EDDIE THE EAGLE : Promotion and Box Office

[mamaleh]

I saw that show as an adolescent and loved it. I'll never forget how Robert Goulet shook the house when he sang, "But I was wrong, this mo-MENT.....is new." That elongated "ment" syllable gave me goosebumps. The song was "I Don't Remember You." Thanks for the YouTube link, Jo. Nice that it also included the showstopper, "A Certain Girl."

I also saw him not too long before he unfortunately passed away when he took over for Daniel Davis in a revival of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. The gorgeous voice was happily intact.

Ellen

[jo]

More sidelights --

www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/02/24/eddie-the-eagle-taron-egerton-hugh-jackman/80810640/

'Eddie the Eagle' flies anew with Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman

Andrea Mandell, USA TODAY 8:01 a.m. EST February 24, 2016


'Eddie the Eagle' tells the true story of Michael Edwards who took on the ski jumping competition as an underdog at the 1988 Winter Olympics. USA TODAY





PARK CITY, Utah — Rough day? Try Eddie the Eagle.

Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton’s feel-good underdog story will do the trick, thanks to their joyful rendering of how a hapless Olympic hopeful earned a spot at the 1988 Games.

Here’s the tale’s Rudy-like roots: A bumbling athlete, Michael “Eddie” Edwards, narrowly missed making Britain's downhill skiing Olympics team in 1984, so he switched to ski jumping — a sport that most competitors start training for "from the age of five," Egerton says. Edwards managed to qualify for the 1988 Games by a hair, as the sole British entrant. Despite placing dead last in Calgary, Eddie's indomitable spirit transfixed the world watching him live.

“In Australia, we were absolutely enamored by Eddie,” says Jackman, 47, who plays Eddie's brash, reluctant coach. He remembers watching those epic ski jumps in real time. “Because he’s like an honorary Australian — just have a go, don’t take yourself too seriously.”



The key to depicting a folk hero like Eddie, saddled with terrible eyesight and extra pounds, was making him relatable, says Egerton, 26.

“He was such striking looking chap and such an interesting, different sort of personality," says Egerton. "So it was a real challenge in how I was going to bring that to the table — and it not just be a case of putting a pair of funny glasses on and fall over every five minutes."

Producer Matthew Vaughn — who had directed the young British actor in Kingsman: The Secret Service and produced Eddie the Eagle — suggested Egerton for the role, but director Dexter Fletcher wasn't sold. “He’s just too good-looking! That was my flat answer straight out,” says Fletcher.



Egerton’s fix: He ditched the fairly new six-pack he’d gained for Kingsman to get a bit, say, lumpier.

“I am far nearer to Eddie than I am to Hugh Jackman,” he laughs. “If you catch me with a six-pack, photograph it then, because it’s going soon. So for Eddie I got a free pass and I enjoyed it. But Kingsman 2, that is not going to happen.”




Speaking of such, Jackman is munching on a spinach salad that his personal chef just handed him. As the start date for the next Wolverine looms, he says his workouts are more intense than ever.

“Because I’m getting older, it’s getting harder,” he says. “And also, for this Wolverine I want to finish on a high.”


One day on the Eddie set, Jackman suggested he strap on skis and get in on the action. (After all, the real Eddie visited during shooting and jumped 188 meters on a film break.)

“Before we started shooting, he goes, 'Let me do a ski jump,' ” Fletcher recalls. “I’m like, 'Hugh, you cannot do a ski jump.' ” Jackman insisted, but when the actor found himself standing at the mouth of a towering 90-meter ramp, “you realize, absolutely not. If there’s anything in your life worth living for, no.”

Like his family, of course.

"Even a meal," Jackman deadpans. "If you have something in your life you’re looking forward to, you'll never go down that ramp."

[jo]

[mamaleh]

What a great photo. Love it. Hugh looks so protective of the up-and-comer.

Ellen

[jo]

Feb 24, 2016 8:56:57 GMT -5 mamaleh said:

I saw that show as an adolescent and loved it. I'll never forget how Robert Goulet shook the house when he sang, "But I was wrong, this mo-MENT.....is new." That elongated "ment" syllable gave me goosebumps. The song was "I Don't Remember You." Thanks for the YouTube link, Jo. Nice that it also included the showstopper, "A Certain Girl."

