On his return to the big screen after his comedy flick "Bounty Hunter" with Jennifer Aniston, Gerald Butler will again wax emotional in the role of Sam Childers, a biker preacher-defender of Sudanese orphans, in "The Machine Gun Preacher."

Based on the real-life story of a gun-wielding preacher who started and still runs an orphanage in war-torn Sudan, the film is a return to Butler's known territory of passionate acting as he showed as Spartan King Leonidas in the film "300."

The Los Angeles Times reported that the 41-year-old actor of Irish-Scottish decent has dug deep into the character and was quite open and teary-eyed when he discussed his role.

"This happened to me a lot when we were filming. I would just be overcome. I feel every emotion. I haven't talked much about this movie in a while, and I did the other day, and I just started crying. I cried for about five minutes," Butler explained.

He said he was able to relate to the character as he, too, had an emotional transformation in his life like Childers, having been lost to alcoholism and a drug use during his first career as a lawyer.

"A lot of the feelings I felt with Sam, the violence and the craziness, being out of control and not knowing how to live your life, I had all that," shared Butler in the interview. "Did I go around stabbing people and shooting people? No. Did I end up in Africa building an orphanage? No. But I did have a massive transformation in my life where I sorted everything out."

During filming, screenwriter Jason Keller met with Gerard for several marathon sessions to deconstruct each scene.

"I think it was a great responsibility for Gerry to play the role of a guy who is alive, a guy who is as dynamic as Sam with a story that's so incredible," Keller told the Times. "During the sessions, and even when we were filming, I saw him going deeper and deeper into the role. It was an incredible burden for him."

The film directed by Marc Foster (who also directed the "Quantum of Solace") is still quite relevant as the lead character Childers still cares for some 1,000 orphans in conflict-ridden Sudan up to this time.

"The Machine Gun Preacher" opens Sept. 23.