Hugh Jackman is known for his love of a good musical as much as he’s known for his portrayal of the adamantium-reinforced wise-ass Wolverine. So, it’s no surprise that he used a bit of the latter character’s blunt persuasiveness to land the part of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables.
At a press conference for the hotly anticipated musical at Claridge’s on Wednesday, Jackman recalled that upon hearing from his agent that a film adaptation of the vaunted musical was in the works, he began to lobby for the part.
Director Tom Hooper had barely had the chance to unpack his best director Oscar from The King’s Speech, let alone formally announce his next project, when Jackman called to arrange a meeting.
Upon meeting Hooper, Jackman didn’t mince words. The straight-talking Aussie told the British filmmaker: “Mate, I’m going to audition for you,” and persisted with both Hooper and Les Misérables’ legendary theater producer, Sir Cameron MacKintosh until the deal was sealed.
“I’ve dreamt of being in a movie musical for a long time. For some reason I never even thought Les Mis would be possible,” Jackman said. “It was so iconic, the role wasn’t even on my radar.”
Once cast, Jackman said that Hooper issued a clear directive to him about his coming portrayal of Valjean: “I want you unrecognizable. If you’re recognizable, I want your friends to think you’re sick,” the director told him. Upon which Jackman lost around 15 kilos (33lb) — more weight than Anne Hathaway shed for her role of Fantine, as the actress pointed out following a New York screening in November — to shoot the movie’s opening scenes as an emaciated prisoner. Jackman later gorged to regain the weight for…
Full Story »The Korean pop sensation that’s taken over the world has found its way to the set of Wolverine, where the tuxedoed Psy stopped by to teach star Hugh Jackman — wearing Wolverine’s adamantium claws — how to dance Gangnam Style. And I thought the Filipino prison dancers marked the jumping of the shark!
Putting years of Broadway dance training to use, the enthusiastic Jackman seems to have picked up Psy’s signature pony move pretty quickly, which is impressive if you’ve watched every celebrity this side of Ellen Degeneres attempt the dance craze of the year.
They even gave Psy his own Wolverine claws. Okay, that’s pretty cool.
It’s even better if you imagine this as the character Wolverine meeting Psy and indulging in a lighthearted moment of cross-cultural glee before an epic battle to the death. Because Psy is clearly some sort of mutant being whose power is the ability to entrance strangers with his syncopated gyrations and that damnedly irresistible ditty.
Slicing gangnam style!!!! Great to meet @psy_oppa who visited set yesterday. twitter.com/RealHughJackma…
— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) October 16, 2012
Oh, how Wolverine laughs! Is it too late to turn Wolverine into a K-pop musical?
[via @psy_oppa]
D’you mind if he puts his Adamantium claws around you? Twentieth Century-Fox has released the first official photo of an extremely lean and ripped Hugh Jackman in James Mangold’s film adaption of Frank Miller and Chris Claremont’s 1982 limited comic series classic, The Wolverine.
The superhero’s sinewy look appears to jibe with comments that Jackman made to Empire magazine that he had Robert De Niro’s unhinged performance as Max Cady in Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake of Cape Fear as a benchmark for his performance. “You were terrified of that character from the moment he took his shirt off and you saw all the tats; you know he was this coiled spring that would rip your head off, no matter how nonchalant he acted. That’s who Wolverine is. I always thought of him as being lean, animalistic, not necessarily pretty. He has all this berserkery, and he’s terrifying when he loses all reason in blind rage.”
I’m a little late to this, but what’s that famous saying? A day without the horror-punk icon Glenn Danzig clearing up years of speculation about his flirtation with X-Men is like a day without sunshine? Something like that. And it just gets better from there: “It wouldn’t have been as gay. Actually, [Hugh Jackman] wasn’t the first choice. They hired Dougray Scott. He had a falling out with the director, and then they hired Hugh Jackman. I’m glad I didn’t do it. It was terrible.” Anyway, what Danzig really wants to do is… you know: “I would love to do some filming and directing before I’m gone out the door. I mean dead.” [LA Weekly]
James Mangold was just as apprehensive as the rest of you when the idea of a Wolverine movie fell into his lap — so much so that he spoke with predecessor Darren Aronofsky, who was originally set to direct, before taking on the project. So what enticed him to take the helm on the Hugh Jackman-starring X-Men spin-off, anyways? And how exactly will it evoke such American classics as Chinatown and Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales?
From The Playlist:
“I think part of the reason I’m doing this picture has been because it isn’t to me a conventional superhero movie. It isn’t an origin story, so I’m freed from that burden, and it also isn’t a save-the-world movie, which most of them are. It’s actually a character piece; I actually think it has more in common with The Outlaw Josey Wales and Chinatown, what we’re doing, than the conventional, ‘Will Wolverine and his compatriots save the world from this thermonuclear device’ question.”
And further:
“…The fact that half of the characters in this movie speak Japanese, this is like a foreign-language superhero movie that’s as much a drama and a detective story and a film noir, with high-octane action as it is anything like a conventional tentpole film.”
So, Mangold’s Wolverine is an unconventional foreign language superhero detective noir-actioner character piece, set in Japan, with shades of Chinatown and The Outlaw Josey Wales. Gotcha. Another way to look at it: Wolverine will finally reunite the star and director of Kate & Leopold! Rejoice or lament as you will.
• James Mangold Calls ‘The Wolverine’ A Dark Character Piece Like Eastwood’s ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ [The Playlist]
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Also in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: Shawn Levy wants Frankenstein… Rob Corddry could be a Warm body… R.I.P.D. gets a supermodel to play Jeff Bridges… and more ahead.
· The long, strange trip that has become The Wolverine keeps getting longer. Deadline reports that Fox is unlikely to start filming the X-Men prequel sequel with Hugh Jackman and new director James Mangold this fall, because of continued concern for the Japan-based shoot as well as Jackman’s commitment to Les Miserables. No official date has been set just yet, but Wolverine 2 might not start production until the spring 2012. Stay tuned… [Deadline]
· Speaking of seemingly-never-happening projects: Shawn Levy might put Fantastic Voyage on the back burner to direct Frankenstein for Fox. Per Deadline, “the studio is eager to get out in front of the seven other Frankenstein films that are percolating all over town.” Seven! Seven’s the key number here. [Deadline]
· Funny funnyman Rob Corddry is in final negotiations to join Nicholas Hoult and Theresa Palmer in the zombie love story Warm Bodies. 50/50’s Jonathan Levine will direct. [Variety]
· Another day, another indie movie for Alexander Skarsgard to circle. The hunky True Blood star is attached to Disconnect, about how the Internet can… ruins lives. Skarsgard will play a former Marine who — while facing financial strife — strikes up an affair thanks…
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