THE SON

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Not only AP, but People.com was there, too -- although the twin attraction of WOLVERINE 10 (aka DEADPOOL 3) and THE SON must have been a click-bait occasion.

ENTERTAINMENT
MOVIES

Hugh Jackman Jokes He and Ryan Reynolds Will Be 'Punching the S--- Out of Each Other' in 'Deadpool 3'
“I'll probably have more fun on this movie than any other I've ever done," Hugh Jackman says of returning as Wolverine in
Deadpool 3 with Ryan Reynolds
By Julia Moore and Tommy McArdle Published on October 25, 2022 11:13 AM


Hugh Jackman attends a screening of "The Son", hosted by Sony Pictures Classics and The Cinema Society, at the Crosby Street Hotel, in New York NY Special Screening of "The Son", New York, United States - 24 Oct 2022
Hugh Jackman. PHOTO: CHARLES SYKES/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK
Hugh Jackman is gearing up for the return of Wolverine.

At a special screening of his new movie The Son in New York City on Monday, hosted by Sony Pictures Classics & The Cinema Society, Jackman raved to PEOPLE about stepping back into the shoes of his iconic X-Men character, saying, "It's gonna be a blast!"

"We like to call it Wolverine 10," Jackman, 54, jokes of the upcoming film. "That's what I like to call it."

In September, Jackman and Ryan Reynolds announced that the third installment of Deadpool would see Jackman reprise his role as Logan/Wolverine once again. His part will be much larger than a cameo, a source told PEOPLE at the time.

"I think being on set with [Ryan] every day and those two on film in every city together everyday … I think it's fair to say they'll be punching the s--- out of each other the whole time," Jackman tells PEOPLE now.

"All jokes aside, I'll probably have more fun on this movie than any other I've ever done," he adds.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Actors Hugh Jackman, left, and Ryan Reynolds pose together at the world premiere of "The Adam Project" at Alice Tully Hall, in New York World Premiere of "The Adam Project", New York, United States - 28 Feb 2022
Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman Promise Deadpool 3 Won't Undo Events of Wolverine Movie Logan

The Australian-born actor and Reynolds, 46, have long extended the ruse that they have a feud between them, a joke that dates back to their first meeting on the set of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. So it's no surprise Jackman expects the shenanigans to continue while filming Deadpool 3.

While the news excited many fans eager to see the newest installment of Reynolds' Deadpool saga, some were left confused about how Jackman had a role to reprise in the first place.

Logan, the Oscar-nominated 2017 film, saw the ultimate demise of Jackman's Wolverine. Most assumed that was the final time they'd see Logan on their screens.

But in an announcement shared in the wake of his absence at this year's D23 Expo, Reynolds was quick to clarify that "Logan takes place in 2029" and is a "totally separate thing."

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, Hugh Jackman, 2006
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. 20THCENTFOX/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION
Ryan Reynolds Teases Hugh Jackman on Music Man Opening Night: "Good Luck with Your Little Show"
He added that there's no question that Logan dies in the self-titled film: "Not touching that."

Deadpool 3 — which is expected to hit theaters on Sept. 6, 2024 — will instead tell a story that takes place prior to the Wolverine's emotional death, though the exact plot remains a mystery.

Reynolds and Jackman did appear together as the characters in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where they first met, but that iteration of Wade Wilson/Deadpool was vastly different from Reynolds' reincarnation of the character in 2016's record-breaking Deadpool.

The duo appeared to share the Deadpool 3 storyline as they sat down together in their September announcement video — but Wham!'s "Wake Me up Before You Go-Go" suddenly started playing, drowning out their animated conversation.





See Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Anthony Hopkins in Dramatic First Trailer for The Son

Meanwhile, The Son is a "deeply personal" film for Jackman, who stars in the upcoming Florian Zeller-directed drama alongside Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby and Anthony Hopkins.

"It's a cautionary tale, and it deals with some really difficult subjects," he tells PEOPLE of the movie, which is a follow-up to Zeller's 2021 film The Father.

