In the robot boxing drama Real Steel, actor Hugh Jackman plays Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who is forced to hustle for robot fights wherever he can get them, in order to earn enough money to survive. In a world where 2000-pounds, 8-foot-tall hunks of steel rule the ring, the stakes are brutal and the arenas are no-holds-barred. Already verging on rock bottom, Charlie reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a discarded robot that he believes could be a championship contender. You can watch some clips here.At the filmâs press day, Hugh Jackman talked about establishing the father-son relationship at the core of the film, how both he and his kids would love to have a robot of their own at home, and that he thinks it would be fun to explore Maxâs teenage years, if thereâs a sequel for the film. He also talked about his thoughts on Eddie Murphy as the next Oscar host, preparing a one-man show for Broadway, returning to the Wolverine character, and taking on Les Miserables, which even prompted him to sing a bit. Check out what he had to say after the jump.For the audio of this interview click here.Question: Were you familiar with the Richard Matheson short story before shooting?HUGH JACKMAN: I actually didnât read it until about the second week of shooting, and it was Don Murphy who gave it to me. He said, âYouâve read it right?â I said, âActually, no, I havenât, but Iâve seen The Twilight Zone episode.â So, it was great to read it. I should have read it before I started. Thereâs some good stuff in it. Itâs terrific. He was a great writer. I want to read more of his stuff. What was it like working with Sugar Ray Leonard? JACKMAN: Of all the things that he told me, and there were many, the thing that really affected me the most was his insistence about the importance of the corner man, which is effectively what I play. Not as much the fighter, but the corner man. And, he talked a lot about Angelo Dundee, and how he was the difference between winning and losing in some fights. Heâd be behind the monitor for some scenes doing, endlessly doing right left. He looked over and said, âThey will only believe these fights, if you and the corner are connected. You have to be the emotional strength. You have to be the wisdom. You have to be the spine of that fighter.â It was a great bit of advice.Your character has a tough relationship with his son. Being a dad yourself, was it hard to do that?JACKMAN: After a few days, (director) Shawn [Levy] actually pulled me and Dakota [Goyo] aside and said to both of us, âLook, Dakota, youâre a very well brought up and polite kid. Hugh, you genuinely like children. Youâve got to stop that, immediately. Go further. Keep going. Iâll tell you, if youâve gone too far.â There were several times when heâd call cut, and Iâd see Dakota look over to his mom, like he was going to get into trouble. âThey told me to say this. Itâs okay.â Because it obviously goes against the grain. Having said that, I do have two children and there are times you want to say things that you are not allowed to say, right? It was nice to be able to let them rip for three months. It was good therapy. Have your kids seen the movie? JACKMAN: They love the movie, oh my god! Itâs the first one of my movies theyâve seen. If you think about it, thereâs been nothing else, really, thatâs applicable for them, apart from a couple animated movies Iâve done. They canât wait to see it again. My son did say, âSo, Iâm allowed to drink sodas for breakfast now, am I?â But generally, for them, they just fully got into the story of these robots, and were cheering for them. I saw both of them have a little tear in their eye. My mother-in-law was in the same screening and she was crying, and my wife. They all loved it. I was like, âThis is a great thing.âDo they want a robot at home now?JACKMAN: They would love to. I would love to have a robot at home. I want Atom. I tried to smuggle it out. Itâs difficult. Itâs very heavy and hard to put in the boot of the car â the truck of the car.What is the appeal of robots to kids?JACKMAN: I think they represent power. First of all, in our movie, youâre controlling [the robots] and they have all the power that they lack in real life. And so, with kids, particularly in this movie, and as we say in the movie, the leap of their imagination, to them being real and alive and autonomous, is not far. For us, obviously, itâs a long way to make that leap. I think thatâs part of the reason.Your son and your characterâs son are the same age. How do you interact with your son, on your days off? What kind of dad are you? JACKMAN: Well, a buddy of mine had a rule, which I stole, which is no screens during the week, so no TV or computer, or anything like that. Really, kids nowadays, unlike us, have very little time. They seem to be at school longer. They have after school activities. By the time youâve eaten, showered and dressed, itâs over. So, thereâs not much time for it, anyways. Iâve got to be honest, I know a lot of my sonâs friends are right into it, but heâs a natural born artist. If I was born now, I would be fully hooked on every video game going. I have no doubt. He sometimes reminds me. Iâll ask him, âHey, you want to play on the Wii?