Hugh Jackman

Interview By: J.P. Mangalindan

JPMangalindan@TheCinemaSource.com

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It’s been three years since Hugh Jackman prowled the screen as Wolverine and a lot’s happened to the actor including a critically-acclaimed Broadway turn as singer/songwriter Peter Allan, an invitation to host the Tony Awards (twice), and well, that little vehicle called Van Helsing that we’ll pretend never happened.

As it turns out, Jackman also lost something along the way: a heck of a lot of weight. And when you’re training to fill-out the bad-ass comic book Canuck you’ve immortalized on the big screen, that not-so-insignificant fact is bound to worry you, as it did Jackman.

“It took me a long time to put the weight back on because I was doing that show [The Boy From Oz] for over a year and I lost a lot of weight,” he says. “I lost a lot of muscle. I was training and I got a little worried. For two months. And I was lifting heavy weights like I had lifted previously, but my body wasn’t getting bigger. I’d go on the scales, but there was no change, even though I was getting stronger in what I was lifting. I was a getting a little nervous about it, thinking, ‘We’re going to have to use a little of that special effects budget on the old torso, boys!’ And then all of a sudden, it happened just like that, though this time, it took a little longer.”

Training to build up the appropriate bulk meant getting up at 4:30 each morning, cranking up some motivational music — Godsmack and Metallica was Jackman’s music of choice — and screaming his way through increasing amounts of free weights. Lucky for him (and for X-Men fans), Jackman gained the weight in time for what he implies was a grueling shoot.

“There were some stunts in this — they’re flying back through the trees — that was a blast. I did more on wires, the jumping off a tree was a tough stunt to perfect and potentially dangerous because I was landing on top of two guys. So you know, there was some stuff in there that was tough, but Simon Crane, who was our Second Unit Director, who

did Saving Private Ryan and Mr. and Mrs. Smith and is one of the best in the business. He expected me to do more. He said, ‘You can do more than you’ve been doing.’ Even stylistically, I’ve always taken the approach that Wolverine has always been a bit like Mike Tyson, not pretty, just like a street fighter.”

In X-Men: The Last Stand, Jackman and the rest of the returning cast — Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin — reprise their roles as those peace-loving mutants whose very existence is threatened when the government attempts to propagate a “cure” for the mutant gene. What begins as a tenuous scenario quickly blossoms into a raucous battle royale that should whet the appetite of any Marvel fan.

Still, Jackman is quick to remind us that X-Men’s continuing success, both in its comic book and film incarnations, isn’t so much contingent on special effects (though they are indeed freakishly awesome in X3), as it is about the franchise’s underlying allegories.

“Really what these films have always been about, is not special effects, but about characters and the world that they live in,” Jackman says. “Bryan [Singer] was very particular — and Brett [Ratner] carried this on — in making it real so that people can relate. If you could be taller, would you take the pill? If you could not be gay, if you could not be of color; whatever thing you can be discriminated against that makes you different. If you could opt it to change that, would you? Nobody ultimately cares about things that blow up unless you get around to caring about the characters, so that’s what I like about this.”

This potent question comes into play for many mutants, but perhaps none more so than Rogue (Paquin), whose very power — the ability to absorb the memories and physical abilities of others through physical contact — alienates her from any form of skin-to-skin contact. For a mutant like Rogue, the alleged “cure” couldn’t be more tempting.

“On one level, her experience is inspiring to girls. She’s got a lot of power. On the other hand, here’s a young girl who will never be able to have children, kiss somebody,

hold hands with somebody, touch a child. If you really think about it, to never be able to touch a human being or living thing is kind of a terrible existence. And so, it’s completely understandable that she might want to be free of it. That’s what’s wonderful about the comic book series and the films, it’s that every character with these extraordinary abilities is extraordinarily flawed.”

Faced with a decision like that, you’ve got to wonder: what would Wolvie himself do in that situation?

“My initial reaction would be to say no, that the hurdles in life are what makes us the people we are, however, let’s think about being deaf, right? Now some people are very much against some of these new technologies and they’re saying, ‘We’re deaf and it’s part of who we are and it’s wonderful.’ If my child was deaf, would I want my child to hear? Absolutely. You know what I mean? I hope after this movie people will talk about it. That’s my hope.”

With X3 poised to be a huge summer blockbuster — and barring any box office hiccups, it will be — fans are wondering: Is this the last X-Men film? Have Wolvie and company kicked ass on the big screen for the last time? Surprisingly, Jackman is adamant that this isn’t the end, but the beginning of another chapter: perhaps another sequel, but more immediately, a spin-off.

“Well, I’ll tell you we’re going to make a Wolverine movie,” he intimates. “At the moment, what we have is a prequel. It centers more on the origins of the character. We’re two drafts into it, which is phenomenal. David Benioff’s doing a third draft and then we’ll go and find a director. That’s sort of the gameplan.” Tentatively scheduled for a 2007 release, the spin-off should present even more of Wolvie’s no-holds-barred shenanigans. And for Jackman, that probably means keeping up those early morning free weight workouts.

The fanboys (and girls) in all of us can’t wait.