And while he would've approached The Son "at any point" in his career, as a father, Jackman has a "different perspective" about it today.

"I've got children who are either launching or getting ready to launch … it was deeply personal," he adds.

The Son hits theaters on Nov. 25.

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The focus of the impact of this movie is about parenting. Hugh & Deb show how they take their parenting responsibilities very seriously. THE SON is said to be partly an exposition of how parenting can impact on the mental health of kids.

Hugh is one actor who takes his serious roles with some relationship to how he lives his life. Maybe that impacts on how very well his portrayal is elevated?

Hugh Jackman Says He's 'Really Proud' of His Kids for Engaging with Mental Health

Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness share 22-year-old Oscar and 17-year-old Ava Eliot
By Tommy McArdle Published on October 25, 2022 04:02 PM

Hugh Jackman attends a screening of "The Son", hosted by Sony Pictures Classics and The Cinema Society, at the Crosby Street Hotel, in New York NY Special Screening of "The Son", New York, United States - 24 Oct 2022
Hugh Jackman. PHOTO: CHARLES SYKES/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK
Hugh Jackman says he finds his kids and their peers are "totally fine having these conversations" about their mental health.

At a special screening of his new movie The Son in New York City on Monday, hosted by Sony Pictures Classics & The Cinema Society, Jackman tells PEOPLE that he made sure to speak with his kids, son Oscar, 22 and daughter Ava Eliot, 17, about his participation in the film.

"It was very important that I talk to them about what it was about, what it meant to me and why I was doing it," says Jackman of the upcoming Florian Zeller-directed drama. "When I saw the movie, I took them with me to see it and we had a long conversation. What I find amazing is the generation of 22 to 17-year-olds are totally fine having these conversations."

"It's more my generation that is a little more sheepish and shy around it," Jackman adds of talking about mental health.

Jackman, 54, says that The Son, which follows divorced parents Peter (Jackman) and Kate (Laura Dern) as they struggle to help their troubled teenage son (Zen McGrath) with his mental health, was a "deeply personal" project for him as his children are similarly aged.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Hugh Jackman
ARTURO HOLMES/GETTY
Deborra-Lee Furness on How She and Hugh Jackman Have Embraced Their Kids' 'Cultural Differences'
"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 says of his kids.

"Now, at this point, I have a very different perspective," Jackman adds of taking the role at this stage in his career. "I've got children who are either launching or getting ready to launch."

In November 2020, Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness opened up to PEOPLE about raising their kids.

"It's so interesting being a parent, and they've both made me smarter than I think I ever could have been on my own," Furness said at the time. "But when you're a parent, you can't lie to them or yourself. They will shine a light on every one of your flaws, your Achilles heel, whatever. You've got to look at yourself."

Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness attend "The Son" red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 07, 2022 in Venice, Italy.
STEPHANE CARDINALE - CORBIS/CORBIS VIA GETTY
"What I'm very interested in is epigenetics, and it's even more so when you have adopted children because I'm coming from my lineage of my mother, how she parented me, how her mother parented her, and I'm translating that to my children," she added. "But my children also have a separate lineage. So it's almost like we have more players at the table."

Furness said that her kids' backgrounds along with her and Jackman's Australian culture are "just another little hurdle to jump over."

"We've got cultural differences in there, and I do believe these will play out generation after generation," she noted. "So our family is just a little more late, I guess, at dinner time; a few more ancestors at the table."

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Working & texting with "Tony"

Hugh Jackman has shared the screen with some of Hollywood’s biggest legends, but a standout moment for him was working with Anthony Hopkins on “The Son.”

“The day I got to work with Anthony Hopkins, I will never ever forget,” Jackman told Variety at the screening of “The Son” in New York on Monday night. “And we’re still texting each other, which just still gives me a huge smile. Every time I get a text and it says ‘Tony,’ I’m like, ‘Hello, Tony!’”