I also saw him not too long before he unfortunately passed away when he took over for Daniel Davis in a revival of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. The gorgeous voice was happily intact.

Ellen

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a YouTube upload of I DON'T REMEMBER YOU with Robert Goulet singing it. There are quite a number of covers ( including one by tenor Bryn Terfel) but I am not having any of them.

One song that has stuck in my memory, too, is the choral rendition of ST. PIERRE - I really don't know why.

Btw, I remember going to Macy's one time because they were having Robert Goulet as guest and I was lucky to get a ticket for the event. I discovered Robert's voice when I had a vinyl record of CAMELOT.

Like you, I was able to catch LA CAGE AUX FOLLES when he was in it. Sadly, he passed on not too long after that.


Jo

[mamaleh]

I remember that "St. Pierre" song, sung in French by the pupils in their Montreal school, very well. That show is long overdue for a revival, even though it wasn't a hit back during its run. Hugh would be perfect as Uncle Jacques. And if he and Taron did want to do a musical together (it wasn't his idea, of course; it was suggested by someone in the audience), that would be, I think, the ideal vehicle.

Ellen

[jo]

Hmm...Hugh speaking with a slightly French accent


Jo

[jo]

Ellen,

I found one -- but there is no video, only audio. It sounds like it might have been an unofficial recording, although it is very well done so it could have been done for the production but never released.

It is supposed to be over 10 minutes long, but it stops after his rendition of I DON'T REMEMBER YOU ( including that extended mo-meeennnt)

Too bad, because ST PIERRE succeeds I DON'T REMEMBER YOU in the cast recording/musical.

I DON'T REMEMBER YOU starts at around the 5 minute mark.






Jo

[mamaleh]

Such a glorious score! But I fear we're boring everybody else. Thanks for the find, though. I have a feeling Hugh and Taron will probably not do a musical in NY anytime soon.

Ellen

[jo]

And Hugh usually does not like revivals

Taron's singing doesn't sound like a legit voice, that is needed for older musicals written by the likes of Kander and Ebb.

Will they ever co-star together again? Have you read the two reviews among the last I have posted of EDDIE THE EAGLE? They both likened the mentor/student relationship to Hugh's role in REAL STEEL? But I am not sure that they were not referring to Charlie Kenton and Atom themselves, not Charlie and Max. The simile seems to describe Charlie's flawed mentor persona and the way he taught the gritty never-say-die sparring robot how to box

PS: One of the critics called REAL STEEL as an underrated movie. True - it is heartwarming in a different way and quite well-acted ( even Atom knows how to act, especially in one or two scenes where he seemed to have assumed some sentient quality).

Jo

[jo]

The predictions are modest box office success for EDDIE THE EAGLE, trailing DEADPOOL, GODS OF EGYPT, TRIPLE 9, with a likely weekend totals for EDDIE amounting only to $ 7.5 million.

movieweb.com/box-office-predictions-gods-egypt-deadpool/

Triple 9 is projected to open in second place with $12.5 million, followed by Gods of Egypt in third place with $11.5 million and Eddie the Eagle in fourth place with $7.5 million. Kung Fu Panda 3 will round out the top 5 with $6.4 million.

The projections are certainly interesting, since the R-rated thriller Triple 9 is only expected to open in 2,000 theaters and it currently stands just below "Fresh" at Rotten Tomatoes, with a 59% score. Gods of Egypt is expected to open in 3,000 theaters, while Eddie the Eagle is also opening in approximately 2,000 theaters. While there is no RT score for Gods of Egypt yet, Eddie the Eagle is a critical hit with a 76% Fresh rating. It's possible that Triple 9 potentially out-grossing two PG-13 movies could be a by-product of Deadpool's unconventional success, as fans may be hungry for more R-rated content.

Let's hope EDDIE flies higher than expectations!


Jo

[jo]

Interesting analysis for this weekend's box office predictions --

www.thewrap.com/deadpool-to-dominate-box-office-for-3rd-straight-weekend/

The Merc With a Mouth is set to rule over sword-and-sandals epic “Gods of Egypt,” sports drama “Eddie the Eagle” and crime thriller “Triple 9”

Fox’s juggernaut “Deadpool” will deliver another box-office beatdown this weekend, industry analysts say, with the Ryan Reynolds superhero sendup rolling up another $25 million in its third straight weekend triumph.

