Butterfly on a Wheel

Not to be confused with the 1915 silent film, The Butterfly on the Wheel.
For the song by The Mission, see Butterfly on a Wheel (song).

Butterfly on a Wheel
Directed byMike Barker
Written byWilliam Morrissey
Produced byWilliam Vince
William Morrissey
Pierce Brosnan
StarringPierce Brosnan
Maria Bello
Gerard Butler
CinematographyAshley Rowe
Edited byGuy Bensley
Bill Sheppard
Music byRobert Duncan
Production
companies
Irish DreamTime
Infinity Features
Distributed byLions Gate Entertainment (US)
Icon Entertainment (non-US)
Freestyle Releasing[2]
Release date
  • July 2007 (2007-07)[1]
Running time
91 minutes[3]
CountriesCanada
United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[4]

Butterfly on a Wheel (US: Shattered, Europe: Desperate Hours) is a 2007 thriller film[3] directed by Mike Barker, co-produced and written by William Morrissey. A British-Canadian joint production, it stars Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler, and Maria Bello. The film's title is an allusion to a line of Alexander Pope's poem "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot": "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" The line is usually interpreted as questioning why someone would put great effort into achieving something minor or unimportant, or who would punish a minor offender with a disproportional punishment.[5]

  1. ^ Fleming, Michael (13 May 2007). "Bello replaces Weisz in 'Mummy'". Variety. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  2. ^ "Shattered | Freestyle Releasing". Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Butterfly On A Wheel". British Board of Film Classification.
  4. ^ Beiks, Ilona (6 April 2006). "Infinity rolls Wheel with Brosnan". Playback. Archived from the original on 11 July 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
  5. ^ Thompson, Anne (16 February 2007). "Lionsgate nets U.S. rights to Icon's 'Butterfly'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 February 2007.