Q:  Has Bryan called you up said hey we got the Logan’s Run movie moving forward and we want to see you somewhere in Logan’s Run?

HJ: Well I hear it’s, the age cut off is 23, that’s going to be a stretch.

Q: Well you could be the old man.

HJ: I could, but the answer is no, no calls yet (laughing)

Q: You’re pretty busy, finished doing the Prestige, can you talk about that?

HJ: The Prestige, I’ve very excited about, is a movie Chris Nolan directed with Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johanson and Bowie. How awesome is that working with him. The movie is extraordinary, it was an amazing script, I can’t wait to see it and I loved working with Chris.

Q: We all can’t wait to see the Fountain, what’s going on with that?

HJ: Well, it’s got to do with basically, it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before. I am so proud to be in that movie I watch it and go I’m so glad I’m in it. Aronofsky I think is like a Kubrick. But from a marketing point of view, you have to be very careful with how you position, so they always had a plan starting with film festivals, the right film festival to build momentum to then release it. So the movie has actually been ready for a few months I think but they just had to wait for the right film festival, um, can’t announce it, I do know where it’s going but I can’t announce it, I am not allowed to so there is a plan now in place for it. You know and they, there’s time of year they want to put it out, not this time, not that time, they don’t sort of just want to put it out because it is a special movie.

Q: There were rumors that you’d like a role in the next Batman film that Christopher Nolan is doing, anything going on with that or is that just more fanboy stuff?

HJ: It’s just more fanboy stuff, you know there was a lot of joking around on set, I mean there was Christian and I, there was one scene in the movie, I don’t want to tell any details, Chris hates any kind of, there’s a scene where if we were both superheroes we would have leapt in and done something but and both of us are standing there doing absolutely nothing. We were kind of laughing, here you’ve got Wolverine and Batman kind of twiddling their thumbs, there this potentially very heroic situation and we’re like (whistling) and we joked a little bit but I mean I’ll be honest with you if Chris rang me to do something I’d do it, that’s not a, I’m not laying down a “I want to be in this movie or that movie” but he’s an amazing director.

Q: Did you and Bale talk about your respective experiences being part of these huge things?

HJ: Absolutely

Q: Were you both like how did we end up with these iconic mantels that we have to…

HJ: Well I really respected that movie and I really respected what Christian did and I thought that man was similar to what we were trying to do with X-Men is making these characters believable and understanding them so as fantastical as they are you can kind of relate to them. We talked a little bit about that, you know actors talk things like, “what did ya get in the deal?” A little more that than philosophy generally (laughing).

Q: Are there any interesting outtakes and do you still have the same muscles?

HJ: The second answer is no (laughing)

Q: Did you have to do a lot…

HJ:  Yeah, I am probably 15 or 20 pounds bigger than I am now, this is how I am naturally, I work out everyday. I eat a ridiculous amount of food probably 4000 calories a day and I train like a bastard like we say in Australia, I train every morning for about an hour and a half and hit it pretty hard. And I use it as a time to get into character so I play Godsmack and Metallica, really the angriest full on music because if anyone’s done any weight lifting there’s a moment almost in every set which is similar to that moment when you become berzerker rage or you just start crying. Now Wolverine always goes into berzerker rage he never cries, he never has that breaking point, but when you have the heaviest weight possible above you in every set there’s that moment so I crank up the music and I get as angry as I can and daily it’s like a great warm up for playing the character. The first answer is there are many funny takes that you will never see, there is a gag reel that I’ll tell you is the best gag reel I have ever seen. If you ever get your hands on it you will not stop laughing but you won’t get your hands on it.

Q: Ratner in the suit? As Wolverine?

HJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got a little tap on the shoulder like action like a tap, and I was like (laughing) well that’s probably like the height he [Wolverine] is supposed to be so I just sat out and he walks down and I couldn’t see him because I was behind the corridor wall and the next thing I hear is this hysterical laughter from Halle Berry and Brett was fully seriously into it, he’d learned the whole scene and it was a long scene like 2 pages and he’d learned the whole thing and Halle never stopped laughing from beginning to end. I think he was little miffed about that I think he was seriously like I was pretty much as good as you…right? And Halle…anyway… (laughing)

Q: How was adding Kelsey Grammer as a new [character]?

