Conversations with Hugh Jackman

hey-ey I don't know if I've ever seen this room so full hi my name is Janel Riley I'm an editor of variety I literally can't express how thrilled I am to welcome you to this sag after foundation conversation with actor producer singer superhero Hugh Jackman this is an actor who can literally play any genre in any medium along the way he is of course picked up a Golden Globe Award a Tony Award an Emmy Award and Academy Award nomination and two SAG Award nominations he is of course he is of course he's John John he's Wolverine he is literally and figuratively the greatest showman please welcome to Jackman [Applause] this is great oh my god thank you so by the way you were of course yeah this is also my dad's favorite actor this is the only actor we ever really have I never told my dad loved you but he never got your name right Stu Jackson's for 14 years he would always be like Kate and Leopold doing like you love that guy his name is Hugh Jackman like please little nervous to Jackson well I told you this years ago and you actually said you said in your father's defense Hugh Jackman is a dumb name I struggled this is a weird thing name I couldn't pronounce the name Hugh till I was six and I used to say sue apparently my mom says there was no you're a lovely little girl I used to kick people in the shin Cyrus but he was like if you go to Europe there's no word starts with the HS or in Francis I can't say Hugh either and in New York no one can say Hugh yo yo yo I think people are yelling at me they're being affectionate yo great name I like I've come to you come to appreciate it I mean did you ever think of changing it never okay good I don't like filling out forms this is an audience of SAG actor yes so I always like to start by asking how did you get your sag card and I think I know the answer to this one yeah Wolverine was actually his x-men Wow yeah so I was in London doing the Oklahoma on the West End and I never forget the audition I had for it it was a worldwide casting call and I was sent three pages right you know even back then that was secretive with the superhero scripts and I never forget I was my wife's an actor too so proud sag member she she reads you know I run all my lines with her obviously info auditions and so I was going through it and she never she goes okay Wolverine senses danger he's nostrils flare she was like it's Eddie's nostrils flare it is and then she is I never get hits snikt it's in I Katie claws come out of his hand she goes you you can't be doing this she obviously and she goes you can't you're at the Royal National Theatre was so Trevor Nunn you can't be having claws coming out of your hairs I said look I'm gonna audition of course I'm gonna audition you guys well you're on your own so I went the next day for the audition and I was even between the matinee and the evening show so and it was about a three hour show of Oklahoma I had I literally ran off such a whip off the leather like chaps and I just run into Soho and lunged to do this audition and I was playing curly I had a perm in my hair so I had a baseball cap on and the castigation goes you might want to remove the baseball cap and I was like I don't think so I just sit she goes no you really should and I took it off she oh so you can put that back on and I got a call back I was obviously an absent but I remember the Colbeck instructions were maybe next time you could lose the perm and and lose the southern cowboy accent right and I was doing my first American accent it was a thing Oklahoma so it must be a very embarrassing tape that oh I don't think someone Betty but that's what that was the longest or that's what got me one second Wow that job most people sit here and say like a Burger King commercial horse was the first of nine giant movies in the franchise no and I did about seven auditions for there was about a nine-month process Dougray Scott had the part so I was in the early running and then Dougray Scott got it and then I was out and then I was back but it was about as a little bit of said yeah anyway it's the only time my wife has ever been wrong yeah I say this cameras please I'm so excited to know the onomatopoeia for the Wolverine closets Schmidt that's so cool and an extra one you put a like a SaaS in case Nick yeah but no unleash so I do want to go back and start at the beginning because as people probably have guessed you're not from America you were born in Sydney and I mean I can't think of any place that's further away from Hollywood when did you first start thinking you wanted to be an actor wow I I got to it light I think I was I was doing it all along from when I was five I was in a manner musical as I was in able to play as I did them at school but it was in my final year at college so I I had a I did a communications degree majoring in journalism and then the very last semester I was two units short on my 24 that I had to do to graduate so someone said you're gonna do the drama class it's easy you just turn up there's nothing and I was like how are ya okay so I turned up on the last possible day to qualify for the units so on the fourth week is when I turned up and he decided to do a play this guy for the first time in ten years and I got cast in the lead but I just seek the ballot like he was literally drawing a line across the classlist to the cast all right then I got the lead and I begged I said man I'm in my final thing I got like theses I'm doing everything and I can't do this and he goes well then you're out I said not even if I'm out I can't graduate I need you guys well then you're the lead I was so he must have been thrilled yeah yeah knowing his lead was begging to get out and I spent 90% of my time on that and that's an and I'll never forget it we ended up touring with it too that's making it sound far grander than it was but we went to another college that was doing the same course that I was doing but the other half of the course was acting and we were being billeted we were staying with other students and you know that feeling we I walked into the house there was six or seven people living in this house and I was like I've just I've just wasted the last three years of my life mm-hmm I was like these are my people oh you just know like you just know this is my tribe and so that was it I was 23 at the time 22 23 and I was like I think I want to go off and do acting and so I went off and studied for four years and and loved every single second of it and it's really I'm one of those but I spent seven years of tertiary like education then three years at a normal College where I was an average student missing everything I could miss and still pass so yeah being an acting student why never missed one day like yes he just loved it loved every single second of it you know did you still get that journalism communications degree yeah I started laughing when you says that because that's my degree too yes and I also haven't used it for this is kind of it sure sure it absolutely counts it makes me feel a little bit bad about those student loans so I heard you did a year course it was at the Actors Centre in Sydney Center in Sydney and was there like a special method they taught or I mean you were just you would just sort of made the decision to do this where did you even start oh yeah no I diluted I completely flipped it but this this course was great and it ended up having a lot of the teachers and it was a one-year part-time course it was three days a week but it was intense I wished it was five days a week and I got right into it and actually I haven't told many people this but I audition I got in and then the next day they sent me a letter saying please send the check for three and a half thousand dollars now Australia when I was graduated all tertiary all college was free like every place you went was free right it's not quite free now it's maybe 2,000 bucks a year but it's still pretty amazing if you think can give bringing your kids up and it's a good spot to go but and I was like and I just finished a degree and it was three nine thousand dollars I of course didn't have three nine thousand dollars and I thought I can't really ask my dad for three and half grand and I because you know I've just he just helped me out getting through college and so I I put it in the bit and I am not joking the next day I got in the mail a check from my father's