The effects-laden sword-and-sandals epic “Gods of Egypt,” the tale of British ski jumper “Eddie the Eagle” and the gritty cops-and-robbers drama “Triple 9” will absorb the blows. They’re all expected to come in with between $7 million and $10 million this weekend.

Those are okay numbers for Open Road Films, which rolls out “Triple 9,” and Fox, the “Eddie the Eagle” distributor, since both films each cost less than $30 million. They won’t be as satisfying for Lionsgate, which is behind the $140 million “Gods and Egypt,” even though much of that was defrayed by a major tax credit from the Australian government to get the film shot down under...




“Triple 9,” also R-rated, revolves around gangsters blackmailed by the Russian mafia and their plan to kill a cop to divert attention from a major heist. The ensemble cast features Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Woody Harrelson, Kate Winslet and Gal Gadot. John Hillcoast directs from a script by Matt Cook.

Open Road has mounted a significant marketing campaign behind the thriller, which is at 57 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and has a higher social-media profile than “Nightcrawler,” another Open Road crime drama that opened to around $10 million in October of 2014. “Triple 9” will be in 2,158 theaters.

“Eddie the Eagle” (PG-13) is produced by Matthew Vaughn, who directed last year’s breakout hit “Kingsman: The Secret Service” for Fox. “Eddie” features that film’s star, Taron Egerton, as the British ski jumper who became a cult hero at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. Dexter Fletcher directs and Hugh Jackman and Christopher Walken co-star.

Critics have it at a strong 78 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes; its social-media profile compares with that of “McFarland, USA,” another sports saga that debuted to $11 million last February. It will be in around 2,000 theaters.




“Gods of Egypt” is directed by Australian Alex Proyas, who earlier oversaw “I, Robot” and the cult hit “Dark City,” along with Brandon Lee’s “The Crow.”

Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless wrote the screenplay, which follows mortal hero Bek (Brenton Thwaites) on his journey to save the world and rescue his true love. He enlists the help of the powerful god Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in an unlikely alliance against Set (Gerard Butler), the merciless god of darkness, who has plunged the empire into chaos and conflict. Also in the cast are Elodie Young, Chadwick Boseman and Geoffrey Rush.

The film drew fire last year when posters featuring its essentially all-white cast were released, and Lionsgate and Proyas apologized for the historically inaccurate casting.

It hasn’t been reviewed yet, but its social-media profile is ominously comparable to that of “Seventh Son,” an expensive action fantasy that tanked last February. “Gods and Egypt” will be in around 3,000 theaters.

One film that won’t be opening wide is “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny.” Instead it will be available for streaming via Netflix and play on a handful of IMAX screens.

[jo]

Insightful feature on Hugh Jackman by the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE --

Hugh Jackman soars as coach in ‘Eddie the Eagle’
By Pam Grady |
February 24, 2016 | Updated: February 24, 2016 12:12pm




The football field of Oakland Technical High School may be an unlikely setting for a sighting of actor Hugh Jackman, but here he is on a recent Saturday with his “Eddie the Eagle” co-star Taron Egerton and director Dexter Fletcher. Jackman sheds his leather jacket and joins recently retired Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, Buffalo Bills’ (and onetime 49er) quarterback Josh Johnson, and teens served by the athletes’ Fam 1st Family Foundation on the field. Jackman’s throwing arm is shaky, but he is the picture of agility as he moves through the ladder and performs other running drills.



“We didn’t even know we were doing this today,” Jackman says when he steps off the gridiron. “But I loved it. It was fun. I love the sport, but generally I’m more of an armchair sportsman at this point.”

As a promotion for “Eddie the Eagle,” this photo op is brilliant, actors in a film about an amateur athlete with a dream mixing and mingling with kids similarly fired up by sport. In a fanciful biopic, Egerton plays the real-life Eddie Edwards, a novice ski jumper who represented England in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. A thickly bespectacled underdog facing long odds, his plucky attitude made him a fan favorite. Jackman plays Bronson Peary, Edwards’ reluctant coach, a once gifted, now dissolute former Olympian — and a wholly made-up creation.

