Hugh Jackman

by Anthony Bunko

  His appreciation for the fans also shone through when, following the postponement of the country’s première of X-Men Origins: Wolverine because of an outbreak of H1N1 influenza (swine flu) in Mexico, Hugh returned to the country. Praising the perseverance of the nation’s people through the health crisis, the star stated, ‘Mexico is standing: this makes me happy, Mexico is indestructible, just like my character.’ He was treated as more of a superstar than he already was by thousands of Mexicans, including the President Felipe Calderón.

  The worldwide opening for the film grossed over $158.1 million. Considering the leak, the mixed reviews from critics and the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, this was a financial success, with overall estimated sales at the box office totalling $363.4 million worldwide. It was time to celebrate: Seed Productions really had achieved the first stage of its plan.

  After all the excitement of the release had died down, Hugh didn’t know if there would be a sequel. He admitted that he was afraid of flogging a dead horse: ‘I have no interest in that. No matter how much I love the character. So there are many prerequisites. Ultimately, there are a few storylines that are running around my head which I think would be really cool, but unless the script is right, then I just don’t see the point in doing it. I’m probably at the point in my career where I don’t need it. And the last thing I want to do is just to push it on people if it doesn’t warrant a full feature movie.’

  Despite this, there are considerable rumours that a trip to the Land of the Rising Sun could be next in line for the mutton-chopped mutant hero!

  ‘Hugh Jackman is incredibly impressive in the movie. You know, he’s this six foot three Aussie bloke, who is well-conditioned. He looks like a weapon or one of those Marvel toys. He actually looks like one of those things you pull out of the box. He just owns the movie. He’s in almost every scene and is just incredible in it.’

  Dominic Monaghan, Barnell Bohusk

  in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Mr X-Appeal

  ‘The praise is nice, of course, but you can’t let stuff like that to go to your head,’ Hugh admitted after he topped the list for People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive award in 2008. Not knowing what to make of it, he wasn’t sure what it would mean to his already-flourishing career: ‘Who knows? It may help, but I don’t waste time thinking about it. It’s a blip. It’s a little bit of attention. Maybe some people who didn’t know who I was now know who I am.’

  At 6ft 3in, all smiles and biceps, he easily beat off his nearest rivals including some of the hottest guys in the industry, younger and older alike. He won the annual award ahead of Daniel Craig, the British spy James Bond, who had wowed female fans in Casino Royale with his muscular body and striking blue eyes. Jon Hamm, the star of hit US TV show Mad Men, came in third, while High School Musical heart-throb Zac Efron and Lipstick Jungle hunk Robert Buckley rounded off the top five. Footballer David Beckham, Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, Twilight star Robert Pattinson, former Dawson’s Creek actor Joshua Jackson and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps all featured in the list. In their summing up of the contest, People magazine rather saucily described Hugh as a triple threat: a star who can sing, dance and wield a weapon.

  Not fazed the actor joked tongue-in-cheek that a lot of campaigning and dirty tricks had gone on to ensure he got his hands on the crown: ‘I can admit it now but there was a lot of campaigning that goes into that. I was never strong in the swimsuit competition, but I think the baton-twirling put me at the top. We’re the first ones to run a negative campaign and we spent years bringing Clooney, Pitt, Damon and McConaughey down to size. I was prepared to do absolutely anything and I’m not proud of it.’

  Amusingly, his victory robbed ‘Gorgeous George’ Clooney of a three-year sweep. The same George Clooney who Hugh once confessed on a TV interview that if he did turn gay, it would be for him and no one else! Hugh revealed that the former Sexiest Man Alive champion couldn’t resist a rib-tickle to let his feelings be known: ‘George Clooney rang me at two in the morning. I was half asleep and I said to him, “Ah, George sweetie, good to hear from you.” He goes, “Shut up, Jackman! I know what you did! You started this big campaign that’s been going on and you took the title away from me. Who do you think you are? That first place is mine, don’t you get it?”’ He sniggered and hung up.

