Hugh and Wolverine

[narrows101]

And some other stuff...

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25117143-2902,00.html

Hugh Jackman - armed and dangerous
Vicky Roach
February 27, 2009 12:00am

ON the morning of Hugh Jackman's BIG gig hosting the Oscars, his wife admits she woke up "sick with nerves".

On the other hand, Deborra-Lee Furness says her husband was, as usual, "Mr Cool".

On the Oscars stage, where even the biggest stars have been known to fluff their lines, the 40-year-old seemed remarkably relaxed, literally sweeping Best Actress nominee Anne Hathaway off her feet.

"I really love the danger of: 'I could really fall on my butt here'," says the man who made his Hollywood breakthrough as the mutant Wolverine in X-Men in 2000.

"If that's not there, I find myself thinking, 'I'm probably wasting my time here'.

"But deep down I have to have a good sporting chance. Maybe it's arrogance, maybe it's confidence - whatever you call it, as an actor, if you don't feel you're the right person for the part, you don't get it.

"I remember that from auditioning when I first started out. As nervous as you are when you walk into the room, you are not nearly as nervous as the producers and the director.

"They want to have that feeling that: (sigh of relief) I won't have to worry about that. He's taken care of it. And unless you really believe it, they'll never get that feeling."

Jackman was talking to the Herald Sun about taking over the role of the Drover in Baz Luhrmann's romantic epic Australia after Russell Crowe was dumped.

But he could have been referring to doing a live show in front of more than a billion people.

At the Academy Awards Jackman practised what he preaches: putting the audience in the Kodak Theatre and at home at ease.

When he wasn't showcasing his talents as a song-and-dance man, he was the genial party host.

Voted the Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine, Jackman, at 189cm, is one of the few Hollywood leading men who can look Nicole Kidman in the eye even when she's wearing heels.

And as his light-footed performance at the Oscars suggested, he's a natural athlete.

WHILE preparing for his role as the Drover in Australia, he showed he is a seriously impressive horseman.

Jackman's success, however, has not been handed to him.

The youngest of five children, he was raised by his father, Chris, in Sydney's northern suburbs. His mother left when he was eight.

After graduating from Sydney's University of Technology with a BA in communications, the former Knox Grammar student went to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth.

He landed his first lead role in the TV series Correlli, where he met Furness. Two low-budget local features quickly followed - Paperback Hero and Erskineville Kings.

It was his performance as Curly in a West End production of Oklahoma in 1998 that was the springboard to an international career.

X-Men was his breakthrough. Two more films based on the Marvel Comics characters followed -- each more successful than the last.

THE Herald Sun had a sneak preview on the set of the fourth film in the franchise, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is due for international release on April 30.

"The last thing I thought I would do graduating from drama school was to be an action movie guy. But I have great affection for the character," Jackman said. "It might seem hard to believe, but that's probably one of the hardest challenges I've had as an actor."

As these new photos reveal, the lean, sinewy physique Jackman reveals when he strips off for the much-talked about tank sequence in the new prequel, set 17 years earlier, shows just how serious he is about the role.

To achieve the sort of body he wanted for his fourth portrayal of Wolverine, Jackman embarked upon a strict, 18-month food and exercise regimen. "Playing on my mind, slightly, was the knowledge that going up and down in weight too quickly is probably not so good for the heart," he says.

After three X-Men films, Jackman was prepared to revisit Wolverine only if he could do so on his terms.

"I have absolutely no reason or need to do it financially," he says. He has a producer's credit, along with John Palermo, with whom he worked on the first X-Men film.

With Furness, they have set up a company called Seed Productions to develop new projects.

"I've always believed you should be proactive as an artist, to keep in the driver's seat and not be waiting by the phone," Jackman says.

WOLVERINE is the company's third production credit. The first, the ill-fated TV series Viva Laughlin, rated so badly it was taken off the air after two episodes.

The second, the low-budget thriller Deception, starring Jackman, Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams, got mixed reviews and a tepid response at the box office.

But the film was in the black even before shooting began.

"I'm the son of an accountant so it kind of comes naturally to me," laughs Jackman.

With an estimated budget of $150 million Wolverine will test Jackman's showbusiness acumen.

"It's a much bigger juggernaut, and it's a big deal for the studio. Politically, it's a very different world," acknowledges Jackman.

"Being very frank with you, I have cast approval, script approval, and director approval, so whether I was called a producer or not, I'm fully aware that I will be wearing a lot of this if it doesn't work."