“I had a lot less pressure than Taron had,” Jackman says. “I based my character on Ginger Baker, the drummer. I thought this sport is very rock ’n’ roll, and he was the complete sort of antiestablishment character.”

Just how rock ’n’ roll the sport is Jackman got to see firsthand on set. Though he often performs his own stunts in a movie, he cites diving into the Warriewood blowhole when he was a kid in Australia as his only real risk taking. But one character after another — including Peary — tells Edwards that ski jumping is a dangerous sport. On “Eddie the Eagle,” Jackman came to appreciate that, along with the jumpers’ talent and skill. He remembers one day when two of them landed safely after nearly colliding in midair.


“We are all jaws on the ground, and the two of them just looked at each other and burst out laughing,” he says. “It’s pretty hairy stuff, but I think the movie really benefits from that, because you see a view of that sport I don’t think you’ve ever seen before.”



Jackman may not ski-jump for real, but in one scene, he mimes it when a drunken Peary climbs the enormous, 90-meter jump and, cigarette in hand, takes flight. The sequence is striking, and not just because Fletcher sells the fiction that Jackman is actually ski jumping, but also because it demonstrates the dancer’s grace that made Jackman a stage star in his Olivier-nominated turn as Curly in Trevor Nunn’s production of “Oklahoma!” as well as his Tony Award performance in “The Boy From Oz.”

“It’s very similar,” Jackman says. “Fight scenes in movies is basically dance, as well. I think the thing I’ve always been intoxicated with in this business, the easier it looks, the more enjoyable it is for the audience, but I know how hard that person’s had to work at it. … I love the story of Gene Kelly making Frank Sinatra rehearse that one bouncing-on-the-bed scene (in “Anchors Aweigh”) and Frank sort of bitching about it, saying, ‘I can shoot a movie in eight weeks.’ But you watch that scene and it looks effortless. … That grace doesn’t come easily.”


The real Eddie Edwards, 52 now and, according to Jackman, still occasionally jumping, visited the production on location in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria.

“He spent a lot of time staring up at the jumps,” he says. “I think he found the filming process very slow and was desperate to jump.”


Jackman, who says he is enjoying his work more now than he ever has before, can relate to that feeling of wanting to be where the action is. But he also, perhaps surprisingly, relates to Edwards’ struggle as an outsider and an underdog. The beloved Wolverine to millions of “X-Men” fans was once a struggling neophyte to whom success seemed like a chimera.

“Eddie is just a great example of going and just keep on going,” Jackman says. “I just remember when I first began at drama school, I did a one-year course and then I did a three-year course, but when I started, I knew nothing. I didn’t know what I was doing. It was just clear that I was getting it wrong all the time. I’ve felt it once or twice on a set, too, where you just don’t feel like you’re doing great and people just keep their distance from you. When everything’s going great, people want to be around you. But when it’s not, it’s a lonely feeling.”



Pam Grady is a San Francisco freelance writer.



Eddie the Eagle (PG-13) is playing at Bay Area theaters.

[jo]

Variety talks about the looming box office failure of GODS OF EGYPT...and talks briefly of the box office expectations for EDDIE THE EAGLE and TRIPLE 9 --

variety.com/2016/film/box-office/gods-of-egypt-box-office-1201713987/

“Gods of Egypt” isn’t the only new release trying to get out from under the “Deadpool” juggernaut. Open Road will field “Triple 9,” a $20 million heist thriller from John Hillcoat (“The Road”) that stars Casey Affleck and Chiwetel Ejiofor, in 2,205 locations. Fox will offer up “Eddie the Eagle,” a $23 million sports dramedy about an unlikely Olympian with Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton, in 2,038 locations. Both films should earn roughly $10 million

$23 million production budget for EDDIE THE EAGLE ??

Maybe that was why they could only afford a pair of blue jeans for Hugh

Seriously, it seems they spent much more for the marketing of the movie than what they gave Dexter Fletcher to work with. Maybe after they saw the potential, after some test screenings and some advance screenings?


Jo

[jo]

[mamaleh]

Hmmm...HJ and Taron E. were AWOL on WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE tonight. Wasn't tonight the night? I'm assuming their appearance will be rescheduled...?

