Hugh Jackman Interview - Q & A Q How was filming in Prague for Van Helsing? A  I loved it. It was really great. It's a beautiful city. It was a bit of a shock the first month, I don't think it got above zero, it's kind of fun and exciting for a little while but when you have a three year old little boy it can wear a bit thin (laughs). But I'm very lucky to have my wife Debs and Oscar with me when I travel, which they always do. I don't know if little girls are the same but little boys go stir crazy if you can't get them outside and let them run around, they go mental (laughs). So that was a bit of a problem in Prague because it was so cold. But we loved the city, it's magical and quite beautiful and work on Van Helsing was a ball, it really was. The movie is huge, monstrous, the sets were fantastic and I felt like I'd walked on to Indiana Jones! Q Tell me about the character... A I play Van Helsing. I don't know if you ever saw (Francis Ford) Coppola's version of Dracula. He was played by Anthony Hopkins and in the book he is like a 60 year old Dutch professor who is kind of wacky and out there and a bit of a Dracula hunter and eccentric. So this is kind of taking great liberties with Bram Stoker's version but in a good way. It's kind of the young, swash buckling more adventurous version of Van Helsing. He basically hunts down Dracula or any possessed soul; he's out there nailing them. It was a lot of fun and I'm really excited by it. Q When did you first discuss the role with Stephen Sommers? A The day after I'd just finished a workshop for The Boy From Oz. We met at the Four Seasons in New York. I'd heard about it because Stacey Snider had said that Steve was writing a new script and that he had me in mind, which was very flattering. I was so impressed by him. Steve doesn't tell many people this but when he was younger he travelled around Europe and he used to make his money by busking and telling stories, he would be on the street as a storyteller. And he would just make up stories and you could throw him ideas and he would just go for it and he would just rap. If you've met Steve you know he is full of ideas, just so much energy. And at first I heard it conceptually about playing Van Helsing and the Dracula thing and stuff and I was like `OK, is this just going to be a guy fighting three monsters?' Because I don't particularly want to do that. Q That was before you actually met him? A Yeah,  but as soon as I met Steve I realised it was doing to be a lot more intricate than I imagined and then I read the script and that's exactly what  it was. It was rare for me to read a script which structurally and character wise, every act was there. Steve and I had some discussions about certain bits of dialogue or some aspects of the character which I wanted to push forward which he was unbelievably receptive to. So that first time we talked, he gave me a first draft of the script. I was 30 pages in and I knew it was going to be a great film. Q Was there a slight reluctance because it was another iconic role after Wolverine? A I did have a moment of saying `do I go from X Men to this? Another big action adventure movie..' And I was just about to start shooting X Men 2 at the time. And Steve still laughs at that to this day and he said `you're the only actor in Hollywood I know who is frightened of being in two big franchise movies!'  And I laughed at myself too and got over it. A good movie is a good movie and you can't complain about being in a movie want to see two or three of. Q What's Steve like to work with? A Steve is unbelievably efficient as a director. I don't know if you know his reputation, but he never re shoots, no big scenes ever end up on the cutting room floor. He shoots big budget pictures but you get value for money with Steve. He doesn't waste resources, he's organised and he knows what he is doing and the result is that on set it is so much fun. He tells all his actors, he says `don't come to me on the day and say “I don't like this dialogue.“ Because I won't listen to it and I won't respect that. I will hear any question you have but don't come to me with it on the day.' And then what ends up happening is that everyone is prepared and on the day all these new ideas keep coming up, but he doesn't like the process being slowed down by `oh I don't know if I like this line..' just as you are about to shoot your close up. He wants people to have thought about it and be prepared and done their homework. I like that approach. Q X-Men is an ensemble piece. With Van Helsing you are playing the leading role. Are you ready for that? A Yeah (laughs). There was a deliberate choice. Since X Men One I've been offered a few films where, for want of a better phrase, I was the name above the title, as the lead. And it's one of those things where my agent and I talked, I mean I got pretty lucky with X Men, it was my first movie  in Hollywood and from then on I'd wanted to try different things but I didn't want my career to die by trying different things. So I was looking for a movie where it would be above title and when this one came along I thought `this is it..' And also I'm very comfortable with Steve because I think the film he is going to put out is going to be the best version of the script. I think he has a healthy insecurity about it all too. No matter how much success he has, and let's face it he had a lot of success, he is always working to the Nth degree on everything. Q It's a cool look you have as Van Helsing. The hair is pretty amazing... A (interrupts) Hair extensions, mate! Bloody painful, too. I specialise in high maintenance hair characters (laughs). When I first read the script there was a head shot drawn of Van Helsing with the hair and everything and I thought it looked great. We pretty much went for it. But then I had the hair extensions put in, and you don't think about it, but it took ten hours! And when it's done, they're torture. I had hair down to my waist and I couldn't have it cut until I arrived on set in Prague.  