The two star in Florian Zeller’s follow-up to “The Father,” with 84-year-old Hopkins reprising his Oscar-winning role as Anthony Miller from the 2020 film. Based on Zeller’s stage play of the same name, “The Son” focuses on Peter (Jackman), whose life with his infant and new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby) is disrupted when his 17-year-old son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) comes to live with them.

“There was something about Peter, both as a father and also — it becomes clear, as a son — that I could somehow relate to,” Jackman explained. “I felt a real urgency to play Peter, so much so that I actually reached out to Florian — I kind of chased him down.”

Asked how he approached the director about the project, Jackman said, “I emailed him, just out of the blue. I’m glad that I didn’t go to his junk folder.”



L-R: Laura Dern, Hugh Jackman, Florian Zeller and Vanessa Kirby at a special screening of “The Son” held at Crosby Street Hotel on October 24, 2022 in New York City.
Nina Westervelt for Variety

For Zeller, adapting his 2018 stage play to film was “a challenge, but an exciting one.” “I had the chance and the opportunity to do it with people that I was really dreaming about, especially Hugh Jackman,” he said. “It was such a joy to see him, but also Laura Dern and Vanessa Kirby, exploring all these complex emotions.”

The “Son” director was also thrilled to see Hopkins portray a different side of Anthony, saying that his character is “so cruel and in control of the situation” in the film. “It was the first time that we had the chance to see each other since we did ‘The Father’ because of COVID,” he added. “So it was like a family reunion.”

“With Florian at the helm, it created a very loving and compassionate space for us. We all got to deep dive into heartbreak and longing — all the emotions that take place in this film,” said Laura Dern, who plays Jackman’s ex-wife Kate. “And Hugh is the most gorgeous, consummate, professional, loveliest person and has luckily adopted me — as did his wife Deb — so we’re [officially] family.”

“The Son” opens in theaters Nov. 25 in New York and Los Angeles.

From Variety US

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Googled Vanessa Kirby and she is 20 years younger than Hugh!

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I think this major article on VARIETY deserves its own title - -but since it is partly inspired by the work he did in THE SON, this is as good a place to share it!

It is the COVER STORY on Hugh Jackman!

Hey, take a bow - Annette and the Ozalots -- you are mentioned in the article!

Ellen - this is the same journalist who wrote that article in Newsweek those many years ago ( if I remember it right) and mentioned your name as one of the Ozalots




variety.com/2022/film/features/hugh-jackman-dad-death-the-son-wolverine-1235413831/?fbclid=IwAR0eUGa6sJ4pmZTd4civ08VUntTnP3e2dfgobdfcBnshuoeu61j8C2P7WJo

Hugh Jackman Variety Cover Story


MARC HOM FOR VARIETY
Home
Film
Features
The Story of Hugh Jackman in Five Acts
By Ramin Setoodeh


Photographs by Marc Hom


Act I

This is a story about grief in New York. Hugh Jackman’s father died while he was making “The Son.” But instead of taking time off, Jackman kept playing Peter, a workaholic struggling to take care of his family: a new baby, a partner and a teenage son, Nicholas, suffering from a frightening depression. Jackman, 54, related to Peter as both a father of two kids and as a son. Jackman’s dad raised him after his mother abandoned their family in Australia when Jackman was 8. Jackman visited his father, who’d been living with Alzheimer’s for 12 years, right before shooting his first scene as Peter.


Marc Hom for Variety

“He was nearing the end,” Jackman says over a recent lunch in downtown Manhattan, where he lives with his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness. “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.” Jackman’s eyes flicker, momentarily losing that joyful glint they usually possess.

Filming “The Son” in a COVID-19 bubble in September 2021, Jackman pulled director Florian Zeller aside one morning to tell him about his dad’s death. “My father never missed a day of work,” Jackman says, explaining why he resisted taking time off to grieve. “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.”

Video link

content.jwplatform.com/previews/ocSoXUL6



In the early 2000s, after he’d gained worldwide fame in “The X-Men,” Jackman would invite his father to his movie sets, where the old man — an accountant named Christopher John — would quietly perch behind the monitors, working on crossword puzzles. It’s this portrait of his father that stays with him. “I literally could see him in the corner of the room,” Jackman says about the scenes he shot on “The Son” after his father’s passing. “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.”