  Of course, outwardly Hugh joked about joining the prestigious club of previous winners, which included the likes of George, Brat Pitt and Matt Damon, especially when the news broke and the text messages came flooding in from his mates. One of the more printable ones simply said, ‘Hell, mate, my tennis racket is sexier than you!’ But inwardly, the star who was two weeks shy of reaching forty, said, ‘Let’s face it, it’s better than getting a kick in the teeth!’

  However, there was little chance of him letting the title go to his head – not only his mates, but also his family could always be relied upon to put him firmly back in his place. Even Oscar gave his father a weird look and asked him, ‘What? It’s you?’ on learning of the new title.

  Deborra-Lee also revealed what she thought of her husband’s new-found heart-throb status: ‘The first thing I said was that I could have told them that years ago. But then I followed it up with, “Obviously Brad [Pitt] wasn’t available this year was he?”’ She added, ‘But I like what’s inside best, he’s a romantic who sings ballads at home and makes pancakes for the kids.’ Yet always happy to end on a wicked note, she also mentioned that the sexiest thing about her husband was that he came to her fully trained!

  Hugh took all the ribbing in his stride, appreciating the fact that Deb and the others help keep him grounded, with his wife reading out the worst reviews, which really does keep his feet on the ground: ‘She is my anchor, together with my children, who don’t care whether I am a movie star or an accountant. We lead a pretty normal life, like everyone else.’

  Others close to the actor found the whole thing a little too weird to discuss. ‘My old man travelled over with me and we landed in America, and all of sudden we stopped at the airport and saw the Sexiest Man Alive magazine, and everyone was talking about it,’ recalled Hugh. ‘My father found it really uncomfortable. He said to me, “I can’t really talk to you about being sexy. It’s a little weird.” Mind you, I’m still waiting for the birds and the bees pitch from him. That hasn’t happened either.’

  Being the Sexiest Man Alive did have its advantages and disadvantages for the star. He suddenly discovered he was now not only living in the world of film and theatre but also walking tall in the world of style and fashion. His presence – with and without his shirt on – in trendy magazines grew, and he commented that it was quite tough and lots of hard work trying to look sexy. On saying that the fashion media found him to be a rare breed. Someone who could make anything from a Valentino suit to a worn T-shirt look great. Costume designer Catherine Martin, who created the clothes for Australia, said that Jackman’s style works because of his self-confidence: ‘Not everyone who has self-confidence has a good essence of style, but in Hugh’s case the two go hand in hand. He has a proud posture and a winning smile, and he keeps to classic clothes that make him look handsome and super-trendy.’

  Hugh admitted he wasn’t, and hoped he never would be, the kind of guy to dye his hair and put on a glittery 1970s jacket and a pair of flares: ‘Some people look really cool in those kinds of clothes. I would look crazy. I know my limitations. I like blue, like a blue T-shirt with jeans and boots. You can’t go wrong. Black always works too, for me at least. I can wear a black shirt, black trousers, a black leather jacket and maybe a purple scarf as the only splash of colour.’

  Although more comfortable and relaxed in jeans and T-shirts, he has been known on occasions to wear Ferragamo’s leather shoes and Valentino suits from Ralph Lauren’s super-exclusive ‘Purple’ collections (dubbed ‘the world’s most expensive suits’) when attending opening nights and other official events. At the London première of Australia, Jackman step
ped out of the limousine on Leicester Square to thousands of adoring fans and camera flashes going off like fireworks. Wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, he signed autographs, joked with journalists, hugged people affectionately, and was friends with absolutely everyone. Any media coach who could ever manage to capture the Jackman charm and put it in a bottle would surely make a fortune.

  The great thing about Hugh is he isn’t affected or artificial; no one taught him how to play the guy next door – that’s just the way he is, it comes naturally. For example, when X-Men was about to be released, the studio told him to hire a publicist because it would make things easier during the promotional tour. He did what they said and got a publicist. She told him not to wave his hands about in interviews. She may have been right, but he didn’t want to live that way; if succeeding as an actor depended on whether he waved his hands just right during an interview, he didn’t want it.