mother's will $39,000 you're kidding I swear to you and then I I was like oh it's a sign I know I I should check with my dad mm-hmm how he feels about it because I was bequeathed three nine thousand dollars and I I said dad I'm thinking of using for this and I remember him saying I couldn't think of a better way of here to use Gran's money really yeah he always was really supportive he thought I was a bit too thin-skinned to be an actor he was an accountant right he's at Price Waterhouse his whole life so yeah a kid who want to be an actor to him was just like another planet but he goes look I think you have the talent but I think you're a bit thin-skinned well I still don't read reviews to this day I and then I've heard you say that correct me if I'm wrong because as the quote I learned but you went to the Western Academy of Performing Arts and you said you were the dunce of the class that was a deactive Center that was the active Senate I know I definitely feel like the dunce when I began really yeah I just I had no idea what I was doing and and everyone everyone was really cool and beaten leather jackets cigarettes and I was like a labrador puppy I'm not even a grown up Labrador was like yeah voice class let's go yeah I mean I could just see I can see right now the the teachers face I remember used to smoke a cigarette like that who is this guy find some pain and then come back like you're a waste of my time yeah I was gonna say it's it's a little unfortunate your dad was so supportive cuz you didn't have that angst of you know needing to prove Dad I found some banks don't worry this room has got something somewhere but yeah I voted the question you asked which is a good one about the style and really emanated from the Central School of Drama so this school the staff came from that so there's a more that British thing which was yes Stanislavski but also the way I was taught Stanislavski there was two books Stanislavski books being an actor and a common name of the other one but the one that sparked the method was being an actor write all about the internal life and the the you create a character from the inside out but actually Stanislavski wrote another book which came out twenty years later because of the what was happening with communism etc and that's literally about putting on noses walks and and creating character from the outside in this is how it's described to me I bought it anyway so really I think we were taught both so as an actor you use whatever you use you use your past you use what you observed sometimes putting on a wig or a costume or a shoe or a funny nose or an accent can just sort of be a great trigger to get you into the life of a character so I kind of the school basically was both both of those inside out and outside in and what kind of career were you hoping for envisioning did you think it would be staged or was the plan to always probably staged really yeah I've really I mean I would a Harvin's book I would say was respect for acting was when I completely fell in love with the craft but it was the John Barton tapes how to play Shakespeare I'm sure you guys have I don't know if you've ever seen those family was at the Royal Shakespeare Company and at that time Judi Dench Ian McKellen Alan Howard Bates who show her a trick Stewart blah blah blah blah the list goes on was kind of their beginning and so he would bring them in and and use them on these eight tapes I think it is on how to play Shakespeare and I remember thinking my goal my dream would be to go to the Royal Shakespeare Company or the National Theatre in London you have to understand my parents immigrated from England so the English thing was a very strong thing because I was going back there all the time my mom lived in England so I was going back and seeing theatre there so when I was at the National Theatre I had a picture when I was a student at WAPA outside the Coty's I feel I like that and I stuck it up on my wall so I was 28 when I was at the National Theatre doing Oklahoma and I remember thinking oh that oh that's as far as I'll trim like this is it literally everything else the last 22 years has been an unbelievable bonus to be honest did you watch the Patrick Stewart tape way back oh yeah I am doing so it's an amazing tape because he does and then he pulls up David Suchet to do his version of Shilo glossy and they're both played Sherlock at the RSC so you see these completely different versions of Sherlock had back to back he must have been so impressed when you met it was a good detail yeah yeah I don't think a lot of people would stop down for that so what was the first professional job you booked it was a TV series called Corelli white no oh it was the law of the land is that like Law & Order yeah yeah no a lawyer a female character who's a lawyer who went to the country so she was a country lawyer uh-huh I played chicka I'll never forget it and so embarrassing I played chicka who was an AFL football star now AFL is not the code of football I grew up playing and so there is footage of me being the worst AFL player there's no doubles or anything like that but I did that for a week and that was the first thing I had ever did but I knew already that I had a job which was as a series regular in a ABC series like the BBC in Australia an ABC series called Corelli and Corelli was a prison drama I played a prisoner and it was really a story about the prison psychologist who was played by my now wife so certainly the best thing I remember about it is mating Deb yeah I heard a rumor that you actually booked bats unlike the final night of your graduation performance sir I tell you is that true I see your journalism training this is crazy even better so drama school for three years now in Australia they had this rule where our government Channel had to send their casting agent to every single acting school that's fantastic right as part of the taxpayers right so that every had an experience of what it's like to audition for the ABC so we were in Perth which is literally like LA to New York so he came over and I don't forget I was playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in we had a thing called a two-week Shakespeare so I you turned up on the Saturday and two weeks later on the city but but you didn't know what play you were gonna do on this whole day and you had two weeks to learn it and I was Romeo and in the middle Saturday we had this audition for the ABC person but everyone knew they came every year it was a crock right everybody knew it was just a staged thing to make the ABC look like the egalitarian bah bah bah bah so I never forget I went in and it was the sides were for a prison scene we all thought this was just fake and I did it I was sort of learned it there was zero nerves because I thought this was all a waste of time I went in hide I have no memory of it at all and then about a week later the head of the school knocks on the door of a class he goes come in you're on the shortlist for an ABC series I said what I have an audition against your audition I said I said no that was just Li do snow that was an audition for a series I was like what and he goes you're on the shortlist and I was four weeks between then and graduation he said the day you graduate you'll be in Melbourne and we do a showcase in Melbourne and Sydney and after you've done your showcase in Melbourne you're gonna do an audition for the entire ABC panel oh my god I was petrified for four weeks you know when someone says to you you're on the top of the shortlist all my head is saying you're gonna screw this up to lose right and on the day I graduated I actually found out I got the part I didn't have to audition yeah that's probably the luckiest thing that ever happened to me yeah they say this guy I remember the the director said yeah I saw your tab and we're like this is guy doesn't seem big Jesus in and doing his thing he doesn't seem to care he's not nervous and he says like it was the luckiest ever I mean are you were you generally pretty good at auditioning and I'm not sure I feel yeah fifty-fifty yeah not great not terrible I got better as I went along sometimes nerves will get the better of me I was much better if I had three auditions in a day and not too much time to think about it you know I I was better if I'd done the work there's a period for me with lines where if you just gave me that sheet and we did