The A-list star who played Wolverine in nine movies (and is coming back for at least one more) has charted a career for himself that’s spanned musicals (“Les Misérables” and “The Greatest Showman”), crime dramas (“Prisoners” and “Bad Education”) and Broadway (he’s currently starring in a revival of “The Music Man”). He’s toured the globe as the star of the 2019 concert, “The Man. The Music. The Show.,” belting out some of his favorite hits — from “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to “Gaston” — to sold-out stadiums. He’s hosted the Tony Awards four times, and his stint as the emcee of the 2009 Oscars was the closest we’ve come to seeing a genial song-and-danceman successor to Billy Crystal. “The Son” fundamentally changed Jackman as an actor and as a man. And when the independently financed movie from Sony Pictures Classics opens in theaters on Nov. 25, “The Son” will probably change how you see Jackman.



Marc Hom for Variety

Most of Jackman’s roles have only reaffirmed his reputation as the kindest movie star in Hollywood. “He’s the nicest man ever,” says Laura Dern, who plays Nicholas’ mother in “The Son.” Michael Barker, the co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, offers: “He’s one of the most quality human beings I’ve ever met.” Jackman’s pal Ryan Reynolds who first worked with him on 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” remembers being jet-lagged when he arrived on set, and how warmly Jackman greeted him, calling out his name as if they were already best friends. “The thing about Hugh is that he’s always been consistently himself,” Reynolds says.

Jackman’s ease and amiability are reinforced both in person (he shakes hands with every crew member at our photo shoot, which helps ease his nervousness at being the center of attention) and on Instagram, where he posts off-the-cuff videos — walking his dogs, drinking a glass of wine, commemorating the retirement of a 10-year-old pair of dance shoes — to his 31 million followers. He even knows the name of one of his fans (Annette), who has seen “The Music Man” 115 times, casually bringing her up in conversation as if she’s a member of his inner circle.

Jackman is so congenial that it’s funny when he tells a story about how he didn’t get cast as the hunk in “Miss Congeniality.” (More on that later.) But “The Son” subverts that image, which is precisely why he wanted to play the role. The family drama is a difficult watch about a father trying, and failing, to erase the crippling pain of his son’s depression. (It’s based on a 2018 stage play by Zeller that’s part of a trilogy, following “The Father,” which was adapted into a film that won Anthony Hopkins the lead acting Oscar in 2021.) Jackman suffered from sleepless nights while making the film. As his father’s health deteriorated, he entered therapy for the first time and kept up his journal — pouring out his emotions before going to set.

“I don’t think I’m a great sleeper,” Jackman says, noting that he has restless legs syndrome. “But I have always been able to go to sleep quickly and sleep as long as I wanted. But not on this one. I look back now and I’m like, ‘Of course I wasn’t sleeping.’ There’s some history of mental illness in my family, and there was a lot of stuff coming up for me.”

“The Son” will likely earn Jackman an invitation back to the Oscars as a best actor contender (he was nominated in 2013 for “Les Miz”). The film’s release arrives at a busy time for him. In January, he’ll close his run as the tap-dancing con man, Harold Hill, in “The Music Man,” after a full year of carrying the biggest Broadway production during the pandemic. Despite mixed reviews, the show has been a smash success, raking in as much as $3 million a week.

Then he’ll suit up as Wolverine again. He’s coming out of retirement to play the clawed hero in the third “Deadpool” movie with Reynolds, which the two friends announced in September in a video that’s amassed more than 10 million views. Jackman has already started to bulk up, even as he’s losing 1,500 calories a night (per a heartrate monitor) from shimmying and belting out “Seventy-Six Trombones” to raucous applause. “Apologies to the entire cast of ‘The Music Man,’ and in particular my dresser and my wife — all the protein shakes are starting to kick in fast,” Jackman says.

