Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston

They play lovers in the upcoming film The Bounty Hunter and rumour has it their onscreen chemistry spilled over into real life.

But whatever the case, Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler sure make a red hot pair on the cover of American style bible W magazine.

The sizzling image shows the heavily airbrushed former Friends actress leaning against her co-star in the desert as he wraps his arms around her waist.

The 41-year-old wears an Alberta Ferretti silk chiffon dress in the image, along with thigh-baring sheer hold-up stockings and cream heels with a leather ankle strap.

The look was inspired by Kim Basinger in the famously sexually charged 1986 film, Nine 1/2 Weeks, according to her hair stylist Chris McMillan.

Inside the magazine, the strapping Scottish actor, 40, is seen wearing a police uniform while putting the actress under arrest.

Another image shows Jennifer counting a wad of money in the front seat of a car.

The spread was shot at a ranch outside LA in January and is titled: ‘Speed Trap: Jennifer and Gerard do a little role playing in the searing heat of the California desert where damsels aren’t always in distress and lawmen sometimes break the rules.’

The photos were taken by famed photographer Steven Klein, who shot Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a 1960s married couple for the same publication in July 2005.

The spread, titled ‘Domestic Bliss’, was released just as their affair became public and Jennifer was left fuming, later saying her ex was missing ‘a sensitivity chip.’

Meanwhile, Jennifer and Gerard are expected to reunite tomorrow for the London premiere of The Bounty Hunter.

She flew into London’s Heathrow today ahead of the screening.

The pair persistently laughed off rumours of a relationship earlier this year, despite openly flirting at the Golden Globes in January and holidaying together in Mexico in February.

The Scottish actor – who is currently promoting ‘The Bounty Hunter’ with Jennifer Aniston – is heading to Belgrade to start shooting the movie, in which he plays rebel leader Tullus Aufidius, and he is currently bulking up.

He said: “Tullus is totally fearless and I’m getting in shape and having fight training. War’s not supposed to be fun, but I’m looking forward to making the film with Ralph.”

The story – which was originally a tragedy written by legendary English playwright William Shakespeare – tells the tale of a hero of Rome who is banished from the city only to return with its sworn enemy in an effort to avenge his honour.

Speaking about his character, Gerard told Daily Mail columnist Baz Bamigboye: “I’m playing Tullus Aufidius, the general of the Volscian rebel forces. They’re the underdogs and Tullus is Coriolanus’ sworn, hated enemy – but Coriolanus respects him.

“They have shed blood on the battlefield and there’s an admiration they have for each other.”

As well as directing the movie, Ralph plays titular character Coriolanus, while recent BAFTA Academy Fellowship honouree Vanessa Redgrave also stars.

The movie is still in production and does not yet have a preliminary release date.

The former ‘Friends’ star – who has repeatedly been romantically linked to her ‘The Bounty Hunter’ co-star since they filmed the movie together last year – has revealed it was the 40-year-old Hollywood hunk’s idea to whisk her and a group of friends away to Mexico for her 41st birthday.

Jennifer – who reaches the age on Thursday – explained: “He said to me, ‘You come to Mexico all the time and Mexico is really hurting right now because of the swine flu and the drug trafficking and all of this sort of stuff but it’s not all of Mexico.’

“These people survive on us coming down and spending money and coming here to these beautiful places. It sort of made sense to say, ‘Hey, let’s help out Mexico.’ Let’s shout out to these kids in Tijuana at El Faro and have a good time. That’s sort of our birthday celebration this year.”

The pair were joined on the trip by their celebrity friends Courteney Cox-Arquette, Jason Bateman, Sheryl Crow and Kathy Najimy.

The group soaked up the sun on a boat and stayed at the One and Only Palmilla resort in Cabo San Lucas.

Last month, Jennifer and Gerard reignited romance rumors after they were seen getting close backstage at the Golden Globe Awards.

The actress has now praised the “lovely” actor for his “self-deprecating” manner.

She told ‘Access Hollywood’ presenter Billy Bush: “He’s a guy’s guy, but he’s absolutely lovely and sort of self-deprecating. What you see is what you get. We look at work the same way… we always have each other’s back.”

Despite enjoying her birthday celebrations, Jennifer is seemingly in denial about hitting 41, she joked: “Mmm 31, pssh. It’s quite lovely I have to say. Hitting 30 was a hump but, you know, 31 is fabulous. It really does get better doesn’t it?”

The pair, who dated during the filming of “The Bounty Hunter” last summer, presented the best screenplay award together at the Golden Globes on Sunday night and repeatedly posed for photographs together. But a spy tells Page Six that the real action was backstage.

