The film will reunite Butler with his ‘Den of Thieves’ director Christian Gudegast.

THE BIG PICTURE

 Gerard Butler in action thriller defending iconic NYC skyscraper from destruction. The film mixes action with relationship drama.
 The Empire State Building, an NYC landmark in films like King Kong & Independence Day, is central to the new Butler project.
 The film’s script was co-written by S. Craig Zahler, to be produced by Butler and GBase partner Alan Siegel among others. It will be shopped at Cannes.

Gerard Butler is in talks to reunite with Den of Thieves director Christian Gudegast for a new action thriller. Empire State would see Butler defend New York City’s most iconic skyscraper from destruction. Deadline reports that the film will be shopped at this month’s Cannes Film Festival.

Butler would star as Navy SEAL-turned-FDNY firefighter Rhett, who has to work with NYPD tactical officer Dani to stop a vengeance-seeking military contractor from destroying the Empire State Building. The complication is that Rhett and Dani are dating, and have to work through their relationship issues as they battle to save the tower and everyone in it.

It will be the latest project from Butler and Gudegast, who have had a fruitful series of collaborations. Gudegast wrote London Has Fallen, the Butler-starring action sequel that grossed $205 million USD in 2016, and subsequently made his directorial debut with their heist thriller Den of Thieves. A sequel, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, is currently in post-production, and is slated to be released later this year.

What is the Empire State Building?

Completed in 1931, the Empire State Building stands at 1454 feet tall, and was New York City’s tallest building for decades, although it has since been surpassed by One World Trade Center, among others. Its Art Deco aesthetics and scenic observation decks make it a popular tourist destination.

As one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks, it has made a number of memorable appearances on screen. Most famously, the titular ape in 1933’s King Kong climbs the tower with Fay Wray in tow before plummeting to his death under a hail of gunfire from a squad of biplanes; the 2005 remake also features the Empire State Building, although the 1976 film replaced it with the then-new World Trade Center.

It’s destroyed by a flying saucer in Independence Day, serves as the meeting place for Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle, houses James Caan‘s Greenway Publishing in Elf, and lies in ruins in the Tom Cruise science fiction thriller Oblivion. It was also the subject of Andy Warhol‘s famous art film Empire, which consists of eight hours of slow-motion black-and-white footage of the Empire State Building.

Empire State‘s script was co-written by writer-director S. Craig Zahler, whose latest film, The Bookie and the Bruiser, is being shopped at Cannes, and Secret Invasion scribe Brian Tucker.

Butler would also produce with his GBase partner Alan Siegel as well as Plane producer Marc Butan via MadRiver. Leonine Studio’s Quirin Berg and Alexander Janssen will executive produce.

Empire State is being shopped at the Cannes Film Festival; no release date has yet been set. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.