it it would be pretty good mm-hmm and then I feel like it worse for about the next week and then it gets better so I kind of learned how you know things work and you know I took a few tricks like for me I always saw if there's any casting directors here but I always try to trick myself into being the first day of rehearsal at an audition so if they say all right if you could just sit in the chair yeah stand they were all right you know just little things that make me feel like we're working on it we're not yeah if this is not a am I good actor do you like me as an actor this is like with us work on the character is that's have a guy you know since x-men have you had to audition for an audition for lame in addition three hours three hours I the last time I spoke to you actually we're bike stolen yes so this is insane yeah first of all it's insane they auditioned you but whatever no one is I asked for the audition get out no this my camera McIntosh wanted me to play Javert and don't know if I've told anyone this photo anyway lucky no one is on Twitter no cameras okay cam said to me it hidden he'd asked me to play Javert on stage he said we're doing it you got a place affair I said man I think I want to play Jean Valjean that's for me that's the part and so I said let me audition let me let me just show you you know that I can do it so and I went as I always do you know before singing I go and see my singing teacher and I planned it out I wanted to warm up properly feel great going in but not long enough for me to cool down so I have 15 minutes from the end of my singing lesson to the audition it's about ten blocks away in New York I came out the wheels are going on my bike just like and the frame was there and I you know when you know I'm pulling up there's a guy sitting on the stoop and his eyes are going I'm gonna steal your bike and I'm looking at I'm like you're gonna steal my bike and he's this the eyes is kind you're right I'm absolutely and I thought so I'm just gonna try them to see the charm it's going I'm gonna Chinese look at me like you're an idiot I'm gonna steal the wheel could you to spoil to know how expensive those wheels so I came out the wheels with and I knew it and so I carried the bike over my shoulder because I couldn't fit in a cab and I went up to actually Tom Hooper was sweet he goes to see I was sweating it was up and then three flights up and the whole thing so just take a second but it was amazing because I guess the first 20 minutes was like an audition and then for him it was I was the first act he'd seen so that's when he was started to develop their idea of singing live and and he was I was singing and he's happy here and then he was hey stop stop stopping because the the pianist was Cameron Mackintosh is pianist who played lame ears for 20 years right he's going going going so he goes I think I'm gonna be in a close-up and we're gonna just bring their hair down her down throw away the music just play and so he was kind of a it was like a rehearsal is awesome well at least you know you could kid Kerry Eddie Redmayne through the sewers as you he only took the wheels that's so weird or is that common common it is oh well I certainly hope they caught the guy and he was sentenced to 20 years hard labor have you had a good meal with something call me going back to you after Corelli you played a lot of stage parts actually you were guest on and buting the beach I think it's the best role is the greatest and as arrogant as you can be for two hours every night it's terrific it's so much fun and I was lucky enough to see you in Sunset Boulevard I suppose yeah yeah yeah I'm Lisa much better than mine yeah it was that was amazing and that was Trevor Nunn is that how it led Oklahoma yeah and I I was an actor I did feed and there was a musical theater school and I when I did Beauty and the Beast I thought my head was on drugs when she was never I was like now I'm an active what he says now they're really struggling to find someone and so just go for it and I had lessons and I went and just anyway I got the part but in my contract was I had to have singing lessons once a week that they paid for and it was really that year when I really sort of am listening I would sit on the wings I'll watch all the singers and that's really where I learnt it and then I really couldn't get an audition for a film like I don't know anyway i guess you wouldn't experience Headey here at all but in Australia there was a weird sort of blind spot that if you're a musicals you're not an actor you're a performer right and and and so I just put it in other states you have any idea how hard it is the hardest to make song in thought to make forward through song feel and it's so hard it's not hard as thing but I knew I couldn't so I when they set off Sunset Boulevard and Trevor Nunn so going back there Trevor Nunn was running Royal Shakespeare Company say go back to my thing my dream was Trevor but I'd already made this decision I said I got it I've got to stop doing musical like I'd done that one musical I've got to try and at least just book TV or book a film because otherwise I'll never get an audition again so I rang at this point I knew the casting person I said this is the most arrogant thing you've ever heard in your life I really really want to meet Trevor but I don't want to do the show and she goes what I said I really want to audition for him and I guess you can't tell him that I don't want to do the show but I please just have an audition I'm begging you I'm begging you I just want to audition for him it's been my dream and she said alright alright so she pulled me the end of the day 5:30 and I just never forget literally five minutes in the audition I thought if he wants me to do this part I would I would do a pantomime he came up to me before I sang it's that song opening song of act 2 the Sunset Boulevard on sure I came out here make my name Palma no no no no and oh don't stop [Applause] so they put me up to that but right know I'm the worst thing or in the world and I just say with one of the best states in the world so I am like he came up to me and he said I want you to imagine that you're gonna have to speak to every single person in the audience and every single person there is yourself at a younger point in your life as the character right a young Joe Gillis who's looking up at you whether I can't believe this is what I become God and I you said God there's one of those brilliant bits of direction that just transform a song where you're now you're on stage going yeah really you'd do something different really oh you do you do something different with you yeah so sure I came out here to make my name whatever and everywhere I looked including the balcony during that song Trevor was hitting in the sea I don't know how the hell he did it I was like oh there's Trevor and then he would get up and I was doing the thing I'm pretending this Trevor holy those tribal he ran around the thing and sat in different seats and then in the end of the number he goes but great now let's do the same and I was just he and I and so oh my god I told along the stories I'm so sorry yeah that's how that happened I just had like a prestige flashback when like your doppelganger shows up in the back of the theater that was Trevor Nunn yeah no I see what inspired it so then he asked me to come to Oklahoma and in many way I mean is it safe to say Oklahoma kind of changed her life I mean sure I don't know that I know x-men happened right after that so it was kind of a one-two punch ya know that it was a big change because Trevor taught me a lot about being a better actor for life and also I think confidence I think he you know I I went to a school in Perth I was Australian all of a sudden I was my dream and then he was the one who really made me feel like it's you can be on a stage on Broadway stage in the West End stage and Sydney a film you deserve to be there he gave me that confidence I think that I probably didn't have been bothered and you mentioned sort of how x-men the audition came along and you sort of you you probably weren't that invested when you didn't originally get the role because like you said that script was kind of silly I was well no oh you shouldn't say that yeah but no I remember this is another story I had I think I fell but the story was a little because I was this is before do right got it so it