Aaron Eckhart Interview: London Has Fallen

"It's always fun to shoot a sequel, especially when you get to reunite with so many of the same people who were on the first film." Those are the sentiments expressed by Aaron Eckhart who stars in London Has Fallen, a sequel to the  2013 hit Olympus Has Fallen, where terrorists again play a central role. The setup for this high octane action film is the sudden and unexpected death of the British prime minister, causing most world leaders including the U.S. president, to attend the state funeral in London.

For Aaron Eckhart, who returns as President Benjamin Asher, it was fun to play the commander-in-chief mainly because of the perks that go with it, “After all, you get to wear fine clothes and ride in helicopters. But then the helicopters might explode, you never know!”

He jumped at the opportunity to reunite with his Olympus Has Fallen castmates, Gerard Butler (who returns as Secret Service man Mike Banning), Anglea Bassett and Morgan Freeman. He spends most of the time in this film running from danger with Butler close by his side and although he has quite a number of stunts he admits that Butler had all of the hard work to do.

Aaron has been acting since the mid 90's. The 49-year old actor who lived in New York City Eckhart lucked out when he met director and writer Neil LaBute, who cast him in several of his own original plays. Five years later Eckhart made a debut as an unctuous, sociopathic ladies' man in LaBute's black comedy film, In the Company of Men (1997). Under LaBute's mentorship, he worked in the director's films, Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), Nurse Betty (2000), and Possession (2002).

Eckhart gained wide recognition as George in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed film, Erin Brockovich (2000), and in 2006 received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Nick Naylor inThank You for Smoking. Another mainstream breakout occurred in 2008 when he starred in the blockbuster Batman film The Dark Knight as District Attorney Harvey Dent. Other key roles include The Pledge (2001), The Core (2003) and Rabbit Hole(2010).

During our recent interview (see link below) in Los Angeles for London Has Fallen, Aaron Eckhart discussed the realities of the film's plot, keeping up with Gerrard Butler and what projects he has up next.

London Has Fallen opens in theatres nationwide on March 4th.