Ellen

[jo]

Except for the likely spellcheck error of his name's spelling, this is a great interview by AIN'T IT COOL NEWS ( AICN) with Hugh and co-star Taron Egerton and Dexter Fletcher --

www.aintitcool.com/node/74515?utm_source=full-feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_term=coolnews&utm_campaign=1310_RSS

Capone talks with EDDIE THE EAGLE stars Taron Egerton & Hugh Jackson (sic) and director Dexter Fletcher!!!

Published at: Feb. 25, 2016, 12:14 a.m. CST by Capone





Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

The story of Eddie Edwards is the story of us. Okay, maybe not quite. But it’s pretty damn hilarious and occasionally inspirations. EDDIE THE EAGLE unveils a slightly fictionalized version of Edwards (played by Taron Egerton of KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE) journey to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary as a the sole member of the British ski-jumping team, who had virtually no experience in the field and only the help of his drunken American coach and former ski jumping champ, played by Hugh Jackman (of VAN HELSING and nothing else). The film is lovingly directed by actor-turned-director Dexter Fletcher and produced by the fine director Matthew Vaughn, who had this script on a shelf for years before rediscovering it, in a sense.

I had a chance to sit down with these three fine gents the morning after we did a quick introductory Q&A before a Chicago screening of EDDIE THE EAGLE, which the crowd absolutely ate up (the feel-good, crowd-pleasing powers of this movie are endless). I caught the three right after they got off a luxury helicopter ride around the city skyscrapers, for a local television feature. They were great fun, and I even managed to squeeze a tiny bit of information out of both the actors about their upcoming sequel projects. Keep in mind that this interview was conducted shortly before it was revealed that Julianne Moore was in the running for the villain in the KINGSMAN sequel or that Jackman’s final WOLVERINE movie would likely be taking on the Old Man Logan storyline and possibly be R-rated. Please enjoy my talk with Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman and Dexter Fletcher…





Capone: Taron, you weren’t even alive when these events happened, so you had to start from square one with this character. You met with Eddie, obviously, but talk about the process of building this character that you had no connection to before you were hired to play him.

Taron Egerton: There’s quite a lot of interview footage of him, and there’s some completely hilarious musical numbers he recorded. [laughs]

Dexter Fletcher: He wrote a book.

TE: He wrote a book which Dexter gave me before we started. It’s not great. It says a bit about him and where he was at at the time. There was an external force in that book, someone else writing it.

DF: Yeah yeah, it was all ghost written.

Capone: I think people assume that with many autobiographies.

DF: What happened was, when he got back, he was absolutely inundated with people who wanted a piece of his story, and it’s not him. That is not him. Same with that song; I think it’s Czechoslovakian or something like that. There’s a video of him in Bucharest or somewhere dancing around fountains. It’s terrible.

TE: That’s right. It was just terrible. I think it was about meeting him and bringing elements of his personality and then also creating the Eddie that I think people, in my opinion, would want given the story. The perception of him was he was this happy0go-lucky, quite innocent guy who just wanted to have a go. That is what he’s like, but I took it to the extreme for the purposes of our movie. In our version, he’s almost asexual. He doesn't have an interest in women [laughs]. I really don’t think the real Eddie was like that. But for the purposes of our story, I feel it works. So he was an amalgam really.

But meeting Eddie was invaluable, and the big thing about Eddie was his complete mind bending enthusiasm and passion for what he does. That was the thing that I took and brought to my Eddie, that almost the total focused, blinkered, how are we going to do this?, nothing else even comes into he equation, you do’t even come into the equation until you’re something that’s going to help me get there.





Capone: That’s funny that you mention he asexual nature because sex plays a role in him figuring out how to do ski jump, at least in the film version. I don’t know how it was in real life, but the whole Bo Derek discussion, which was hilarious. Hugh, you show us your “O” face, and that’s bold for a man to give that away so freely

[Everybody laughs]


Hugh Jackman: I’m not saying that’s the real Hugh Jackman face, but it probably is.

[Everybody laughs]

HJ: It’s probably way worse, way shorter [laughs].

 Capone: But your character is a creation. You get to actually have a little more flexibility in how you create this guy. Talk about that process of creating somebody from scratch.

HJ: One of the first things I thought about these guys is they’re kind of the rock and roll of the Winter Olympics. They are crazy, mad. I think about it as an Australian like surfers. Everyone surfs, right? But there are few people surf 50-foot waves out off Hawaii. They’re that kind of guy. I was watching this documentary about Ginger Baker [BEWARE OF MR. BAKER].