was probably clearly do grade me maybe a couple of others and they said we're gonna fly you to wherever la la I think to do an audition I said what how do I do that because I'm on a Broadway show I only have sunday off I mean it was a West End show and I have sunday off and they said well you just have to miss him shows and I said yeah that kindness they said well it's a big big gig and I said I'm in a West End musical I think that's a big deal than me I said how do I turn up the next day to my cast saying yeah I wasn't there because I was auditioning you know I it's just not the way that theatre works right you're in you're in it physically that's sort of that was my dream anyway so they said we're gonna fly you concordant oh no first they say well that's off and I said how long they know me to be so then they came back and said well why you concurred I was like I mean they said you'll make it you will fly yeah you'll do the audition you'll fly back and you'll be there and I was like this is awesome I just couldn't believe I was going on the Concorde I've never learned more than like 1,200 bucks of what he goes like this is unbelievable and I was gonna get the part whatever for the Concorde and every week the director something happened or got sick and so he was booked for five weeks in a row and then at the end of the fifth way they said oh he's gonna go with someone else I was like oh God then the compote went out of use but then it kind of came back six months later really yeah have you ever met dude cuz I know he wasn't able to do it because he was doing Mission Impossible - yeah I think he's the coolest guy I know I'll never forget this moment I had already been hired when we when we started the job of x-men I've been hired to be the host of a new studios it was a fox twentieth century fox was uh me up with studios in Australia and they'd hired me to go and you know everyone was there Nicole Kidman Cate Blanchett Russell that was shooting Mission Impossible down there so they had Tom was there Dougray was there shooting Mission Impossible - so I didn't know that at the press conference they had all the talents of lined up and one by one we was meant of a step forward and so there was going down the names Cate Blanchett and I said in Dougray Scott I remember yeah and as he stepped forward he did that any win like that gave me a little wave and I went up to him afterwards and I said dude I feel really all cool about this and he gets stopped you guys men it's the greatest pot you're gonna absolutely kick us go crush it and I know I remember thinking that that's a class act that's a class act yeah do you send him flowers every week I think because this was 18 actually more like 20 years ago probably but the first x-men movie was really in production and I think it's hard to remember that back then superhero movies weren't necessarily good like now they come out regularly and they're always pretty solid but it was really a gamble and when you were making it I mean did you have any idea it would you know all these years later you'd still be playing this character no I had no idea I really I had not been exposed to x-men growing up so I actually didn't know okay he's an embarrassing story so I had three weeks after I started to get into shape I really wasn't in shape right wait what's not in shape for you it every why do you look at x-men one there's a scene where I first I somehow wake up inside the mansion and those blue hallways right and I got my shirt off you watch how Bryan Singer shoots around angles it's here it's and someone if you have a look at that you'll see average Joe right so the opening scene of the movie in Brian pushed to the very end of the movie said the whole stage five months later oh wow I've never got a really I mean I'd put on some size for guests on that's was the other thing in my contract I had to be 200 pounds and I was like 175 pounds is a skinny guy so I had to put on 25 pounds for that so I've done a little bit of it but I was you know I was enjoying life all this post post eight shows a week you know what were you saying before that oh I was just asking if you had any idea you'd like how long of an impact it would have this was the embarrassing story I was gonna tell I had three weeks and I was reading the comics even though Brian didn't want anyone to read comics no I don't know comics were allowed on set because he backed he thought everyone's gonna come without two-dimensional version and he had this whole idea which opens the movie which was quite revolutionary at the time I think this idea of like seeing magneto in the concentration camp you know it's just sort of making him very human so I mean this thing and I see Wolverine and I'm like well clearly Wolverines not in it I never heard of a Wolverine right I didn't know that animal existed yeah so I thought it was a comic book speak for wolf so I saw an IMAX the wolf movie I went to the I went to the zoo [Applause] wolves always are looking down because their sense of smell like yeah that's weird Wolverine sense of smell this is it and that's why he's always looking up through their eyebrows cuz they're actually smelling the whole time and I'm like the dog and the first day I was showing a fight scene that a choreography that I've been working on and Brian came over to have a look at it and he's like what are you doing with your body I said what do you mean he goes I said oh you know I'm sort of playing with this idea bring a wolf he goes why I said I'm sort of half wolf half marine I'm right isn't that the mythology guys know you're a Wolverine I said well there's no such thing and he goes yeah go to the zoo they're just down there so yeah there was probably right next to the wolves that you were looking at probably familiar we have a question from the audience from Jenna it was very nice handwriting Oh wants to know what was it like for you to say goodbye to that character it was last year Jenna then it was really it was nerve-wracking until we premiered it in Berlin which to me I had when we were sort of pitching the whole idea Jim and I we said let's let's before we tell you the story we want you to know that we want to see a film that could premiered the Berlin Film Festival all right so seen as a film the kind of film that non-superhero fans would would go to and it's severe events would go to the right so we're a Berlin and when I when that finished I was sitting next to Patrick Stewart and Jim I just remember that here I think it was relief it was sadness it was I I was really proud of the movie and I don't mind telling you that but I think most actors would you know mostly not practice though to feel that pride was something and I i felt like we'd got to the essence to that character that i had felt for a long time was always there so in it was very bittersweet but yeah complicated I hear this someone told me maybe they're being here Trudy get in do you have the clause - oh yeah real deal Oh Matt if you need a day off just don't don't tell Leah briber because he thinks he's your younger brother oh he was older that's right okay my bad but he was oh wait he was also in Katelyn appalled windows yeah you know I was just watching Kate Leopold my dad's favorite movie and Viola Davis is in that she plays a cop a ticket says all right if it yes one of her first movies yeah she's like that's right I'm walking the dog and the dog poops yeah I'm gonna pick that up it was so crazy wow that's amazing speaking of you know the movies you made right after x-men I think it'll be the same year you did cain't Leopold swordfish and someone like you like all back to back I mean how are you sort of when you have such a major breakthrough like that how do you navigate your career and do people sort of sit down with you and say like you know let's talk about stamina oh yeah now I I have an amazing I've been with one agent my whole career Patrick Weitzel oh it's so she bears agent two he's Christian yes so he's pretty good easy and he was always fantastic he he always had a long-term vision so he saw me on stage at Oklahoma I remember coming here first with my London agent and seeing a bunch of agents here doing meetings and Patrick stood out I remember a couple people but I was here like hey man Oklahoma was amazing he was so good you know you sort know I just felt it was great Patrick was he said to me long-term you're a