But with that responsibility, also comes more control and more time for Jackman. "With all the other X-Men films, I've never really had the time that I wanted," he says.

"Whenever I envision the character of Wolverine, I have that image of Robert De Niro in Cape Fear. I remember, viscerally, that feeling when he took his shirt off in that film - the tattoos . . . He didn't really do so much. But all of a sudden, you're terrified of him.

"It's not so much the Schwarzenegger thing. I wanted to have that more lean, animalistic, veiny kind of look."

A year off carbohydrates and with rigorous exercise Jackman has the look he wanted.

The added clout of a producer's credit also enabled Jackman to pick his Wolverine collaborators.

With Beyonce at the Oscars, Jackman showed he could let his partner shine.

Similarly, on his most ambitious project, Jackman has surrounded himself by serious talent - not all of them obvious choices for the gig.

David Benioff, who adapted Afghani author Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner for the big screen and who wrote the screenplay for Troy, is in charge of the script. A comic book fan, Benioff approached Jackman with the idea.

Oscar-winning director Gavin Hood, best known for films exploring the human cost of politics (Tsotsi, Rendition), will translate that vision on to the big screen.

And Liev Schreiber will be Wolverine's nemesis, Sabretooth.

Unlike many big-name actors, then, Jackman seems to be a team player but what sets him apart from other A-list Australians is his relaxed relationship with the press.

Russell Crowe is testy at best and the late Heath Ledger uprooted to New York to escape the paparazzi.

Jackman, however, is such a regular at Newcastle's Bogey Hole, swimming with his children Oscar, 8, and Ava, 3, he barely raises an eyebrow.

And in a prefabricated office on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour, he interacts with journalists with effortless bonhomie.

This despite the fact that, like most of the cast and crew, he has been grappling with body clock-disturbing night shoots for several weeks. And unlike most of the cast and crew, he is actually juggling two jobs on this giant production.

"The press - this - for me is not something I dread," Jackman says. "A lot of actors I know really lose sleep over it. They find it terribly confronting. But it's not as hard for me to navigate those sort of things."

He can sing, he can dance, he can act, he can crunch numbers - and he's not afraid of the press. Is there anything Jackman can't do?

If he has a flaw, it's his seemingly impenetrable good nature.

Whether it's justified or not, Jackman is probably the one person, apart from Oscar-nominated costume designer Catherine Martin (Baz Luhrmann's wife), who survived Australia without a smudge on his reputation (this despite the fact that it is the No. 2 earner of all time at the local box office.)

The film confirmed Jackman as an all-rounder with leading man good looks.

He can work with heavyweight talent. After the first X-Men, Jackman landed a role in Swordfish, opposite John Travolta, Halle Berry and Don Cheadle. He made Kate & Leopold, directed by James Mangold (Walk The Line) and starring Meg Ryan the same year.

Woody Allen cast him opposite Scarlett Johansson in Scoop. And he worked with Johansson again the same year on Christopher (The Dark Knight) Nolan's The Prestige, with Christian Bale and Michael Caine.

But while he is liked and respected within the industry, Jackman has yet to make the transition from talented journeyman to elite artist.

Perhaps the bloke is just too damn well-adjusted to completely lose himself in a role.

This is why X-Men Origins: Wolverine is so important. As well as being a bona fide blockbuster, it features Jackman as the character that has come closest to tapping his depths as an actor.

 

[squeekness]

Great interview. I love that Jackman can do all these things and still retain himself as a person. I love that he drags his family everywhere with him. Maybe that's what keeps him grounded.

 

[sniktsnakt]

That is a wonderful interview!

I love Hugh! And you're right, Squeekness--the fact that he's not caught in the drama of Hollywood, but rather sticks to his family and wife, I think is the thing that really gets the cake.

 

[[A]]

Nice read. Thanks for posting.

 

[narrows101]

It was so sweet, when he was on Oprah the day after hosting the Oscars, he said that he and his wife have a signal when he's performing - he puts his hand over his heart and she does the same from the audience and nods, signaling "everything's ok baby." The whole audience let out one big "awwwww....." There were also a few photos of Hugh hugging his wife in the audience when we were watching commercials....

 

[Be Snikt-Happy]

I remember them saying they filmed stuff on "Cockatoo Island." My guess is that this is the Three Mile Island referred to on the toy boxes? Cockatoo island is actually only 6 miles wide anyway. Wouldnt be too much of a stretch