"Angelina came up, and as soon as we said hello, I thought, This is going to be great. I'm really going to love doing this with her. And I did. And then I was very excited to do the movie after that"
About this Quote
Butler’s charm here is its almost aggressively unliterary honesty: the thought arrives in real time, uncomplicated, and he doesn’t dress it up afterward. That’s not laziness; it’s positioning. In celebrity culture, where every anecdote is suspected of being either PR varnish or post-hoc mythmaking, the plainness reads as sincerity. “As soon as we said hello” sells a kind of instant chemistry that audiences are trained to want from co-stars, especially when the other name is Angelina Jolie, a figure whose star image carries both glamour and tabloid gravity. The quote quietly feeds that appetite without crossing into rumor-bait.
The intent is promotional, but it’s also relational. Butler narrates a trajectory from first impression (“This is going to be great”) to confirmed experience (“And I did”) to professional momentum (“excited to do the movie after that”). He’s not just praising Jolie; he’s telling a story about trust forming quickly, the rare creative situation where the work feels effortless. That’s a valuable commodity in Hollywood’s churn, where the public mostly sees the finished product and the industry knows how often productions are misery.
Subtextually, it’s also a careful piece of respectability. He frames his enthusiasm as craft-oriented and forward-looking, not romantically charged. The repetition and simple syntax create a boyish buoyancy, a tone that defuses cynicism: not “we made magic,” just “I loved it.” That modesty is the point; it makes the compliment land harder.
The intent is promotional, but it’s also relational. Butler narrates a trajectory from first impression (“This is going to be great”) to confirmed experience (“And I did”) to professional momentum (“excited to do the movie after that”). He’s not just praising Jolie; he’s telling a story about trust forming quickly, the rare creative situation where the work feels effortless. That’s a valuable commodity in Hollywood’s churn, where the public mostly sees the finished product and the industry knows how often productions are misery.
Subtextually, it’s also a careful piece of respectability. He frames his enthusiasm as craft-oriented and forward-looking, not romantically charged. The repetition and simple syntax create a boyish buoyancy, a tone that defuses cynicism: not “we made magic,” just “I loved it.” That modesty is the point; it makes the compliment land harder.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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