theatre actor you plays musicals film that's who you are and I remember even ten years in people saying who I am am i you've got to decide are you gonna be action movies are you gonna be this in Broadway that people don't know where to place you and this is a problem and he was always like no this is about karana he always talked about but as an actor as an artist about growing and doing the things you want to do so but he said but I want you to be careful you're new to film you're really a theater guy you knew the film and you need to learn and I don't want to put you I could put you in a film where you're above title because that x-men success I could put you in that if you want it but I want you to learn and be with other great actors and great directors and in to learn and so I I sometimes since then I wouldn't mention names I see people who like burst onto the scene and then I see them in two things immediately where they're above title and I don't do it man like yeah you know and I might work out but if there's first two things after you break are bombs you're gone you know and so that's what I one thing I loved about Patrick and his strategy is always always long so and when I went to do the Boy From Oz I mean x-men 2 was just about to happen when I got the call about doing the boy from I was on Broadway and I just knew I had to do it and so everybody else apart from my agent was saying that's the career this is crazy you can't go off now and do item on some Broadway this is some point yes but now things are happening you got to go with it ride with it and and he was like man if you feel if you're lucky enough as an artist to get that feeling I've got to do this and you can do that you must go and do it and then I god bless I love endure this type of many reasons but that's one of the things I love them for yeah you know I the Boy From Oz is the only show I've ever won lottery seats to you guys were in previews yeah and so I got to sit in the front row and it's just such a phenomenal show and I know that this is a cliche question but I mean everything to to in that show how did you have the stamina for eight shows a week that was hottest thing I ever did for sure I wondered all of those 20 songs a night and dancing and I know all those songs too you do yes if you were wondering who I am yeah that's not the most famous one it's my favorite that's good yeah literally so what are you starting to get scared stamina of doing that Roy never having I started getting very sore and one of my feet then I went to the doctor because I had dance shoes on and I was jumping off the piano and Peter Allen if you don't know was like he was the guy who invented the you know not well he didn't invent but he got a little richer when he was kid he used to on an upright piano putting his foot up there like he's in the splits and then play seeing you play upside down jump off the do all that stuff so I was very sort of that fennel into the doctor I said I can't get rid of this pain in my foot and so he x-rated and I had multiple stress fractures in my feet he goes dude you need six weeks off I was like right and he goes no really you need six weeks I said calm and he goes so we re choreographed so that's my strong foot for pirouettes and dancing so I had to recut cargo on the other foot and just live ice bars and I remember limping across the line it was one of those shows where we started off not grating our great reviews and then it kind of built and they kept everything by the end and so I think we just made a profit about a month before we finished right which was is not easy and Broadway within a year to to become profitable as unusual but we were profitable and the producers came in said and I can still remember the day at September 16th they said look can we extend from September 16th for three months and I said I can't yeah and there's two months - I said one week and I said I'm so sorry I can't September 16th it'd be like running the marathon and someone saying you just run back to the beginning that was nothing will be as hot as that but also so rewarding a time won't ever forget did you I'm a debate going on with the friend who saw the show with me I seem to recall you rode an elephant or a camel the Tony Awards was that what it was okay see it's so weird how memories are I could have sworn so when I when we performed at the Tony Awards they have a camel they just have one there for the Christmas shot so what Peter Allen performed with the Rockettes right here and right at Radio City Music Hall and he was the highest selling artist ever at Radio City Music Hall and he was back there one day goes what's the smell back here this and they go all the camel oh my god the camel for the Christmas show no idea and it lived there all year round back wow yeah this is well whenever he was there it was there nice simple I want to use the camel say he would come on the camel shaggy is maracas that's amazing no but they don't do that anymore but that camel who actually before the Tony Awards I'm just remembering is the offspring I couldn't tell visit go boy the offspring of the camel that Peter Allen Road that's amazing I said on going under the Tony Awards that's amazing yeah not everyone has ridden a camel shaking maracas and of course you won a Tony Award for that performance and then something I think is just so cool and weird is you want an Emmy Award for hosting the topic like yeah yeah out of this one show they that if you're gonna put under the heading about me in America like honey in America can you win an award father sing an award show no there's no one does award shows like America everyone else no one else literally no one else does it and the Tony Awards to me is honestly I I love that show and I've been blessed to have done it and then when they I never forget getting the call for the for the Oscars I'm just going into anecdotes here ask you yeah I was on a press junket for a movie and it was one o'clock in the morning and I got the call and it was Steven Spielberg and I'm here with Sid Ganis and the Board of Governors would love theater you know did this host the Oscars and I don't remember I just remember saying yeah yeah I think I I think I even said yeah I'll give it a go yeah I hung up the phone and I was sitting there in shock because of course you're gonna say yeah right of course yeah we came from Australia like Northern yes I'm gonna do that and then I was like what the hell was I thinking I'm not Billy Crystal and my wife walked in and saw me just pale I said you've had to get in a bit with the host of the 81st Academy Awards and she I'm never gonna litter she goes Billy Crystal's well why have you never hosted again you were such a great host I have to imagine they've asked I have been asked twice and both times I was working when they were doing it and I I I just hats off to anybody who can work on a job and do that at the same time because really the show it's a unique show there's no show really until the nominations come out the crazy pretty much everything is predicated on who's performing why things are before the hosts it's those first seven or eight minutes oh god I remember the first production meeting for it and I went in and I thought oh I just had these things y'all's cuz this got a whole team and then this we sat down I was about six people that know okay we sit down and I looked at it one sheet of paper and it had segments one two three through the segment twelve there's twelve segments and twelve commercial breaks segment one huge Ackman opening 7/8 minutes question mark and then a and they said right let's move on a sec section two I was like the segment one if you guys got any ideas on the only what are you thinking I said no no that's your seven or eight minutes go for Billy Crystal holds the record he did it for 14 minutes once in the heyday I wouldn't recommend 14 but seven or eight minutes whatever you wanted so segment two by anyone we got there there but I think the greatest thing that another bit of good fortune before I went on stage I really I was working with Rob and Dan who just came up with this great idea was financial crisis they had this great idea of the budget Oscars and I I just fell in love so I felt I feel good about I I was really excited excited about doing it and then about a minute before when they pull me to the curtain and I'm about to go out there I'm