Capone: I’ve seen that documentary, where he hits the director across the nose.

HJ: Right! In the opening scene, he smashes his nose of the filmmaker like, “Don’t you fucking talk to my family.” He’s about 75, right? That was my temple when I started. Obviously, it’s an invention, but it’s a really good one in that you have to, as Dexter said the other day, my character asks the questions the audience are asking and makes it clear “Tou can’t do this, man. You can’t start now. You’re crazy. You’re going to kill yourself.” All that stuff as a foil. The main story is about Eddie, but having this subplot about friendship that’s coming together of two, not lonely— well my character may be lonely—but outsiders struggling who never really fit in in their way, coming together and bringing out the best in each other…it’s a nice subplot to this story.



 Capone: I love that idea, especially in a sports movie, of winning without winning, about celebrating without winning.

HJ: Yeah, you don’t have to win. Some of this came to me in a way. Eddie is the opposite of cynicism, whereas Bronson is completely cynical and turned off from life. I think actually the movie works, because we’re in a quite cynical world. A lot of films, even humor comes off that shared cynicism in a way, and this is not. It’s just an open-hearted character, and it wins. It melts you, and you go “Life can actually just be fun, and you can overcome things, and you can have a go at things, at life, no matter what anyone says.” It melts Bronson in a way, and I think it does that for the audience, too.





DF: Picking up on what you’re saying, Eddie comes up against that really for the first time because he has a relationship, this friendship with someone that he’s never really had before. He comes up against that slightly jaded world view, and still manages to stay strong and to be true of spirit in a way. He understands. Eddie’s not an idiot. He is kind of asexual. There’s an innocence about him. He steps into the wider world but still retains that, and they come out of the airport together at the end. It’s an absolutely shared experience, and it’s really lovely that Eddie goes and finds that, but you don’t see him get burned and hurt. He still stays positive and strong, and that’s what the film is about.

Capone: Talk about how the script came off the shelf after so many years, why Mathew pulled it off. What inspired him to do that and bring it to you? And what was your response?

DF: Mathew, like you say, pulled it down off the shelf because he sat and watched COOL RUNNINGS with his kids, and they went, “This is a really good movie, Dad. You should do a movie like this.” And he’s like, “Maybe, I’ve got one of those.”

[Everybody laughs]




HJ: He did say that, didn’t he? My kids love COOL RUNNINGS too.

DF: Yeah, yeah. It’s a great thing that’s not about winning, winning, winning. It’s about being true to yourself and doing something and just having a bit of belief in yourself, which is a great thing. Obviously, there’s comparisons. It was the same Olympics. The story is the same—they came last. Ours is about the individual, that was about the team, and it’s a different take on it.

I think Matthew understood he had this great actor with Taron, and Taron was looking to do something different after KINGSMAN, and Matthew, once he’s your friend and on your side, he’s very acutely aware of what people want and need, so he’s like “Great, this is the thing we should talk about.” Then he came to me with it, because he felt it’s not a big set piece action movie. It’s about relationship and that human connection, and so maybe I was the right person to run with that idea. Maybe Matthew’s version would have been more explosions or something like that, a bit more subversive. Matthew is an old friend of mine as well, and we spoke to Hugh, and Hugh was like, “I’m engaged. This is great.” And so it’s about all the elements coming together at the right time and right place.

 Capone: Taron, he said you were looking for something much different than what you had done before. Do you think, going forward with your career, that you’re going to seek out things that are different than the last thing you’ve done?

TE: I certainly hope so. I was just aware that most actors when they start working in film have the opportunity of a slow build and doing different things and showing the different colors they have on their palate. Whereas I, very fortunately, had this massive, $100 million showcase that was pumped into the rest of the world, and I was scared, I think. I always have great faith in the movie and I think it’s Mathew at his best and that it always had the potential to be something that did well, but I was aware that it could become an albatross quite quickly, maybe, and I was really keen to find something else really quickly that made everyone else go, “There’s another thing he can do.” Because I think the variety is what really excites me about it. I may do the rest of my career playing a version of Eggsy or a version of Eddie. Who knows.

DF: He’s proved he can get on with it. ”We know you can play a geek. Alright, fine.”