HJ:  I love Kelsey, I mean if you saw the pictures you would never recognize him but Kelsey is, I can’t imagine anyone else playing the role, physically what he is doing is amazing and I thought the look was amazing but if you ever needed proof of why Kelsey Grammer is the only person who could play it that moment when his hand goes from blue to his normal color and it cuts to his eyes, to me that is one of the best moments in the film. I think that kind of says everything.

Q: Going to Marvel, it seems like Marvel had more input on 1 and 2 compared to 3 or was it pretty much the same?

HJ: Same input I think. Well the guy who is second, I don’t know his official title but Kevin Feige, was working full time on the movie and now he’s working for Marvel so his influence was great and he’s very clever but he was always in there at every script meeting…ever meeting, you mean how the plot differs from the comic book or?

Q: Just overall, was there anything that Marvel kind of objected to?

HJ: I honestly don’t know, I hadn’t thought that there was a difference in input. I mean there was a new writer and new director so everyone got to be respectful of giving the movie to them making it their movie so by 2, you know 1 and 2 we were in a flow so it was kind of the same team but I can’t answer, I can’t think of any really huge difference.

Q: This kind of deals with the ambiguity of Xavier’s approach, is he kind of doing the right thing, even at the end when the brotherhood finally attacks you can kind of understand the reasoning, was that always part of the development of this story, there was going to be greater ambiguity?

HJ: Yeah, I think X-Men only works in its ambiguity, I don’t think it works with pure heroes and pure villains. In every character you can see that, I think there’s a case for every character wanting to cure themselves as well. That’s what makes it good. I think that, I’ve read, I don’t know if you ever read Nelson Mandella’s book, but in his last paragraph, you’d have to say he’s probably one of the greatest living human beings and his cause was most just, and at the very end of it he says I question whether I did the right thing in my life because I sacrificed risking a father of a nation for being a poor father to my children because he basically was never there for his kids and he knew that when he went into it. So he’s lived with that guilt and doubt of whether he did the right thing, now that’s Nelson Mandella, and I think if you don’t have that feeling about Xavier that he doesn’t wrestle with it, or if you looked at Henry V, he walks around the camp disguised hearing if he is and wondering if he is doing the right thing, he’s sending people to die no matter how just the cause and I think Xavier knows what’s going to happen, he knows what’s at stake and you have to feel his weariness. Is clamping Jean down doing the right thing? He’s going against nature effectively, you know. That’s what I love about the movies.

Q: What was your favorite stunt?

HJ: Flying back through the trees, I got up to like 80 miles an hour going through there. The first three takes are unusable because it’s like I am on that new Katsu ride, when I go on those rides I’m like giggling the whole time, those first three takes were just me giggling, I couldn’t help it. 80 miles an hour from a standing start, I was at 80 miles an hour in like 4 seconds, so, the stunt guys with me and they are saying alright Hugh, we are going at 60 percent, and I know that means 100 percent they are just saying that for everyone, like take 4 they went to 110 percent.

Q: Who do you play in Happy Feet?

HJ: Happy Feet, I play the father of the main character, Elijah Wood, I am married to Nicole Kidman and her character is like a Norma Jean wannabe and I play an Elvis wannabe so my name is Memphis. He used to be called Elvis until 3 sessions in and they changed his name to Memphis, they said yeah well we just wanted to have him with an essence of Elvis, and so what you’re telling me is that my impersonation was crap? (laughing)

Q: And Scoop with Woody Allen, who do you play in that?

HJ: I play an aristocrat, a modern day Hello Magazine, playboy aristocrat and who’s also into politics and he is suspected of being a serial killer by Woody Allen’s character and Scarlett’s character. To everyone else it’s the most ludicrous thing so they investigate it on their own.