November looking out seeing Meryl Streep and man did I just get the reality this hit me was I think yeah and I just went into the abyss of life I literally this embel des has been the the stage manager there for 30 years he was like 30 seconds 20 seconds I remember him saying 15 seconds and good luck out there's only about a billion people watching the Oscars I'm literally laughing looking in if it wasn't for that moment I would have just probably found he just knew I'm gonna get this guy out of this funk amusing ha ha that's amazing haven't you also though performed at Radio City Music Hall and like in these big venues I I saw your one-night-only show which oh uh yeah and you you talked about in Australia we did you mean like arenas and stuff like that I'm remembering the story you talk about your father Carnegie yeah yes that's what it was so 1998 I was asked to it was the centenary of Richard Rodgers and they were doing carousel at Carnegie Hall and I asked me to come and sing that lead part Billy with Audra McDonald and a bunch of people and I was so excited about it but again super-new first time at song and this was only two years after I'd done my first musical so it was kind of still a bit new to me and I told my dad my dad is the sweetest man alive like you know my dad is like no matter anything I've ever done I thing wise he says exactly the same thing he's always like Hugh wonderful work super honest I mean then hosting it just really oh when I rang and told him about carousel he couldn't hide the real inclusive it was oh my god I'm coming right a my dad never missed a day work in his life he worked at Price Waterhouse his entire working life and he came these are the only three days he missed in three days because it's a 24-hour flight from Australia to New York he was in New York for less than a day and then a 24 hour flight straight back and straight to the office right and he's in the county wanted to know everything that the itinerary the hotel is dress code I thought of his black tie everything right and on the day he's on the plane and I find out it's not black tie its business casual and I might I had this image of my dad arriving for 12 hours with like black ties and like shorts and flip-flops you know from Australia and so the moment he landed I rang him and I told him and that was the day of the performance you said don't worry I've got a covered it's fine I've got something else is fine and he said but you'd well I got you do me a favor mean a lot to me if I could come and meet you at your hotel room and walk you to the stage door a Carnegie Hall yeah that's what I thought I was like I said of course I said meet me at 6:15 or whatever I said maybe 6:15 we'll walk over together so 6:15 on the dot E is an accountant I open up the door and there is my father in the hallway of my hover hotel in full black tie oh and I like that it's not black seriously no one's wearing black tie nobody except for the choir everyone's gonna think you're a baritone there please and he looked me straight in the eye Ernie said Hugh my son is singing in Carnegie Hall it's black tie for me oh my god yeah so anyway he in Carnegie Hall is sort of modeled on this great European opera houses and because of the way they do those things that the lights you can see basically into the audience and I when I wasn't seeing I was sitting down because we was a reading so I was sitting down I looked up I just could see the tears oh my god my dad to be at Carnegie Hall yes yeah that's amazing that was who's your dad's favorite actor he's favorite show growing up was six million dollar man my dad like went to Cambridge he had a first we got a law degree a business degree Shakespeare this and then everything loved the Six Million Dollar Man until they made the Six Million Dollar woman oh yeah really good guilty pleasure TV that's awesome Six Million Dollar Man we have to get the front runner which I know you guys just watch by just there's a couple movies they just want to touch on because you've worked with so many amazing directors and so many great people I just personally I want to talk about the prestige because one of my favorite movies of all time and you actually played dual roles in that and you were so good that I literally thought they found an actor who looks kind of like you yeah to play your double and it was and then there was I remember reading reports about like people would tell me no no no that's different actor I met him right yeah and then but that we log into me I played nine he didn't know you didn't play and I said no I did not know you didn't like I didn't that's got to be the highest compliment the best of luck go with it yeah III did we did little things I had a little bit of a prosthetic on the nose just to make that different you see I have no ear lobes so we added a lobes and there was one other thing other teeth and just that that was the thing that's amazing and I mean Christopher Nolan just one of the greatest directors there is you've also worked with Darren Aronofsky yeah and the fountain you say look you guys are all actually you'll love this so my my lawyer at this point had you know they're like I worked really hard on getting your deal like for this so you're gonna have that like the family comply to be with you or this event and Nolan rang up and said we don't believe in a trailer free chat like can you share a trailer you and Christian on say yeah sure I'm my lawyer so I would know that if you give up your trailer you'll never have it again like if never you give us anyway Chris rang up and he said here's the thing with the trailer I'm come from Australia like you bring your own chair you bring your own lunch the half trailer is better at my place in Australia it's fine no it's all good he goes here's my deal you a Christian wall share a trailer I promise you you'll never sit in your trailer for more than two hours and I will never go over time on any single shooting day Wow and he was true to his word that's another is that amazing yeah he's never done ADR never done ADR never gone over budget never gone over time you think of them a massive movies he's made yeah that's amazing and yet massive movies and yet his characters are so specific and well John's he scripts I have I feel like if you stopped him now he would know the next five movies I think he and his brother there he was when Mira you know he was talking to Batman till he knew what that was from the beginning he actually told me finally enough he had his idea for Batman really I'm sorry Chris on get in trouble but he had a back way back when x-men came out so when was the first Batman must been 2005 something sounds right right so x-men came out in 2000 he said I had he said I walked into the theater I saw the first 20 minutes of x-men he was like ah that's my idea because he was like doing something yeah just a little more human but anyway Noland yes Aronofsky hood the door so many amazing euros what do you hope for from a director when you show up to a set hmm it's a director's medium for film and that was a big adjustment for me because in theater of course the director is there but from the moment you open for the next 12 months you as a cast are running the show so it's a slightly the the balance of how is slightly different but you have to I want to be able to just innately trust it's funny Jason Ryman oh I just worked with on this he said to me something I'll never forget he said my job is to understand the psychology of every single person on that set because I need to know how they work I don't want them to work in my way I want them to work in their way but I need to know how to get the best out of them now as an actor whether it's an acting teacher or a director you want someone who gets you hmm but the frightening thing is when you work and and brilliant thing that it's frightening to when someone is so smart that they get you even the bit you're trying to hide yeah because we all have bits even as actors will I bit uncomfortable with that but I'm gonna cover that I'm gonna hide that bit and let's hope we get away with it you know this with Jason there's no hiding and it was such a relief to be able to say I'm really struggling with this scene I'm sorry I know I get it here I just don't get it here or you could like those kinds of things I thought I can't share that with it I thought it'd be a burden for