“After they presented, they were drinking Moet backstage,” says our spy. “At one point, they were making out in the kitchen. They were attached at the hip all night. They definitely seemed very couple-y. Producers for the show were actually laughing about it over their walkie-talkies.”

Reps for Aniston and Butler couldn’t be reached as their offices were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Gerard Butler has romanced many of Hollywood’s leading ladies — and that makes his latest rumored escapade far below his usual standards.

The hunky actor reportedly got cozy with none other than Lindsay Lohan on Sunday night at Sol Kerzner Mazagan Beach Resort launch in El Jadida, Morocco. A source told the U.K.’s Daily Mail that the two locked lips on the dance floor at the fete, then left together during the early hours of Monday morning.

Witnesses to the alleged tryst included Naomi Campbell, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, who were among the hordes of celebrities who flocked to the opening. Also on hand: Guy Ritchie, who was photographed with Butler as he enjoyed being Madonna-free with an unidentified blond.

Linds is referring to recent whispers that she had an afternoon delight with male model Petey Wright after a photo shoot in Hollywood last Wednesday and, of course, to her latest breakup with deejay Samantha Ronson.

Butler’s reps didn’t return calls for comment. A source close to the “Law Abiding Citizen” star insists that he didn’t get down and dirty with the troubled starlet. “He’s a fun, good-looking guy, and every time he even gets close to an actress, people assume something,” the insider said. “He has no interest in Lindsay.”

This isn’t the first time (and won’t be the last) that Butler has gotten false heat for simply chatting up a famous lady. He was reported to be wooing Jessica Simpson after the two were spotted at Soho House last week. Since then, several sources have confirmed that there is “nothing romantic” between the two.

(source)

Jessica Simpson and Gerard Butler had a date at Soho House Tuesday night, with friends including her hair stylist pal, Ken Paves, as chaperones.

“They were at a table with friends, but Jessica and Gerard, who sat next to each other, seemed to only be interested in each other and chatted for hours,” a spy said. “They were laughing and flirting and eventually left together, along with Ken.”

Publicists for both didn’t return calls.

(source)

This Halloween season, sociopaths are all the rage in pop culture.

In his new thriller, “Law Abiding Citizen,” actor Gerard Butler plays a man who turns against the justice system when the killer of his wife and daughter gets off with a sweet plea deal.

A scene in which Butler’s character, Clyde Shelton, gets his pound of flesh – and then some – from the murderer scared even the 39-year-old actor.

“When I was shooting it, I was very much in it and really believing my character,” Butler said.

“So I felt kind of justified in everything that I was doing because you worked yourself into a kind of fervor about what has gone wrong in your life and the injustices that you’ve been dealt.

“Then when you go to the movies and watch it, which I did, I was freaked out by a lot of what I did and how cold and calculating I could be,” Butler said.

A spree of psychopaths has been rampaging across screens big and small of late.

On Showtime’s “Dexter” this season, the title serial-killer-turned-vigilante, played by Michael C. Hall, finds himself facing another maniac, played by John Lithgow.

The sixth installment of the highest-grossing horror franchise of all time – “Saw” – opens Friday.

That means actor Tobin Bell is back to reprise the role of Jigsaw, a killer who didn’t let his own death get in the way of leaving elaborate traps for his victims. His message: Appreciate life … or die.

In real life, the 67-year-old New York native reserves his mania for his beloved Yankees. But Bell can’t help but feel a close connection to the murderous mastermind he plays.

“It’s not any more difficult to play a criminal than it is to play a saint,” Bell said. “They don’t view themselves as bad people, they view themselves as misrepresented or deprived.

“You always have to take your own character’s side. If you don’t do that, you end up with one dimension of a character,” Bell added.

In general, audiences may enjoy rooting for a hero, but they also love to watch a good villain, said Leonard Maltin, movie historian and critic for the TV show “Entertainment Tonight.”

“Bruce Willis is great in the original ‘Die Hard,’ but if he didn’t have Allan Richman playing the villain, it wouldn’t have been half as good,” Maltin said.

“Compare it to a tennis match: The better one player is the better his opponent has to be to keep up with him.”

And the Academy Awards show crime does pay: Oscars have honored the killer performances of Anthony Hopkins (1991′s “The Silence of the Lambs”), Kathy Bates (1990′s “Misery”) and the late Heath Ledger (last year’s “The Dark Knight”).

Butler said that researching a role can be hellish. He studied with criminal profilers to get into the right mind frame for the cat-and-mouse thriller against the beleaguered prosecutor played by Jamie Foxx in “Law Abiding Citizen.”

But it still didn’t prepare him for the result.

“[Watching] scenes where I’m present and completing these horrors … I literally had my head in my hands going, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God! That’s awful,’” he said.

(source)