He reveals that his stage costumes have already been let out twice. “The other night, I could hear the Velcro go creaking and actually popped open,” Jackman says. “I’ve split two pairs of pants.” Backstage one night, there was a race against the clock to get him a new pair: “It was an 18-inch tear,” he says. “I had about two minutes. I said to the stage manager, ‘New pair of pants!’ I had my pants around my ankles. I thought, if my dresser doesn’t get here in time, it’s better to go on in split pants than no pants. Then I saw him running from stage right to stage left, top speed. We made it just in time.”





Act II

This is a story about leaving New York. For weeks before meeting Jackman at our photo shoot, I’d been telling strangers — people in line at the pharmacy and the barber shop, cab drivers, a cashier at Home Depot — that I was abandoning the city that had been my home for 18 years, for Los Angeles. So it doesn’t seem that weird (to me anyway) that it’s the first thing I blurt out to Jackman upon seeing him on a beautiful fall day. He quizzes me about it, not approving of the move like every other New Yorker I’ve talked to.

We see each other again a few days later for lunch in SoHo, and they show us to a table by the window. I ask for something less conspicuous, but an employee tells me nothing is available, issuing the rejection without even looking at Jackman, the towering movie star in a fitted T-shirt standing next to me. As we settle into our seats, Jackman jokes that he isn’t as famous as he thought. “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. L.A.’s a nightmare.’”

That’s what I’ve been afraid of. Unlike most interviews with actors, this one begins with Jackman interrogating me. Have I found a place yet in L.A.? How is the packing going? Do I read a lot of books? I tell him I’ve taped up 25 boxes. “That’s not much,” he says. “Well, I did hear this when I was touring: Katy Perry has 26 semitrailers to move around for her show.”



Marc Hom for Variety

Jackman tells funny tales about his 20s that underline his slapstick sense of humor. One of his first jobs was at a Sydney fitness center called the Physical Factory. “I was the guy opening the gym, and in my first three weeks, I slept in twice,” Jackman says. “If you want to see angry people, it’s alpha people who want to be at the gym when it opens.” He set four alarms so he was never late again, and that’s how he became a morning person.

Back then, Jackman says, he was “super skinny.” “All the guys used to make fun of me,” he says. “They nicknamed me ‘Anna.’” (He has to explain to me that this was an inappropriate joke about anorexia.) “I used to think they were idiots. I was like, ‘You spend all your day looking in a mirror. What a waste of time.’”

When he was cast in the first “X-Men” movie, replacing the Scottish actor Dougray Scott as Wolverine, he wasn’t as ripped as he needed to be for the character. The production had to push back his first scene, where he’s shirtless in a cage fight, so he could get in better shape. “I’m just a bit flabby,” Jackman says. “It took me a while to work that out.”

Before all that, though, he was taking classes at a Sydney drama school while signing up locals for gym memberships. Based on Jackman’s charisma, one customer predicted he’d be a massive movie star: It was Annie Semler, the wife of “Dances With Wolves” cinematographer Dean Semler. “She goes, ‘I know you don’t believe me, but I’m a white witch, and I see this very clearly,’” he says, telling the story as he bites into a piece of fish. She invited Jackman to her house in the Sydney suburb of Mosman so her husband could take his first headshot — still in his Physical Factory uniform — and then connected him with an agent.

Out of that came an audition for the Australian soap “Neighbours,” but Jackman turned down the part to attend a three-year drama conservatory in Perth. “I said, ‘I don’t trust that once I get started, I’m going to go back and study.’”

Eventually, his training led to TV and stage work, most notably as the star of a 1998 West End revival of “Oklahoma!” — the role that got him noticed for Wolverine. Jackman wants to make the point that he’s never been consistently good at auditions. Early in his career, his agent sent him out for the part of the love interest in “Miss Congeniality,” the romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock. Jackman didn’t want the gig, but his agent was trying to negotiate against another movie he’d been offered — “Someone Like You” with Ashley Judd.

“No one knew ‘X-Men’ yet,” Jackman says. “I was a nobody.” As he read lines opposite Bullock, he remembers thinking: “‘Holy shit! She’s amazing! And so quick and fast. I’m not even vaguely up to speed here.’ I was pedaling as fast as I could, but I didn’t know the script well enough.”