Capone: Hugh, that’s not a dissimilar story to your film career, either. You came out of the gate with something that everybody saw and loved and thought no one else could have done it and is still doing it.

HJ: Yeah, which is surprising.

Capone: When you’re not doing something in that universe, are you looking for something that’s completely different, just to mix things up?

HJ: People ask me all the time, “Are you afraid of getting typecast?” There was a period around X-MEN 3 where I did notice things were…I had done other things. I had done Peter Allen on Broadway [in “The Boy from Oz”], but things just started to get narrow in the offers I was getting. I didn’t know if that was from the filmmaker point of view or scripts, but from LES MIS, PRISONERS, things like that, I never really felt that feeling of being trapped. I’ve really enjoyed being able to do that. /

It’s funny, my agent who’s great, he’s been with me from he beginning, his advice to me straight after X-MEN—I’m remembering it now—was to do different stuff. Because he knew me from before in Australia, so that’s when I did KATE & LEOPOLD, SWORDFISH, and he said, “Don’t have the burden of the entire film.” Taron has got more, like I would say he’s 10 years ahead of me in terms of his confidence in terms of his choosing and waiting to chose, and the idea of coming out with EDDIE straight afterwards, it seems like the smartest choice now, but that’s a bold choice. I can’t think of any actor alive today who could pull off those two movies in a 12-month period so successfully.




Capone: I’ve seen your two other movies since KINGSMAN, before EDDIE.

TE: What have you seen?

Capone: I’ve seen LEGEND and TESTAMENT OF YOUTH.



TE: And they’re all different. Yeah. It’s just exciting to do different things. I think I’d get bored if I felt like I was not playing different characters.

HJ: I’m with you, same.

Capone: You both are sort of getting into fighting shape again for these things you’re doing next.

HJ: Yeah, we trained together this morning.

TE: We did train together this morning.

DF: It’s becoming a mashup.

TE: EGGSY VS. WOLVERINE.

[Everybody laughs]

HJ: We should make a video of us just punching each other. It’s going to go viral.

Capone: Speaking of which, I just saw that interview you did with Ryan Reynolds that just popped up yesterday. I watched it a couple of times. It’s hilarious.

HJ: He is just so funny. It actually goes for 15 minutes. They could only get three good minutes out of me, but every minute of him is gold.

Capone: He was just hammering you, though.

HJ: It was so brilliant. He is so brilliant.




Capone: Before I ask you about these other two film, you have a “presence” in DEADPOOL. Did they have to come to you and say, “Can we do this?”

HJ: [laughs] I knew about half of them, and I was glad I didn’t know about all of them. I got such a shock at the end when the mask comes off. I laughed my head off. Everything is game for me. Open season. Go for it. It was such a great movie. It’s very funny.

TE: I haven’t seen it yet.




Capone: So a quick update on these two film. The script for KINGSMAN 2 is done, you’re getting ready to start shooting.

TE: We’re starting in May, is what I’m hearing at the moment. There’s a script. It’s really, really good. I think Mathew’s still tweaking, but there’s a full, finished script. I think I can tell you I’ve learned a fight. I’ve learned a full fight. There’s a lot more to learn. I’ve been spending some time with stunts, and they’ve assembled another incredible team. Some of the same guys from last time and some very cool new guys. There’s a bit of casting going on that’s really, really exciting. It’s going to be amazing. it really is. He’s not going to let everyone down. It’s bigger; it’s more global. He’s going to pack a bigger punch. And there are some great new characters. It’s going to be really good. I’m slightly terrified about what it’s going to cost, because there’s lots to do.

HJ: You’re investing?

Capone: And Mathew is for certain directing it, right?

TE: Yeah.




Capone: And then for you, I’ve heard the final WOLVERINE script is now done.

HJ: Yeah. I’m trying my best to be locked down, because I just want this one to surprise.

Capone: It’s your last one; you want go out on a high note.

HJ: Of course. I think so often there’s so much information about the movies and all of this. It’s fair to say, I think there are a lot of surprises in the film.

Capone: And James Mangold is back? Right?

HJ: Yeah, he’s phenomenal. We’ve been working really hard at it for two or three years now.

Capone: Alright, well best of luck to you on this film especially.

DF: That was a good but of fishing on your part.