a director I sort of thought if you're the lead in the film you'll like the quarterback no coach wants the quarterback to go yeah I know there's two minutes left to go Nick Garrett feeling great about it is Drive it's been nervous I don't know I don't know what to do what do you think what should we do like I thought your job is to go give me the ball coach give me the ball don't worry I've got it but actually what I learned and I'm using Jason as an example and I could use a virgin mangled or several other people I worked with when you can just really trust them not only your performance but your process how to work that is the Holy Grail mm-hmm we actually have a question from is it an Wescott we still in Jana's question by the way Anne was wondering do you see yourself directed in the near future no really no I'm are you and oh yeah I'm a really I love acting I'm a quiet indecisive person I when I feel clarity I just love it it's you know and when it happens you got it's terrific and I live and I'm married to someone who's a born director and I go and and I'm like oh yeah that's it's a different it's not just a skillset it's a different whole different way of thinking it's a confidence of vision literal vision as well as artistic vision I think the crew would just get I would drive them crazy what do you think is red dress or yellow dress yeah yeah they're great know which one which one it'd be a bit like that and I'm just still really loving acting you have the kind of a very unique distinction you've done two movie musicals between Lena zurab and greatest showman the greatest showman was something really unique it's an original musical right like lame is at least we knew that there are that property worth and I know you spent years getting it right I mean do you want to keep bringing more musicals to myself thank you yeah now if I could write this script of my life like every three years I only say three years because I think it does take time to develop them and to write the songs but it was absolutely thrilling experience we had nine weeks so both those films you had nine weeks of rehearsal because obviously with dance and song you need to be ready to go because he can't be wasting time on the set that's too expensive with the crew there and everything so it was heaven it was like a nine week rehearsal period and then just joyously filming it was I absolutely loved it yeah I thought I was so clever going as the bearded lady for Halloween there were so many beautiful yeah I mean I think my beard was a little better but later I will actually unpack Justin Paul commented ah yes he said this is you so that brings us to the front runner which is such a fellow you guys just saw it it's very rare that we show it and then do a career conversation okay why don't you go sell it you know what's good um how did this project sort of find its way to you and what is it the people that attracted you the story a little bit of both Jason rang me sent me the script I was reading it with an inner monologue oh please like this please like this because I love Jason's films and there's less and less of them being made of real humans gray flawed humans you know and and I didn't really know much about it I'm an Australian I was backpacking with for Aussie mates around Europe I don't remember much of like months of that year level but the moment I started reading it I was enamored with a character it was something I had never really got to play before and this dichotomy of someone who's intensely private complex mercurial enigmatic also coupled with the privacy was this person who was seeking the most public job in the world and really had some amazed using ideas so the character itself but also I just I mean I read this before the away this is 2015 there's trip around 2015 so it's become incredibly relevant as jason says he would prefer if it was a little less reckless but it I think there would the connective tissue and like all of us here where it seems so unrecognizable so much of what we see in the papers or what's going on seems unrecognizable it's a really interesting part of history that really gives some connective tissue to say so I I'll uh I hope you guys feel this but it's a movie that there's no heroes or villains there's a bunch of humans it asks a lot of questions and of ourselves as well of the part we play in the process you know so rather than just simply did he or didn't he you know having a fear like why are we so interested in that and there does that matter to us does that disqualify him as potentially being a prisoner or not anyway so I loved all of that all of those things but I was probably thirty minutes in Iranian knowing I wanted to do it was it like a relief you're like oh thank you it's good it was because I just I just love Jason's films I think maybe the closest thing there is to a hero might be Lee honestly in some ways or even the Washington Post reporter yes you know it's yeah I think journalists are gonna love this movie I think this I think is also very redemptive for Donna Rice's character and beautifully played by Sara Paxton and I I think I was I'm proud to be part of a film that really is very strong when the female characters because the this shift in gender politics really did start that mmm-hmm you see you know and of Roy you know that character that Washington Post being the only woman in those rehabs and all those decisions are being made you know and it's massive but yeah we have a question from Travis Richie hey do you feel more pressure when portraying real people than original characters and how does that compare with bringing a beloved character we'll see I think Wolverine is real but how does that go bright yeah yeah I do you know we all know this I mean we spent our lives creating stories people's stories you have to get inside fall in love with those characters and in the play or film or TV show whatever you're doing put that character story out our stories of who we are how we project ourselves the world our legacy how we want to be it's probably the most precious thing we have Gary is 82 he's just celebrated 60th wedding anniversary with his wife he's son Jack I'm friends with all them now on Andreea here's an amazing family I knew they would all watch the film he's a very intelligent sharp still sharp as ever and knowing that he would watch it and how much I admire him too I was super nervous about that I did I did a lot of work because I certainly never wanted to feel that I could have done more you know and you got to meet him even before I stayed with him and he was unbelievably warm and generous he met me at the airport he said I'll pick you up he was very easy as I came out with the trunk open of the car and he came to me mean he shouldn't leave other hand I'll never forget it just let me pause that for a second every single one of his campaign team I'd spoken with and every single one of them had given me advice about how I should be and what's gonna happen how the weekend like they were all nervous for me right so back to the story he shakes my hand and with the other hand he put his hand on my cheek it felt like about two or three seconds and there's the look of it's gonna be okay it's okay well it was quite paternal and quite beautiful and we went back to his house we talked to her it was just easy for the beginning and his wife Lee had just had hip surgery hope she doesn't mommy center and so they have their bedroom as upstairs so they couldn't go upstairs so they were on a fold-out couch in the like their office and I was sleeping in their bed oh my god because that was the bed so in Garry's bed he said yeah and I remember him coming I said you sure I guess he had don't worry use the bit and I've cleared some space in my closet and so there was this gap about God so that's all Gary's clothes I'm hanging up my jacket shoes and I was like he was unbelievably generous I mean and and he makes a mean martini I was talking to Jason earlier and he said well first of all in addition to giving everyone on the set lottery tickets every Friday which i think is amazing did he'll never win big by the way $1500 win what that's already great did you get a cut of it no I the first American film I was on the x-men an Aussie guy actor came to visit me and I was walking around you know that thing where you really should know someone's name and you don't so you just avoid