Benjamin Bratt got the part. “That’s humiliating, when your agent says, ‘I don’t want you to get this job, but just go get it.’ And then you don’t get it.”





Act III

This is the story of finding your own tribe. Before “The Son,” there was another Peter who changed Jackman’s life. He played Peter Allen in Broadway’s “The Boy From Oz.” You’ve probably seen clips of the show on social media, but I was there. When I moved to New York to be a Newsweek intern in 2004, “The Boy From Oz” was the first Broadway show I saw. I knew no one in the city, and I’d never lived anywhere with access to theater. The show, and Jackman’s performance, became a source of familiarity and comfort to me. I went back over and over again (five times in all), scoring nosebleed student rush tickets, and moving up to a box seat in the balcony that the theater never sold because it was too close to the speakers. Yes, I might have been damaging my hearing, but I was hovering over the stage — so close, it felt like the actors could see me during the ovations. Even now, all I have to do is listen to the soundtrack on YouTube, and I’m 21 again.

When Jackman arrived on Broadway in “The Boy From Oz,” he was known only as Wolverine. Critics dissed the show, but Jackman proved to be critic-proof. His mostly female groupies, who’d nicknamed themselves “the Ozalots,” started buying out every seat in the house and camped out at the stage door at intermission on nights they couldn’t score tickets. The performance won Jackman n a Tony Award. Playing a loving, gay musical icon shattered the public’s perceptions about him and launched his career to a different plane; “Oz” established Jackman as a performer who could act, sing, dance and make people laugh — the very opposite of his gruff “X-Men” persona.



Marc Hom for Variety

“The most fun I ever had was playing Peter Allen,” says Jackman, who’d drag audience members onstage and roast them during the second act. “There was, I don’t know, roughly 10 to 12 minutes of every show that was ad-libbed. Once I was 50 or 60 shows in, I felt completely free to do whatever the hell I wanted. I was an asshole at times. I brought up Barbara Walters and Matt Damon, and made Matt Damon give Barbara Walters a lap dance, which turned into me giving Matt Damon a lap dance. And he didn’t punch me.”

During a performance as Peter Allen at the 2004 Tonys at Radio City Music Hall, he surprised Sarah Jessica Parker by calling her onstage and forcing her to dance in a tight ballerina top that almost caused a wardrobe malfunction. “I really felt for her that night,” Jackman says. “As soon as she got up onstage, I could tell those boobs were about to come out.”

And so, an Oscars host was born. Would he do the job again? “Yeah,” he says. “My only rule is I don’t want to be working while I’m doing it.” Would he play Peter Allen again? “It did cross my mind a couple of times,” Jackman says. “I’m 54. Peter died at 48. So you could find a way to make it work.”

Jackman never missed a show for “The Boy From Oz,” performing through sickness and health. “I limped across the line,” he says. “I had stress fractures in my feet.” His work ethic on “The Music Man” has been just as intense, though getting COVID twice meant he was forced to cancel shows. “It was maddening, because we were in previews, and we were finding things, and I felt like we were just getting a rhythm,” Jackman says. When he got COVID the second time, in June, an understudy filled in for him. “That time, I thought I was going to go crazy,” he says. “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.”





Act IV

This is the story of making the movie that scares you. Knowing all this — Jackman’s love of the theater, his constant curiosity for reinvention — it makes sense why he wanted to star in “The Son.” But his connection to the script started with “The Father” — specifically, how it reflected his experience with Christopher John. When Jackman first watched that film, he was floored by Hopkins’ depiction of a man living with dementia. “He so beautifully put you inside the head of the person suffering with the disease and disorientation,” Jackman says. “Not that it mimics my father. It didn’t look like my father’s experience on the outside.” But the movie made him feel like he could understand what his dad was going through.

