The Wolverine - Pre-Production

[Jamie]

Interesting article on Comic blog about expectations for Wolverine:

"Just recently we were treated with almost FULL casting announcements for this movie. I really do approve all of the casting. Obviously we have Hugh Jackman back, who always delievers as Wolverine. Even if he is in a bad film, given a terrible skript to work with, he still always gives a strong Wolvie-Performance, still always doing the best he can. On top of that Hugh Jackmans Wolverine is the longest standing superhero role since Christopher Reeves Superman. It has been 12 years since the beginning of the franchise, and Jackman is still the only actor ever to portray Wolverine. That alone owes him respect. He is just perfect for the role. Yeah, he might be a bit too tall and too slim, but he really pulled off an iconic performance with this character. It is almost as memorable as Harrison Fords Indiana Jones.
Read more at www.comicbookmovie.com/fan_fic/news/?a=64329#tcXeU48yULZExAhU.99"

[JH4HJ]

Hugh has offered the role of Wolverine Stunt Double to the Aussie PM. :o

"(Gillard has been offered) a stunt double role for myself,” Jackman joked. “We just did a quick audition and she was incredible.

“I don't know if you know of her martial arts background but this new film is set in Japan and she's pretty handy with a sword and nunchucks."

Full article and short video clip here:
www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/hugh-jackman-lauds-pms-talent-with-the-blade/story-fn59niix-1226433856902

[hu4601]

Jul 23, 2012 22:37:53 GMT -5 JH4HJ said:

Hugh has offered the role of Wolverine Stunt Double to the Aussie PM. :o

"(Gillard has been offered) a stunt double role for myself,” Jackman joked. “We just did a quick audition and she was incredible.

“I don't know if you know of her martial arts background but this new film is set in Japan and she's pretty handy with a sword and nunchucks."

Not sure whether Hugh's comment was deliberately made as a political statement,( I doubt it, as he's usually so diplomatic) but anyone who knows Australian politics would have smiled as they remembered the way Julia Gillard came to power by "back stabbing" the incumbent Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a few years ago. Gillard's popularity is at an all time low at the moment and there are talks of her being replaced as leader by ....Kevin Rudd !! I think the media will have a field day with Hugh's comment-deliberate or otherwise.

Cheers.



Full article and short video clip here:
www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/hugh-jackman-lauds-pms-talent-with-the-blade/story-fn59niix-1226433856902

[mamaleh]

Here's a stupid question: I have seen her name in print many times, but I'm not sure I've heard it spoken aloud. Is "Gillard" pronounced with a hard or soft "G"?

[JH4HJ]

Here ya go, Ellen - a newsclip with a bit of Hugh, and the commentator mentions the Aussie PM by name.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=flndcJnWD3U

Slightly longer variation --
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-xGlRVzQfA

[nevaeh777]

What on earth has he done to his right eye? The poor thing. It looks so sore! Our boy certainly has a thing for eye injuries. Either that or he has a bad case of pink eye!

[nevaeh777]

Ahhhh, so this explains it. Apparently he was playing a game of tag with the kids and got the eye injury! Here's the link:

www.zimbio.com/pictures/c4QGF-EiTaT/Actor+Hugh+Jackman+suffering+nasty+eye+injury/SqJs7zXCOGr/Hugh+Jackman

[mamaleh]

That's the same eye he injured during the zipline entrance, isn't it? Aw, hurry and heal, Hugh. After all, Wolvie can't have visible injuries.

Valerie, thanks for that news clips. It's good--with a hard "g"--to finally know how the PM pronounces her surname.

Ellen

[nevaeh777]

Jul 24, 2012 19:07:51 GMT -5 mamaleh said:

That's the same eye he injured during the zipline entrance, isn't it?

You're absolutely right Ellen!

www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/hugh-jackman-puts-on-a-brave-face-after-being-injured-during-oprah-show-filming/story-e6frewz0-1225971998038

[chessie]

I imagine it would be irritating to wear contact lenses with that injury. Ouch!

Carol

[jo]

A summary of some stuff from the press conference --

www.skynews.com.au/showbiz/article.aspx?id=775388

Australian actor Hugh Jackman has expressed his sadness following the mass shooting at a US screening of The Dark Knight Rises.

'All I can echo is the sorrow I feel for the families, the community, for everybody,' he says.

'It's an issue that goes way beyond, obviously beyond acting, beyond film or anything like that.

'This is just a tragedy on a level that we have experienced in Australia many years ago in Tasmania and it's devastating and I can't comment on (it) anymore than as a human being and my feelings for those people involved.'

Jackman was speaking in Sydney at a press conference on Tuesday for his new film The Wolverine, alongside its director, James Mangold, and Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Jackman was sporting a red right eye, but it wasn't because of training for the action movie, but rather 'a very energetic game of tag with my kids', which he thinks burst a blood vessel.

Jackman says it wasn't easy getting back into shape for the part, particularly coming from his last role as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.

'That was a particular challenge because Les Mis, I had to start at 83 kilos and I finished at about 97 kilos by the end of the movie,' he says.

'We did have a holiday recently, but it was more like boot camp for me. But the kids and Deb (his wife, actress Deborra-Lee Furness) were happy.'

Shooting of The Wolverine is scheduled to start in Sydney on July 30, after a number of setbacks for the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Last March, director Darren Aronofsky left the project, and Mangold stepped in to replace him. Then the shoot, which was originally meant to be in Japan, was postponed last October because of weather conditions.

Mangold says The Wolverine is based on a series of comics that detail the mutant's journeys in Japan and he refuted reports that Jessica Biel had turned down the lead role of Viper.

