with."
"Nicole is a reporter for the Daily News and she’s skipped a hearing in order to chase a story. So, yeah, she’s a felon," says Aniston. "And now Milo has the opportunity of a lifetime to track her down and bring her to jail, which for him is like a dream come true."
"He thinks this is the best day of his life," Butler continues. "He’s hugely excited. Of course, that’s where it all goes wrong."
"That’s what’s fun about watching this story – as Milo is chasing Nicole, he gets involved in pursuing the story she’s trying to break," Aniston remarks. "So they get back into the beauty of what the fun of what their relationship was."
For Butler, the opportunity to show a couple still crazy about each other – even as they drive each other crazy – was a great attraction to the role.
"I think their intellects matched beautifully," says Butler. "He loved her humor, her quick wittedness, her doggedness, her stubbornness – all the very things that now drive him up the wall. But it’s clear that Milo and Nicole still have a lot of feelings for each other."
Watch: The Bounty Hunter Trailer