â I love the Wii tennis. Iâll say, âDo you want to play me?â Heâll say, âDad, itâs a beautiful day. Letâs go outside.â And, Iâll go, âAll right, yeah.â I donât worry for him, so much. Ava, on the other hand, is different. Sheâs only six, so sheâs not really into video games, but Ava is the only kid that Iâve seen that, when she watches a movie, she has tears running down her face because she doesnât blink. Sheâs so drawn into it, sheâll have tears running on her face. So, I think Iâm going to have to have stronger rules for her.Has fatherhood influenced the types of roles you choose?JACKMAN: Truthfully, not really. Itâs icing on the cake. Sometimes those animated movies, absolutely. I do that because I know my kids will love it and itâs nice, but no, not really. My kids are not that interested in my movie career, by the way. My son, in particular, never talks about it. He just wants me as his dad. Iâm never in that position where Iâm like, âOh, this is going to make him happy.â Itâs almost like Iâm fully aware that they want to push that to the side. But, it was a great moment to be able to sit with all three generations, loving that movie. Can you talk about you work out regimen for this film, and how your body changed, as a result of it?JACKMAN: I was going to do a movie called Selma with Lee Daniels, where I had to put on a lot of weight, and it got cancelled at the last second. That got cancelled about three months before we started this film, so I was big. I was overweight. I had been training with a lot of weights, but more like a sumo-wrestler would. I was eating a lot, and [doing] no cardio. I was getting bigger. I had a paunch. The film got cancelled and I thought, âYou know what? This is going to work for Real Steel. Iâm playing an ex-boxer.â You need to believe that he could have been in the ring, but heâs not training. So, I rang Shawn and he said, âThatâs a brilliant idea. Thatâs fantastic. In that first scene, when you fall out of bed, youâre going to be there with that paunch. It will immediately tell people this is not Wolverine. Theyâll love it. Itâs going to be perfect.â And, I came in for the fitting, a month before, 20 pounds heavier than I was in the movie. Itâs not easy for me to be that weight, by the way. I was eating a lot and pushing a lot of weight with low reps and heavy weights. They hadnât told the costumer that I was coming in heavier, so it was literally like I was putting on my sonâs clothing. I could barely put the jeans on. I really looked big. And, I remember Shawn going, âItâs too much. Letâs pull back on the realism. You know what? We really donât need that.âWhat did you see in Dakota that let you know that he was right for Max? JACKMAN: Well, thereâs something about that part, where you need to fall for him before heâs said a word. Thatâs the magic that [Steven] Spielberg was talking about, when he was talking to Shawn about the casting. In a lot of the movie, heâs trying to be tougher than he is and older than he is. Heâs trying to be a tough guy. But, you instinctively have to know that thatâs all a front. So, Dakota just has that. In the room, as I was auditioning with him, I remember looking over to Shawn, and going, âThis kidâs a great actor,â but that other little x-factor, I was not 100% on. You could see on the video and it all looked good. On every film, you do a lighting test. You go into a location and it gives the DoP a chance to see what lights work on you, etc. You donât act, or anything. You just sit there, stand and move around. They said, âOkay, Dakota, go out there.â It was at the Crash Palace site. So, we went out there and there was one point when he looked up and they were filming, and the camera was just pushing in very slowly on his face, and Shawn was talking with the lighting guys, so you could see Dakota was just drifting off a little bit, just thinking about something, and I looked over and this woman by the monitor started to cry. He wasnât even acting. It was just something about him. He has an old soul quality to him. He has a soulfulness, like a purity. You see the innocence of a child. You can imagine him believing in that robot, and yet thereâs an old soul quality to him. Thatâs when I was like, âAll right, thank you.âAs the veteran, what did you impart to Dakota?JACKMAN: I really thought I was going to have to do a lot more with Dakota. Shawn is a master of directing younger actors. Heâs done it all his life. He has four kids himself, and he really mentored him through this. The very first day, he was doing everything right and I said to him, âWhat do you think of this scene?â It was the scene at the Crash Palace. He said, âMan, when youâre doing that, I should say, âItâs a headset. You talk into it and you tell him what to do.ââ And, I was like, âShawn, I think we need another take. Can we just do another take?â And, he goes, âWhat are we doing?â And I said, âJust do that line. Do that line.â And, he did it and itâs in the movie. Sometimes I would encourage him to ad-lib, even if it was a bad idea, and I would say, âThatâs awesome!â And, Shawn would encourage him to. Very quickly, I wanted to give him that feeling of, âHey, this is my set, as much as yours. Weâre in it together. Thereâs no delineation of power here. Weâre all just actors.