'The story couldn't be more of a fantasy frankly, in terms of what I was reading, so it was nothing more than a list of people we were considering and still are,' he says.

Jackman, who has played Wolverine now in five different movies over the past 12 years, says he takes the movies on one at a time.

For The Wolverine, he saw the screenplay and was sold.

'I feel like a golfer, always looking for a hole in one and I thought this was the best script we've had,' he says.

The gain in weight from the early Valjean to end-of- LesMis filming look was quite obvious, especially with how he looked when collecting his special TONY - he looked fuller in the face ( as against the convict Valjean) and he seemed bursting at the seams of his tux

[jo]

A more comprehensive report from a trade paper, The Hollywood Reporter --

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hugh-jackman-james-mangold-wolverine-353499

Hugh Jackman, James Mangold Ready for 'The Wolverine' Shoot

4:25 AM PDT 7/24/2012 by Pip Bulbeck


Hugh Jackman and Julia Gillard

"The Wolverine" star gave the Australian Prime Minister a personal tour of the action film’s set ahead of the start of production next week.


SYDNEY - What does $12.8 million get you in Australia?

A tour of The Wolverine set with Hugh Jackman and directorJames Mangold as your personal guides, if you’re the Australian Prime Minister.

Jackman, Mangold and Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Tuesday announced the start of production on the sequel to X Men Origins; Wolverine, after Jackman had shown Gillard around the art and make up departments and the sets currently under construction.

The $100 million-plus sequel will begin filming at Sydney’s Fox Studios next week.

The Australian shoot for The Wolverine, the story of which is largely set in Japan, is thanks in no small part to a one off federal government grant of $12.8 million, boosting the location tax rebate, which normally sits at 15 percent of a productions qualifying expenditure, to around 30 percent.

And that’s a figure which the industry, including Jackman, are lobbying to see made permanent.

“Hugh’s certainly spoken to me about the importance of this, for getting these big movies, these real blockbusters here in Australia. It is something that Minister Crean is working his way through as he deals with our cultural policy,” Prime Minister Gillard said of the possibility of an increased location offset.

She said that The Wolverine will put $80 million back into the local economy and support around 2000 jobs during the films five month shoot.

Gillard said: “We decided it was a good investment. The NSW Government played its part and I think for our industry – Hugh said to me very consistently as we have walked around, these people with their very special skill sets, they’ve got to work and if we’re not able to provide them with something that holds them in Australia, then they have got to go where they have to go to get work.”

For his part Jackman, also a producer on the film, said he was thrilled to return home to make the film.

“I am so happy to be home, to be shooting a movie of this magnitude here at home is one of the great privileges I have had in my career,” he said.

But Jackman and Mangold wouldn’t be drawn on further casting, or comment on Jessica Biel’s reported withdrawal from the role of mutant villain Viper.

The international cast already includes Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Rila Fukushima and Tao Okamoto.

"It speaks to the incredible craftsmanship [here] that we can make so much of Japan - feudal Japan, urban Japan, sets - all here on our soundstages in Australia," Mangold said.

And Jackman is keen to add to the Wolverine franchise.

"I have been working for 12 years on the Wolverine character and while the franchise will go well beyond me, it really has been the backbone of my career,” he said, adding that he will hand in his Wolverine claws “when I stop loving it.”

“This one has certainly been the most interesting and complex of the Superhero characters. I do take my career one (step) at a time and I feel like a golfer always looking for that hole in one.'

The Wolverine is slated for release by Fox on July 26, 2013.

On an aside, I can't help but be amused by the fact that the last time they filmed a movie together, Hugh and James Mangold were also doing a modern/period piece - but he looked elegant as Leopold in that one

Jo

[Jamie]

Julia does seem to be enjoying the privileges of her office

[jo]

www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2691594/hugh-jackman-wolverine-press-conference-17/

Love the above photo - but can't reproduce it :-/

[mamaleh]

I'll bet he never kissed Kevin Rudd like that.

Ellen

[jo]

Other than Gillard and Rudd, Hugh also hosted Australia's cultural presentation at the Opera House for the state head guests when Howard was the PM and he hosted the meeting of Asia-Pacific nations (including the USA) in Sydney. It was likely that they also met!

Someone once commented that Hugh Jackman is considered "a national treasure" of Australia...but in today's tweets, someone did better than that - she called Hugh Jackman "the national dish" ;D

Seriously, if Hugh ever thinks of a political career ( given his advocacies) once his career as a performer is over -- it would be so easy to think of him as potential PM! Oops, my bias is obviously showing ;D

Jo

[jo]

I just saw my local newspaper ( it is a business-oriented daily) here in Manila - and there was the picture of Hugh and PM Julia Gillard kissing each other (photo below) featured in the "Arts and Leisure" section for the weekend.






Caption (by the newspaper): "LUCKY WOMAN!"



Lol!

Jo

[jo]

From the official Twitter account of PM Julia Gillard --

Julia Gillardþ@JuliaGillard

Talking make up with @realhughjackman on 'The Wolverine' set

http://instagram.com/p/NccATYJAhq

TeamJG

Please click on link for photo.

Jo

[mamaleh]

Hugh looks soooo good in that twitpic.

Ellen

[jo]

He still looks good in a caricature - LOL!

Bharat KVþ@bkv_aaryan

#Wolverine Caricature of "Hugh Jackman" for #Wittygraphy fav.me/d593b43

[ADMIN]

Per Jo's request, the most recent posts have been moved to a new "IN production" thread, which will contain SPOILERS about the movie.

The discussion continues here:
ozalots.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=hughjackman&action=display&thread=85

[jo]

Are you posting a Hugh photo...or just a commercial ad?