  ‘I’m like most Australian men. In Hollywood you’re spoiled with personal assistants, personal trainers and luxurious trailers, and so on. Then you go to Australia, where you are lucky to be given a chair to sit on between takes. It’s nice because as an actor you’re just one of the team, there is no hierarchy.’ With his laid-back attitude, he shines brightly and believes there is something untamed about the Australian soul: ‘We have an inherent pride and we don’t like to be controlled by people in positions of authority. Australians usually have a positive outlook on life; they’re social and have a relaxed attitude. We work to live, we don’t live to work. You won’t meet a single Australian messing around on his BlackBerry on his day off.’

  Although winning awards such as the Sexiest Man Alive puts Hugh in the spotlight even more, he doesn’t think it’s hard to maintain his privacy, unlike many other major Hollywood actors. In fact, he believes it’s easier since he’s become famous. Whether this comes with experience or it’s something to do with turning forty, he definitely feels more centred. In the beginning, he felt the whole Hollywood showbiz thing was a bit like walking a big dog and having that dog take off, pulling him by the leash, but now he says, ‘I have a firm grip on the leash now.’ Even when handling the paparazzi, the biggest problem he has is in trying to explain to his kids while they are growing up why the photographers are only interested in taking his picture: ‘They don’t understand why they don’t get photographed too. They think the photographers don’t like them. My son said, “Yeah dad, but I just want my photo taken.”’

  He moved on from the prestigious honour of Sexiest Man Alive to even more acclaim as host of the 81st Academy Awards in 2009, when the organisers promised to shake up the show’s old format with a new look and feel. The announcement of the Australian actor to be the lynchpin of the event marked a departure from the Academy’s standard big-name comedians. Jon Stewart, who hosted in 2006 and 2008, and Ellen DeGeneres (2007) were the latest in a line of funny MCs since 1990. Billy Crystal did it eight times, Whoopi Goldberg took on four, Steve Martin appeared twice and David Letterman and Chris Rock each had a shot.

  Producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon were excited to get their man because they knew Hugh was a consummate entertainer and an internationally renowned film star, who certainly fitted the theme of what they were looking for. He also had style, elegance and a sense of occasion. Mark and Condon announced: ‘Hugh was the ideal choice to host a celebration of the year’s movies, and to have fun doing it.’

  While many actors would have shrunk away from the entertainment world’s toughest and most scrutinised gig in town, the Australian actor couldn’t wait for the evening to come. Hugh wasn’t even fazed by the prospect of coming face to face with a room packed full of the film industry’s most elite, including many of his peers, or the one-billion-plus TV audience. Instead, he felt honoured and extremely grateful to the Academy for giving him the opportunity and he was excited to work with the producers on what he hoped would be a memorable celebration. He knew when the time came for him to emerge from behind the curtains and take centre stage inside Hollywood’s Kodak Theater for the 81st Annual Academy Awards, he would be living a dream: ‘Thirty years ago, when I was in Sydney, my first memory was my dad letting us all stay up late and me watching Johnny Carson [the US TV talk show king] host the Oscars. Then later years, being in awe of Billy Crystal hosting and doing his trademark singing and dancing opening numbers. He hosted it eight times – I feel like I remember every single one of them and I never imagined that I’d one day have the chance to be up on that stage myself.’

  Two months previously, while he was in London promoting his epic Australia, he received the call asking if he wanted to host the Oscars, which was to be aired on US network ABC on 22 February. The phone in his hotel room rang at 1.30am, when Hugh and his wife Deborra-Lee were asleep: ‘My reaction was, as they say in Australia, like a stunned mullet. I was shocked and very excited. I said to my wife, who was sleeping beside me, “Baby, you’re in bed with the host of the 81st Academy Awards!” She started jumping up and down, and I started jumping on the bed. Neither of us got to sleep for three or four hours after that. I felt like I had arrived, but way, way before my time.’

  Even his son got in on the act when he found out and commented, ‘You know what the headline should be, Dad? “Oscar’s dad hosts the Oscars.”’ A scriptwriter in the making?

  One of the first things Hugh did when he returned to the US was to go out and get fitted for a new tuxedo. He owned up to trying the suit on day after day and to not really taking it off for two months.