â Very quickly, he caught onto that. And, the other thing was playing with him and never feeling like an adult. Thatâs not dynamic in the movie. So, I would do practical jokes with him, all the time, and just muck around. On weekends, we would hang out together. I knew that it was important for him to feel comfortable. Dakota is a very polite boy. Literally, when I met him, it was, âHi, Mr. Jackman, how are you?â And I was like, âThis dynamic is not going to work for this film.â I know heâs a good actor and all, but for chemistry on film to work, it has to be beyond acting. There has to be something really tangibly there, and he needed to feel real comfortable. My God, within a month, all that stuff was just all him ad-libing. He was giving it back, very well. Did you learn something from him? JACKMAN: Always. I find that kid actors are great reminders of the simplicity of acting. As you get older, you can sometimes complicate things a little more. You can become too aware of, âOkay, this is the scene emotionally. This is where we need to be. Weâve got the climax coming up.â You can start to analyze it too much. And, kids are just happy to be and they have a real natural ability just to listen. Dakota is a very natural actor. It was so easy to be in scenes with him.Is Wolverine 2 your next movie? JACKMAN: No, Les Miserables. Iâm doing that. Tom Hooper is directing that. Thatâs going to be at the beginning of next year. Before that, Iâm doing a one-man show on Broadway, and then Wolverine. So, itâs an eclectic year. Are there any aspects of Wolverine that you get to explore this time, that you didnât get to with the previous films? JACKMAN: Absolutely. Every time, I feel. This time, more than anything, I think weâve really nailed down that character. I think the audience and myself and the writers were like, âEnough of the [missing] memory with âWho am I? What happened in my past?ââ Thatâs enough. I think weâve explored that a lot. Now, itâs this great backdrop of Japan, which is going to be fantastic for this character. Itâs a very rich source material with the comic book. And, thereâs more ladies in this movie, which is a nice change from the last one. It was very testosterone heavy.Are you impulsive, like you character in this movie? JACKMAN: No, Iâm not. Iâm married to someone like that, though, and Iâm attracted to people like that. As my wife says, âYouâre just even Steven.â Iâ m a bit of a pack horse. I donât really understand the lure of gambling. Iâm like, âThe game is pretty boring. Itâs not that good a game.â I donât understand working hard for your money, and then just giving it away. I donât get it. Thatâs not my personality. Even when I was younger, if Iâd go out with my mates and weâd going out drinking or something, Iâd be four or five drinks in and be like, âEh, diminishing returns.â And, all my mates were like, âCâmon!â I just never really had that in me, which Iâm grateful for, actually. But, my wife is totally like my character, Charlie. She brings that out of me. What are your faults? JACKMAN: There are many. If you ask my wife, the biggest fault is my inability around the house. She says the only thing handy about be me is that Iâm close by. And, I have a terrible memory. Iâm bad at saying no. I often double-book. There are a lot of things. Trust me, actors are very good about their faults. Thatâs why I donât read reviews.Once you had read it, was there anything in the short story or the Twilight Zone episode that you wanted to incorporate into the film or your performance?JACKMAN: No. Maybe because of the Wolverine thing, I think people get too caught up in the inside of it all. Itâs fun to do that, and itâs nice to do that, but I instinctively think of the person whoâs just come to have a good time at the movies and knows nothing about it. If you get too heavy with the nods and winks, people get a sense that theyâre excluded from something. If theyâre in screenings and everyoneâs laughing, and they donât know what the hell itâs about, somehow you feel excluded from the party, or like youâre not in the inner circle. As a performer, thatâs the worst thing you can do to an audience. Itâs fun, but you have to be very careful with it.What is it like to work with Kevin Durand? JACKMAN: We were both on Broadway, around the same time. He was doing Tom Sawyer on Broadway, so we met there. We are kindred spirits. Heâs a great friend. I think heâs one of the most under-rated, talented actors in Hollywood. People havenât even begun to see the extent of what he can do. I just found out last week that he was the stand-up comedian of 1994, in Canada. He won that. I was like, âYouâre a freak man.â I already thought he was a freak. He said, âYeah, I used to do stand-up.â I said, âYou used to do stand-up? Thatâs the pinnacle, right?â Iâm happy to be in any movie with him. You can see, in this film, he made a character that could have been uninteresting, really memorable. Personally, as a fan of his, I was to see him with name above the title. I think heâll get there, too. How do you feel about being shirtless again? JACKMAN: Itâs funny because I said to Shawn, âI just promoted a movie and everyone was asking me, âIs it in your contract to take your shirt off in every movie?,â and it really took me back.