Capone: Gee, thanks. “Who’s the bad guy?”

TE: And thanks for last night.


HJ: Thanks for last night and for your support.

Capone: Of course. Taron, thanks for coming to Austin, too. That was a total blast having you there.

TE: That was great. I’ll be back next year hopefully.

-- Steve Prokopy
"Capone"
[e-mail]

Hugh must be talking of his longtime agent and friend, Patrick Whitesell? I never knew he had known Hugh since before in Australia. I thought they only met when Hugh was doing OKLAHOMA! I wonder if Hugh still has an Australian agent?

Jo

[njr]

Last night on The Goldbergs, part of the story was about Adam's fascination with Eddie the Eagle in the Olympics (the show takes place in the '80's) They showed an ad for the movie during the episode!

Nancy

[mamaleh]

Great tie-in.

Ellen

[jo]

[jo]

With Whoopi, Joy, and the other ladies of THE VIEW -- here's the video clip:


wordlink.com/l/3AEPV

[jo]

Taron and his favorite co-star!

[jo]

Another easy chat with Hugh, Taron, and Dexter in Miami!

sflcw.com/2016/02/22/hangin-with-the-cast-of-eddie-the-eagle/

[jo]

Another funny Q&A --

[jo]

www.theprovince.com/hugh+jackman+praises+ryan+reynolds+work+deadpool/11744890/story.html


Excerpts --

Egerton is Eddie; Jackman is Bronson Peary, the washed-up former Olympic ski jumper who agrees to coach him.

“I got sent the script, and I was immediately onside,” Jackman said.

“I loved the story of Eddie. I was surprised by how much more there was to his story — when I was 19, watching him jump, we loved it! We thought he was just this guy, doing this crazy thing. I had no idea the depth of his story, or how much he had to overcome to get there.”

It seems unusual to see an actor of Jackman’s stature in a feel-good little movie like Eddie the Eagle, but he said he’s always looking for different things to do.

“That’s the enjoyment of acting — that exciting and slightly terrifying feeling of doing something you’ve never done before. That’s the hard part of the job. You have to get used to not feeling comfortable, really, if you’re doing it right. … Every time you take on a job, it’s almost like taking on a new career, because you’re taking on something you’ve never done before.”

He added, smiling, “As I say that, I remember I’ve done eight movies playing the same character. But that’s always felt to me not like the same thing but, hopefully, something deeper each time.”

The award-winning Australian actor has indeed played “the same character” of Wolverine several times, but the run is coming to an end. He has announced that next year’s Wolverine 3 movie will be his last time in the role.

He’s pleased that it’s wrapping up this way.

“In this business, you don’t get to call the shots in any way, and you’re usually kicked out of the party before you want to leave. So it’s nice. It’s a hard thing to do, to gauge when it’s time to leave the party. You go on gut feeling, I guess.”

For 20 years, Jackman has trusted his instincts to guide him as an actor.

“I’m always uncomfortable with actors using the word ‘career.’ It’s way better to be in the moment, to see what inspires you, what turns you on,” he said.

“I did a whole university degree before I got into acting, which I just sort of walked through. And then bang! — I was accepted at drama school, and I never missed a day. I couldn’t wait to be there. So, for as long as you can, and if you have the luxury of being able to pay the rent, do the thing that makes you feel like that!”Eddie the Eagle director Dexter Fletcher, 50, knows both sides of the camera. He’s been an actor since he was 10 years old. It’s one of the things that makes him a favourite of the actors he directs.

“I do see them as whole human beings,” Fletcher said. “I know where the nooks and crannies are.”

Eddie the Eagle is Fletcher’s third film as director. “It’s not a big effects-driven movie. It’s about a guy’s singular journey, and his relationship with a coach who’s also on his own journey.”

That coach is played by Hugh Jackman — can Fletcher give us the inside scoop on the Australian actor?

“He’s very secure about who he is. Hugh’s a great actor,” said Fletcher.

“He loves the craft. For someone who’s a huge A-list actor, he’s a very open guy. Movie stars are a particular kind of beast. They have a lot of vested interest in their brand, and all that complicated stuff that can get in the way of creativity.

“But Hugh’s not like that. He’s somehow clear of all that.”

— Liz Braun, Toronto Sun

[/quite]