  Notwithstanding all the hype associated with his appointment, there were some critics who believed selecting Jackman to present the show was a huge mistake. Some had their knives out ready to slice him to shreds even before he had stepped out into the spotlight. Los Angeles Times TV critic Mary McNamara wrote: ‘Will the Oscar gift baskets include smelling salts? Yes, Jackman was just named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, and yes, he is Wolverine of X-Men, but do we want Wolverine hosting the Oscars? Probably not.’

  All the same, the Academy knew what they were doing when they tapped into the Jackman appeal. TV ratings had been on the slide in recent years. In 1998, when the most popular film of all time, Titanic, swept the ceremony, 57.25 million Americans tuned into the US broadcast. In 2008, when the critically acclaimed but little-watched No Country for Old Men won Best Picture with Jon Stewart as host, the US TV audience was a mere 31.76 million. The year before, when The Departed won Best Picture, 39.92 million watched.

  The Academy was aware that the Australian had been solely responsible for recharging the flagging Tony Awards in his first year as host in 2003, and had then been rehired in 2004 and 2005, and had actually won an Emmy for his 2004 hosting job. It was Hugh’s quick wit and ability to make off-the-cuff remarks at unrehearsed moments that won over the producers of the Oscars. One year, he famously wandered down into the Tony Awards crowd, grabbed Sarah Jessica Parker, pulled her on stage and then began thrusting his pelvis, à la Peter Allen, at the Sex and the City actress. Everyone loved it. Nicole Kidman was in the audience watching, probably wishing she could disappear in case her co-star plucked her out: ‘Nic is notoriously shy. I’ll never forget, at those Tonys, Nicole was sitting in the front row, and she looked up at me and mouthed, “Don’t you dare!” But I do love things going off-script. I hope there will be some spontaneity. If people know what to expect, then your party’s dead,’ commented Hugh.

  He aimed to have a good time, turning the night into a big celebration. A sense of community was the key: it pleased him that the producers planned to take the show in a different direction and they had asked him to take the first step. They all knew the outcome of the show wasn’t changing. There were 24 awards to give out, yet everyone agreed that the show should be less about the business of award-giving and more about putting the ‘show’ back into showbiz.

  He also appreciated the Oscars was a completely different beast to the Tony Awards. It was much bigger and could be a lot nastier! There was so much
hype, so much anticipation – one wrong move and it could spell the end of someone’s career. He chatted with ex-host Steve Martin on the phone and he gave him some great tips: ‘The first five or six minutes you’re going to have possibly the best audience you’ve ever had in your life, because all of them know they’re going be on camera at any moment, none of them have lost yet and they’re all sort of generally ready for a good time.’ He advised him from that point on to just move it on quickly.

  Jackman also sought advice from other past hosts, including Whoopi Goldberg and celebrities renowned for working a room for laughs, such as British comedian Ricky Gervais, who co-wrote and starred in the hugely successful comedy shows, The Office and Extras. And it was apparent from listening to Hugh’s lines in the opening sequences that the Gervais influence was written all over them.

  Hugh knew he wasn’t a stand-up comedian and didn’t intend to be. The pressure was taken off slightly because no one expected him to come out and do seven minutes of bang, bang, bang jokes. Instead, the producers encouraged him to do what he did best, and to be himself.

  Like everything he does, Hugh worked hard at getting it just right. He spent hours and hours in rehearsals, first in New York before jetting out to Hollywood for a final week of run-throughs; he appeared focused on the role, rarely eating or stopping for rest. It was the first time an Australian had hosted the movie industry’s big night. In addition to working with a group of writers, he doubled up on his regular once-a-week singing lessons.

  It was obvious to everyone involved that even the most professional showman can struggle with nerves: ‘There have been moments in my life where I’ve been nervous going on stage, that’s for sure, and I know I’ll have a butterfly or two, ‘cause yeah, you wanna have a couple.’ But he knew he had to enjoy it, too. ‘The way I see it is if I’m not going to have a good time, then how can anyone else have a good time? You know, you’re the host – it’s not really about you. Ultimately, it’s your job to set the tone and I always used to say to myself, I’m glad I do what I do. Because imagine being a hundred metre runner in the Olympics, everything has to be perfect on that day. But I suppose in showbiz, this is about as close as I’ll come, because there’ll never be so many people watching something that I do, at one time, ever.’