it when you're with someone and you guys you don't know that guy's 90th I don't know you guys how long you been on this film sets frame is a pathetic pathetic and I say it's just a little different here there's a lot of people guys there's no excuse um what you're right there's no excuse and it is a little different than in Australia there's no standings right so you know while they're lighting you stand there and the crew give you punch and you say and we'll sit well yeah that's all of that and so he's either standing I didn't even know this I did my first rehearsal on x-men and this guy remarkably same height as me or job and he's chatting with me and I said - I said did you don't have to talk to me it's like hey I'm gonna stand here you guys know I'm standing here I said no sandy ever the lighting he goes no that's my job what all right he goes dude you go back to you tryin you drink your Evian and then you come out of here so I'm three months and I didn't know the name of this and I was like I've got to find a way without appearing like a complete door of making sure at least I get to say wow thanks thanks for your work and how are you and how's the week been and so I came up with this Aussie tradition of lottery tickets and so I would go around once so I thought at least once a week go out and say hi how I thanks for how I have a good weekend as it going and I buried myself because I found in films that if I wasn't scheduled for a Friday all of a sudden I was scheduled but if you thing of getting rich done by scratchy tickets I can tell you that not a lot of people win yeah the other thing Jason said was that you were such an expert on Gary Hart that everyone from like the costume people to you know the the people who were doing script supervising would come to you and ask you to verify things a little bit I wanted to get his voice so I was listening every day I would listen to his speeches and stuff that I had I had about 60 hours of video so I was just I would listen to different bits and yes I read a lot but I really want to give a shout out to Amy Amy Stephens who I found through Anne Hathaway cuz when we did lemierre's and came in with all this research these binders that were incredibly useful and gave them to the director and the director distributed with all the cast and of course there's the book but just history and what the time or what life was like and so I said how'd you get this said I use this woman called Amy Stephens hope you don't mind have you ever seen this but so I've used her ever since now aiming read maybe thirty seven books on Gary and she found b-roll footage you know like and she was a drama - originally for ten years so every bit of research is not like look how much research I've done every bit of research is practical stuff that an actor can use so she gave me five binders this big that's 60 hours but like she would go to the new the the channel in des Moines and say can I get the offcuts of the stuff you didn't use and so if I have a one out put it I'll never forget it of Gary at a political fundraiser doing the walk around shaking hands it's one our shot just watching Gary walk around now if you just go to news you get a three minute thing that someone's added it up so there was and there's one bit in that our way he sits down and it's in 1984 before he's in deal no one's talking to him and he's just obviously tired he's just sitting there and for a little bit and then someone comes up a shoeshine guy and she shines his shoes he's saying I think some often he tips him and then he goes back and that's a cup of tea like that kind of stuff so Amy is really Mikey and so people were drawing on all her research and I use her whenever I can and what was it like when Gary did see them has he seen me yeah so you know Jason flew to Denver all of Gary's campaign team all flew from all their different jobs and they've all gone on to be complete rock stars in their field and they all flew in and he saw her with Lee and any son Jack and yeah and then they went out for hot chocolate afterwards I think he said to me and I I'm careful about because he's very private I don't want to give he probably said some things to me doesn't want to be public but another thing in mind this bed heating he was very very happy with how his wife was portray yeah he often has said to me how Lee is the strongest woman he's ever met and he just loved the way they were portrayed mm-hmm she's wonderful she's incredible yeah I have a couple more questions from the audience if we have time I don't have to be somewhere so we have a couple minutes okay actually uh uh Hannah Lee I think that Todd's pronounce has a question for Hugh Michael wants to know did a future acting goal for you or any types of roles you'd love to play I said after doing Romeo and Juliet back in college which we then do it a little run of it we graduated I haven't had a Shakespeare since but you asked me what I thought I would end up doing yeah I thought it would be Shakespeare and I haven't got one yet so I'd love to do that really not and if I'm being greedy but I would love to be able to do a movie musical every few years as I told you and I'm really ready to go back on Broadway because I haven't done a musical musical on Broadway for fifteen years I've done my own one-man show but not that I'm really ready to do that and yeah was steady rain the last time you Rob way I did the river jazz but it was alright of course I'm sorry so steady rain was before that city right was 2009 with Daniel and crying and then it was the river was in 2014 you know I was in the audience the night the woman's cell phone went off oh you guys in character told her to turn off her cell no because you've never broke character no the play was - yeah 80% of it was to the audience telling their version of the same events right which were very different so it was during one of my monologues the audience in the phone rang and I thought I'm gonna let that go I was in caring you know just and let that go and you know when it rings and they're like I'm not gonna answer it because no one has it's mine and then it goes quiet after 20 rings a long time so then it goes it stops and about a minute later it starts up again and everyone around us I know it was like well I'm talking in the audience it's a bit ridiculous of a known address this like clearly half the audience is about to kill whoever's open and I just said why don't you answer do you want to ask answering answer and it was right at the end of the thing I mean this impassioned and like and this whole thing blow up in Australia Jacqueline loses so interesting ironically my wife is usually the one with the heart you know just because she's super super forgetful and and she's an awesome so I I do actually have patience for people who do know it'll always happens after interval now hardly ever at the beginning it's usually after interval these people go back out and turn it on yeah yeah and finally I just kind of want to know I mean you've conquered Broadway and film and you can sing you can dance can you please tell us something you're bad at so that we can just feel a little bit better about ourselves do you not ask me to come and fix anything in your house I'm not just talking my computers or so I'm talking light bulbs like you know someone comes around you know the trip and I go it's amazing and it's a washer you just put a washer now that's incredible like my dad could do it he was terrible and I'm terrible not yeah I'm the worst handyman around oh you go thank you yeah thank you though thank you guys so much of a great audience thank you so much for being here you could be really Theory sorry thanks guys over there I was like

Channel: SAG-AFTRA Foundation

Views: 190,028

Rating: 4.8913951 out of 5

Keywords: SAG Foundation, SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Acting, Actors, THE FRONT RUNNER, Hugh Jackman, Jenelle Riley, Gary Hart, X-Men, Wolverine, Les Misérables, Jean Valjean, The Greatest Showman, Prisoners, Real Steel, The Prestige, The Fountain, Scoop, Deception, Someone Like You, Swordfish, Van Helsing, Kate & Leopold, The River, Sunset Boulevard, Beauty and the Beast, Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Boy From Oz, A Steady Rain, Q&A, Career, Interview

Id: a-aQO_eTM8Y

Length: 78min 15sec (4695 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 21 2018