â So, he said, âYeah, youâre right. No tank-tops, just T-shirts. When youâre boxing, youâve got the hoodie on. This is not going to be about that.â That scene was always in the script, but neither of us thought about it. I remember the big print saying, âCharlie changes in the boxing ring because heâs got one bag of clothes and he lives in a truck. He has no bedroom, no house, no nothing.â We were like, âThatâs a great story point.â I blew it again!So, is the shirt remaining on for Les Miserables?JACKMAN: I actually told that story to Tom Hooper, because one of the first scenes actually shows him in the prison camp that heâs in, being punished and whipped, and stuff like that. I said, âI can tell you right now, if you have me with my shirt off, people are going to say, âYou were just doing what Jackman demanded in his contract.ââ And he said, âI donât think we need to do it without your shirt,â and I said, âGood.â So, when you see the movie, youâll see.Is it intimidating to take on something like Les Miserables, or is that the fun of it?JACKMAN: Yeah, but that is the fun of it, exactly. Itâs intimidating, and thatâs the fun of it. I feel, you have to be a little bit intimidated or a little bit nervous. The percentage is probably 80/20. If 80% of you is really, really confident youâre going to nail it, and 20% of you is genuinely, really not so sure, thatâs the kind of percentage you need to push yourself on, to do better than youâve ever before. If itâs 100%, then I feel the audience can feel it. I feel like Jean Valjean is one the great literary figures in musical theatre. Itâs one of the most famous characters of all time. Whoever is playing it, it should be them at their best, you know? Thatâs why Iâm singing everyday and have been for awhile. And, thatâs why I auditioned for the part. I rang Tom Hooper and I said, âTom, Iâm coming in and Iâm auditioning for you.â He said, âWell, I actually havenât made my deal yet.â I said, âI donât care. Iâm coming in now.â That audition was three hours. This was not one where I was going to sit back and wait to see if it came to me or not. I chased it.How many times have you seen the musical? JACKMAN: Three times.Is there a difference in your approach to theatrical work, as opposed to movie work?JACKMAN: Not really. Obviously, on the day there is a difference. As an actor, you have many tools â your body, your voice, your emotions, mentally. In film, you have your eyes because they communicate your thought process. In fact, generally in film, what you donât say is more important than what you say. Thatâs not so much the case for stage. However, if you havenât done that work and you donât know whatâs going on internally, particularly for a musical, and thereâs not real thought behind the song, then no one will feel anything. But, essentially, acting is acting. Itâs the same thing. So, Iâm forever grateful that I did theater first. I think itâs much easier to be able to distill the technique from theater. Itâs not like, âLetâs just add water to film.â There are genuine muscles that you need on the stage, that you donât develop in film.In your one-man Broadway show, will you be singing? JACKMAN: You bet! I have an 18-piece orchestra. I sing. I dance. I tell some stories. I ad-lib a bit. Peter Allen, who I did in The Boy From Oz, makes a comeback. Itâs genuinely my idea of a really good time. I figure, if Iâm not having a good time, no one else will.You have a pretty full schedule coming up, but do you have any thoughts about what you would like to see in a sequel for Real Steel? JACKMAN: The first thing that really intrigues me about a sequel is that Dakota is now 12, and heâll probably be 13 [before we did a sequel]. Thatâs a whole different human being from a 10 or 11-year-old. How great would that be? Rather than hiding from the fact that heâs getting older and going through adolescence, what will that add to the mix? You have success. You have a very fragile bonding, if you think about it. Theyâre coming together, but itâs still fragile. Itâs the same thing with Evangeline Lilly. Itâs not like theyâre at the altar getting married, at the end. Thereâs a lot sort thatâs unresolved. Letâs see what happens with the pressures of success. Who knows where itâll go? I hope we do another one. But, letâs not think about that for awhile. Itâs like asking a team whoâs about to be in the Super Bowl, âDo you think youâll make the Super Bowl next year?â Letâs not think about that.Has Brett Ratner asked you to do any musical numbers for the next Oscars? JACKMAN: No. I did email him to congratulate him on what I think was an inspired choice of Eddie Murphy. I said, âI donât know what you did. Iâm sure theyâve asked Eddie for the last 25 years, and I donât know how you got him across the line.â As an Eddie Murphy fan, particularly with his stand-up, and heâs a big movie star, I canât wait to see what he does. Nobody knows, and thatâs always the most exciting thing about the Oscars. You never really know whatâs going to happen, and I think having Eddie will exacerbate that.
Hugh Jackman Interview REAL STEEL
Hugh Jackman talks about Real Steel, the father-son relationship in the film, working on Broadway, The Wolverine, Les Miserables and more