Hugh Jackman reveals family’s private trauma
The “Boy from Oz” opened up about his father’s death, his family’s mental health, rejecting a role in Neighbours, reprising Wolverine, and why “Deadpool 3” may not, exactly, happen.
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The ‘Boy from Oz’ has opened up on his father’s death, his children’s mental health, rejecting a role in Neighbours, returning as Wolverine, and why Deadpool 3 might not happen.
If Hugh Jackman wins his first Oscar for The Son, the Australian film icon will have his father to thank.
With early Academy Award buzz surrounding the upcoming movie, Jackman has revealed how his relationships with his father and children compelled him to take on the challenging role while grieving loss and death.
“It was like a lightning bolt,” Jackman says in an interview with Variety of the role. “I had to play this part. As a son, as a father, I found it to be devastating, truthful. It felt like a compulsion that I long for as an actor.”
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At a screening of the new movie in New York, Jackman added that he was proud of his kids, 22-year-old Oscar and 17-year-old Ava Eliot, for engaging with mental health issues, unlike the characters of the similar age who struggle in the “deeply personal” story of The Son.
“It’s a cautionary tale, and it deals with some really difficult subjects and I’m really proud of them for the way they engaged with it,” he told People.
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Jackman cried after reading the screenplay for the movie and immediately called the director to offer his part in the movie. His father suffered from Alzheimer’s for 12 years when he took the role of Peter, and they saw each other for the last time shortly before filming began.
When Christopher Jackman died on Father’s Day in 2021, Jackman made the difficult decision to keep filming The Son.
“My father never missed a day of work,” Jackman said. “I could feel him. I knew if he could talk to me, he’d be like, ‘You got to go to work! What are you talking about?’ I felt his presence on the set.”
Soon after his father’s passing, Jackman said he “literally could see him in the corner of the room” while filming scenes on The Son.
“I had an image of him on set, standing behind the action. My father worked incredibly hard — looking after five kids, the weight of the world on his shoulders. I had the feeling of him being completely free. That really helped me.”
Jackman’s father raised the children after their mother abandoned the family in Australia when he was just eight years old.
His role as Peter brought up jackman’s own painful fears of being a parent, and doing a job as good as his father.
“Am I doing the right thing? Big things, little things. Deb[-Lee Furness] and I sometimes agree, sometimes disagree on how to handle things,” Jackman said.
“Just the vulnerability of being a parent: that love might not be enough; that you make mistakes that really impact them negatively; that my upbringing, which was hard and had traumas, may be informing me.”
“The movie itself did change me as a parent. I’m more vulnerable in front of my kids emotionally. I’m more verbal about stuff I’m going through, even if it’s stuff to do with them.”
Interview highlights from this issue of Variety include:
WHY ‘THE SON’ REQUIRED A PSYCHIATRIST ON SET
In one scene, Jackman “just started weeping”. Another had a character threatening self-harm. “The subject matter was really hard,” Jackman said”. “Many days, crew members would say, ‘I need help.’ Some of them would leave for a few hours.”
SAYING GOODBYE TO HIS FATHER
“He was nearing the end. So he was ostensibly gone, mentally. He would still smile a bit. I didn’t know he was going to physically pass away, but I knew it was kind of a goodbye.”
RETURNING AS WOLVERINE AFTER RETIRING THE ROLE
“I went to a screening of ‘Deadpool’ [in 2016]. I was 20 minutes in, and I was like, ‘Ah, damn it!’ All I kept seeing in my head was ‘48 Hours’ with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. So it’s been brewing for a long time. It just took me longer to get here.”
WHY HIS NEXT WOLVERINE WILL BE THE BEST
“The other night, I could hear the velcro go creaking and actually popped open,” Jackman says of bulking up for the role. “I’ve split two pairs of pants.”
“A little part of me now thinks I’d be better at it,” Jackman says. “Is that arrogance of age or something? Wolverine’s a tortured character — more tortured than me. But I always get the feeling of him being comfortable in his own skin. And I feel more comfortable in my own skin now, even though it’s messier.”
WILL WOLVERINE-DEADPOOL TEAM UP BE CALLED ‘DEADPOOL 3’
“Well, not in my heart,” Jackman said. “I’m pretty sure Wolverine wouldn’t like that title.”
STARRING IN THE MUSIC MAN WITH COVID
“It was maddening, because we were in previews, and we were finding things, and I felt like we were just getting a rhythm,” Jackman said. When he got COVID, an understudy was called in. “That time, I thought I was going to go crazy,” he said. “Honestly, I would have gone on if it wasn’t COVID. I guess the show goes on without you. I was like, ‘I need to be there. What’s going on up there?’ I hated it.”
TURNING DOWN A ROLE IN NEIGHBOURS
“I said, ‘I don’t trust that once I get started, I’m going to go back and study,” he said of choosing a three-year drama conservatory in Perth.
BEING FAMOUS IN NEW YORK
“When I first did a movie with Meg Ryan”-- it was the 2001 romantic comedy “Kate & Leopold” — “she said, ‘Oh, New York’s the best!’ I said, ‘Don’t you get bothered here?’ She goes, ‘Everyone’s moving. You can get everywhere. LA’s a nightmare.’”
‘BOY FROM OZ’ WARDROBE MALFUNCTION
At the Radio City Music Hall in 2004, Jackman called Sarah Jessica Parker onstage and forced her to dance in a tight ballerina top.
“I really felt for her that night,” Jackman said. “As soon as she got up onstage, I could tell those boobs were about to come out.”
HIS FIRST JOB AT SYDNEY’S PHYSICAL FACTORY
“I was the guy opening the gym, and in my first three weeks, I slept in twice,” Jackman said. “If you want to see angry people, it’s alpha people who want to be at the gym when it opens.”
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