My wife was calling me Cheryl... Q How do you set about making a character like this your own? A I always look for the edges, whether it be Wolverine or Van Helsing, these guys are very cool characters. Steve and I agreed you can't play cool, you know Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, whoever it is, they're not playing cool. There are layers of pain, whatever it is, that they are covering up, they are being tough, you have to see behind the eyes that there is stuff going on. And maybe some can play cool, I don't know, but I don't like watching it. I think with Van Helsing I honed on in on the fact that he was great warrior, he was a no nonsense kind of guy, he got his stuff done - and that was all very clear in the script. But there are also some clues to his disillusionment; he's a bit jaded too. I think he's a little world weary because let's face it, it's a tough job. He has to kill these monsters but once they were real people possessed by demons. And by the time the Catholic Church send Van Helsing out there they admit that they have lost a soul to hell basically, but they  just need it killed and out of this world. So his job really means that by killing they are admitting defeat, they have lost a soul and he is the one who has to kill it. Q What was it like physically? A Actually I've always tried to do a lot of my stunts. I'm not an idiot but I quite enjoyed that side of it. They built this road a mile long for this carriage sequence where we are going through the woods. And there were six trained horses and a carriage and basically I get flipped up and I land between two of the horses grabbing on to their bridles and I was actually laying on a tray, a bit like a big dinner tray just to support my back and my legs were dragging along the ground and I was just holding on. As I'm doing this and looking at the camera sort of coming over the top and looking at me, I'm looking down and realising that there is about this much space between the metal bar of the carriage and the ground (indicates about one foot) and if  I actually slip here I'm dead. And I'm between two horses and if they decide to go in opposite directions that wouldn't be funny either. And I'm on about the third take and all of a sudden I got a little bit freaked and the stunt guy came over to me and he says `man, I can't believe you did that. I've never seen an actor do anything like that..' And I'm like `what?' Listen I'm sure it was safe but if it wasn't, ignorance was bliss mate. Q Presumably bumps and bruises par for the course on a film like this? A Yeah, they are but nothing serious and I've been very lucky that way. Actually I was pretty beefed up for the role and was wearing this huge overcoat and boots and had this leather waistcoat. So I had this pretty sturdy costume which would have given me a fair bit of protection. Q What will be some of your abiding memories of filming in Prague? A One of my favourite moments was when we shot in St Nicholas Church, which I think dates back to the 12th Century and is incredibly ornate, gold everywhere and we shot this scene with about 500 extras and an orchestra and it was choreographed by the woman who does Cirque du Soleil. It was a masquerade ball and you couldn't believe these costumes. The designer had these costumes hand made in Rome and these masks, just fabulous. And I walked on the set and it was literally the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. You are used to movie sets looking less than impressive because you know, you can see the joins, they've built one side of the room and you can see the plywood behind it. But the whole place was amazing and we had to do a little scene of me and David Wenham talking with all this going on behind us. And the make up woman called me over to put  the finishing touches to my make up and we sat down on this bench and I said `oh look, this is the organ..' and the organ was covered by this plank of wood. And she said `you know this organ was played by Mozart..' I was like `what?' And on this organ, well, on the wood covering it, there were cans of diet coke, coffee. She takes the cover off and there's the keyboard and I'm playing the keyboard. It was amazing, sat there playing an instrument that Mozart played. That's Prague. Incredible that we were even allowed to shoot in this place because as anyone who knows film crews knows that you never let them shoot in your house (laughs). But it was so incredible, and the history there. I just loved Prague. Deb loved it too. Q What about sequels? A They are doing some kind of TV series using the set we had and based on the Van Helsing thing. I'm not involved in that but Steve is working on that now. I think we will wait until May 8 to see if we are going to do another. Q And you would be happy to do more? A (Laughs) I have no choice but I'd love to do it. I am signed up for two more. Seriously, if there's an audience for this one, I'd love to do more. Q When you were growing up did you have any monster movie favourites? A Actually, I don't remember seeing those... Q Not the Frankensteins or the Draculas? A No. I saw Francis Ford Coppola's version of Dracula, which I liked. I had to watch a lot of the classic old monster movies for this, because there are lots of odes to those movies in the film. Little things for the fans. And almost all of those classic old movies were made by Universal. I'm actually a huge horror movie fan. When I was growing up I used to love things like Salem's Lot, Amityville Horror, Halloween,  Friday the 13th, The Exorcist, The Omen. That kind of horror movie more than the old monster movies. To be honest when I was a kid there weren't a lot of those monster movies around. I've seen Friday the 13th parts one to nine. I still haven't seen ten. Q Finally, I watched your performance in The Boy From Oz last night. Congratulations, it was just great. How are you enjoying Broadway? A Don't get me wrong, I'm having a ball but it's the hardest thing I've ever done. I've played a lot of sport in my time and when I come off stage it feels like I've played a hard game of rugby. And we're doing eight shows a week. I sing 21 songs in the show and by the end it feels like I've been boxing because my stomach feels like it's been pounded because of all the singing. But it's just great, really I'm not complaining. For musical theatre, Broadway is where it's at, it's the place to do it and it's thrilling.		Home Interviews Antoine Fuqua Interview King Arthur Interview Arv Grewal Interview Asia Argento Interview Behind the Scenes of "War of the Worlds" Bernie Goldmann Interview Clive Owen Interview Dakota Fanning Interview Dennis Hopper Interview George A Romero Interview Greg Nicotero Interview The Hulk Press Conference Ang Lee Press Conference Ioan Gruffudd Interview John Leguizamo Interview Kathleen Kennedy Interview Keira Knightley Interview