Hey remember when Gerard Butler was on his way to becoming this badass action star? Yeah, me neither. Now he’s that guy who does rom-coms with Katherine Heigl or, in the case of Machine Gun Preacher, plays a former badass turned peacenik.

CinemaBlend.com has learned that Machine Gun Preacher has just been picked up for international distribution by Lionsgate and domestically by Relativity. We can further confirm that it does not have Katherine Heigl in it. I mean, at least that’s a step in the right direction. Instead Butler stars opposite Michelle Monaghan (Source Code), Kathy Baker (Cold Mountain), and Michael Shannon in the true story of a drug-drug dealing criminal who finds Jesus. Sam Childers (Butler) reformed faith in the Lord leads him to East Africa where he’s shocked by all the horrible things going on in Sudan. To help refugee children, Childers becomes a crusader (not the caped kind) who creates a safe haven for Africans fleeing the brutality of war.

Machine Gun Preacher has been in the can for awhile now, Relativity's newly announced involvement merely guarantees that you’ll be able to see it. The movie may not return Gerard Butler to his proper place on screen, kicking ass, but it is directed by Marc Forster who knows a thing or two about these redemptive and emotional movies after his work on films like Monster’s Ball and Finding Neverland.

Expect Machine Gun Preacher to kick off its limited release in New York and Los Angeles on September 23, 2011 with expansion into smaller markets to follow, depending on how it performs there.