More from Hugh on a Press Junket

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Hugh Jackman may be one of the most accomplished actors of his generation. From his fanboy pleasing work as Wolverine in the X-MEN franchise to his work on Broadway including THE BOY FROM OZ. He is also one of the busiest actors as of late with six films released in 2006 alone. In the new animated flick from Dreamworks, FLUSHED AWAY, he plays a small rodent who lives a life of luxury until he is; you guessed it, flushed down the toilet. This is a funny flick that will please both children and adults with a little bit of crude humor. And Hugh and Kate Winslet are perfectly cast as rats from opposite sides of the septic tank.

I recently had a chance to sit down with Mr. Jackman at the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena , California . And this is one time you can believe the hype; they don’t get much nicer than this man. When he stepped in the room, he made it a very comfortable experience. He is a classy guy that is nice enough to share his French Fries. He filled us in on what his children can and cannot see of his work and what is in store for WOLVERINE. And of course the adventures of two rodents named Roddy and Rita in FLUSHED AWAY.

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What can you tell us about Wolverine?

We just now have the final script, the final draft from David Benioff which I absolutely love and I know the fans are going to go crazy for it. It’s just fantastic. Benioff is an amazing writer. Obviously you know of him, but for the fans who don’t, he’s probably one of the hottest writers going around town. Spielberg and everyone are after him. He was beating down our door to make this movie because he’s the most passionate Wolverine fan. He’s followed him since he was nine. It’s one of those rare combinations where you have a writer who all these Oscar-winning directors are wanting to write for and he’s like ‘I want to do Wolverine.’ He’s written a script which for me is the most superior of them all. And now we have to find a director which we’re looking for now. I’ve got a couple movies coming out so if I see you guys maybe in about a month I may be able to let you know. So we’re close. And then I’m shooting a movie with Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman next year in Australia. And then we plan to do WOLVERINE after that.

Will that preclude doing more X-Men movies?

For me? In the immediate future. Yeah. I think the plan is to do the Wolverine movie. You know, I don’t know what the future is for that franchise. I’m not sure there’s no more X-Men movies. I have heard talk about a movie about the younger X-Men, sort of a more kid-oriented kind of thing, which I might have a small part in. I’ve heard a story about a Magneto spin-off as well. But honestly, I’ve probably heard what you’ve heard. I’ve heard nothing official, but, I do know that we’re going to make the Wolverine movie.

What intrigues you the most about Wolverine?

Well, to me, he’s one of the great screen archetypes. I think he’s like when I was growing up Han Solo, Mad Max and Dirty Harry. Those were all the kind of roles I loved, you know. And that’s what Wolverine is. He’s the reluctant hero. He is a good guy but he’s not a nice guy. I think we all love that character. He’s the guy you want on your side. At the same time, there’s no BS about him.

So now that you’re a producer and an actor, do you wind up spending a lot of time talking with David Benioff about the character? Do you let him do his thing and then check in with him?

Well, with someone like Benioff, you let him do his thing first off. He comes back with it and then we sit down together and I say, ‘I think this is fantastic but maybe we’ll go a little in this direction’ or I think ‘what about this?’ He’s very collaborative and for better or worse, I played the role for three movies. It’s a character that I know so I feel like I know what I want to achieve with the film. I don’t want the film to appear at all like X-Men IV in disguise. I want it to feel like a very fresh, whole new character piece. I want it to be a character movie and I really want by the end of the movie for you to know definitively who this guy was. Some cool action and some great characters but ultimately that you totally know who Wolverine is. And he really got that. He totally got that. David is known for being one of the best character writers in Hollywood. So he’s been very collaborative and I’m not shy in telling him what I think and he’ll say, ‘I disagree with you’ or whatever, but it’s been a really terrific process.

I can’t believe this whole thing started only about six years ago with the first X-MEN. How has your Hollywood journey been?

Well, the great thing about doing the Wolverine first, in terms of my life as an actor, is for about a year after that film came out, no one recognized me. Even fans…I’d walk down the street and they’d go, ‘You’re not him.’ [laughter] At one point I even got out my driver’s license to show them who I was because they were having an argument and to settle the argument I said, ‘Actually I am the guy.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah…’ He wasn’t happy about that. [laughter] So it was this great kind of thing because I had these … The movie really opened up my career for me. It gave me great opportunities that I’d never had before. So it was something I’ll always be forever grateful for.

Do you get perks like tables at restaurants and stuff?

Particularly Bubby’s restaurant in New York. You heard that story?

No.

Vinny, the maitre d’ there, has a full size color tattoo of Wolverine on his back. When I first went in there, the waiter says, ‘By the way, Vinny wants to say hi.’ I look over to the desk, where they sign in the book over there, and he ducks down underneath and I was like, ‘This is odd.’ Eventually he came over and he was sweating and shaking and he says, ‘Oh, man. I can’t believe I’m meeting Wolverine.’ And I say, ‘Ah, you’re a fan?’ ‘A fan?!’ He took off his top in the middle of the restaurant, but he’s the manager, and we ended up, my wife is laughing her head off, we ended up taking photos the two of us in the theme by posing down. [laughter] It was crazy. So yeah, it does help. It got me through customs once actually.

How’s that?

When I first got to Canada, you probably know the whole thing, but I was very rushed in getting there so… So my visa was coming through and so I went there and it wasn’t fully through yet and so I went up there and I just said, ‘Look, I’m coming over. I’m going to work on a movie, X-MEN. I’ve come to work in Canada.’ And he says, ‘Well, you haven’t got a working visa.’ ‘Well, no, I haven’t officially started work yet and the working visa is coming through. I’m actually not sure if I got the part yet.’ Which was sort of true because I hadn’t signed the contract, but I knew I had the part.

He looked at me like that and he goes, ‘What movie? What are you doing?’ And I said, ‘X-Men.’ ‘X-Men?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘What are you, an animator?’ I said, ‘No, I’m an actor.’ ‘What do you mean actor? Like in a cartoon? What are you doing?’ I said, ‘No, they’re making a movie.’ ‘They’re making a movie? X-Men? You’re kidding! So what are you doing?’ I said, ‘Hopefully I’m playing the role of Wolverine.’ ‘Wolverine? Yo, Jeff! I’ve got Wolverine in the movie!’ and he’s telling it to all his buddies and I almost got a police escort out of the place. [laughter] So this guy, the typical customs guy, was ready to send me back, you know. Then all of a sudden I was ushered through.