To celebrate the release of The Wolverine this week, JOE looks at the eclectic career of the film’s superstar, Mr Hugh Jackman.
We’ll tell you all about him because we presume you probably don’t know Jackman.
Face it. The man is a better singer, a better actor, a better dancer, better looking, and probably just a better all-round human than you.
And we all still love him in spite of this. That’s not really that surprising though, considering that the Antipodean actor is reknowned as ‘The Nicest Guy In Hollywood.’
An established stage actor for many years, Jackman hit Hollywood in a big way and is now the proud owner of the great fact that he has played his superhero character more times than anyone else has theirs, appearing as Wolverine a whopping seven times.
That’s more than Christian Bale as Batman, more than Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man and more than, ahmm, Ben Affleck as Dare Devil.
If you haven’t checked out the X-Men films then you most definitely should. Well, the first two Bryan Singer films anyway. Here are some of the Logan’s best bits:
JOE’s favourite appearance though is also his most brief, it’s his excellent cameo in X-Men: First Class:
And, just to add to his already legendary X-Men status, Jackman claims that he often wears his Wolverine costume in bed with his wife, even though it’s undoubtedly a nightmare for the sheets.
Well, if you had the outfit then you would too wouldn’t you?
Jackman also starred alongside fellow comic-book hero Batman/Christian Bale in the excellent Christopher Nolan magic mystery, The Prestige:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rkf__xBeV8
As with any Aussies, the actor isn’t afraid to take the mick out of himself either as he brilliantly showed us in a sketch for Movie 43. The film itself is one of the worst ever made, but Hugh ‘balls-on-my-neck’ Jackman’s deadly serious scene with Kate Winslet is a definite highlight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duPq4YjSzQc
But wait, there’s more. Of course we couldn’t big up the man’s singing and dancing skills without actually proving it to you.
It was those skills that bagged him one of the most scrutinised jobs in Hollywood – hosting the Academy Awards. Jackman got his shot back in 2009 and here’s a clip of his excellent opening monologue.
He didn’t stop there though and went one better with his fantastic duet with Neil Patrick Harris at the opening of the Tony Awards in 2011:
He may not have Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton in real life but the actor is still made of tough stuff as this clip of him appearing on Oprah shows. No, not because it was Oprah you donkey, but because he zip-lined his face into a giant light installation and had only a tasty glass of Chiraz as treatment.
No Calpol for this guy…
We know what you’re thinking – not the face, not the face, NOT THE FACE!!!!
And so there you have it folks, Hugh Jackman – an all-round legend.
In the meantime you should catch up on your Jackman and check out some more of his films including X-Men, X2, The Fountain, The Prestige and of course, his brand new release, The Wolverine.
We’ll leave you with this Swordfish clip though where Jackman’s computer hacker has the job interview from Hell… or Heaven, depending which way you look at it:
The Wolverine is in Irish cinemas from 25th July.
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