A little while later, his agent suggested he read the script for “The Son.” “It was like a lightning bolt,” Jackman says. “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.” He lists the ways he relates to the character of Peter: “My own fears as a parent. Am I doing the right thing? Big things, little things. Deb and I sometimes agree, sometimes disagree on how to handle things. 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.”

Jackman cried after he finished reading the screenplay, “a very rare thing.” He wrote Zeller an impassioned email, explaining why he wanted to play the role, but adding that if he’d already cast the part, “I’m not going to cut in on someone else’s dance.” Since Zeller hadn’t found a Peter yet, the two met over Zoom. “I wasn’t planning to make any decision,” Zeller says. “After eight minutes of that conversation, though, I stopped and offered him the role. I felt strongly he would be extraordinary.”

The script’s location moved from Paris to New York to accommodate Jackman. In the mornings, he’d find himself up before the sun rose. “I was waking up at 4 a.m., knowing I hadn’t had enough sleep,” Jackman says. “Thank God I was playing a part where I was meant to look like shit, because I was feeling pretty bad. I was worried. I would try meditating, which I’ve done for 25 years. I asked myself to be as open as I could. I had to be very kind to myself through the process.” The film’s most wrenching scenes depict Nicholas (played by Zen McGrath) on the verge of harming others or himself. “The subject matter was really hard,” Jackman says. “Many days, crew members would say, ‘I need help.’ Some of them would leave for a few hours.” They employed psychiatrists on the set in case anyone needed to talk about the upsetting material.

Zeller had one strict rule for the cast: no rehearsals allowed. Zeller wanted the actors to come to set each day and let their emotions guide them. “One of the first scenes we shot, I don’t know why, I just started weeping,” Jackman says. “I know there’s no way that’s going to be in the movie or should be in the movie. I was shocked that it happened.”



Marc Hom for Variety

Vanessa Kirby, who plays his partner, hugged him, and they tried the scene again. “It took me a while to get my shit together, actually,” Jackman says. “And then I said, ‘OK, let’s go again.’ And we went somewhere completely different.”

In keeping with Zeller’s mandate, Jackman tried to live every scene in the moment. “I said to Florian the other day, ‘My memory of acting in this was all over the shop and a bit of a hot mess, and I’m sure you and your editor must have gone, ‘Whoa!’ He said to me, ‘I think you’re a better actor than you think you are,’ which is a nice thing to hear.”

At the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, “The Son” was met with a 10-minute standing ovation, launching Oscar buzz for Jackman. He’d seen it for the first time just before that, with Furness and their kids — Oscar, 22, and Ava, 17 — in a private screening room. “They came and watched it with me, which made it even more emotional for me,” Jackman says. “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.”

He hopes that “The Son” helps people talk about the underlying signs of depression. “We’re in an epidemic,” he says. “We don’t have the skills about how to have these conversations.”



Act V

This is the story of how you can go home again. Over lunch, the news about Jackman returning to Wolverine hasn’t come out yet. He’s coy about whether or not he’d play him again; the character died in James Mangold’s 2017 film “Logan,” arguably the best “X-Men” movie in the franchise’s history. Yet Jackman says he’s asked that question every day by fans, who even yell out the windows of moving cars, “Give it to me one more time, Wolverine!”

“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.”

While many beloved comic book stars have been played by multiple actors, there’s really only been one Wolverine in the movies. “Well, I was greedy,” Jackman says. “I held on to it for 20 years. And then, of course, since I left, it’s been bought by Disney. I’m sure the plans are afoot.”

A few weeks later, I talk to Jackman on the phone, and those plans are clear. “I straight-up lied,” he says. “But you’re not the only one I lied to, let me tell you.”

He really meant it when he said he was retiring as Wolverine. But then in 2016, “I went to a screening of ‘Deadpool.’ 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.”

At the end of August, during a road trip to the beach with his family, he finally made the decision. He called Reynolds, who’d been pleading “on the daily” for a Wolverine-Deadpool movie. “I think, actually, he’d given up,” Jackman says. “I think it was a big shock to him. There was a massive pause, and then he said, ‘I can’t believe the timing of this.’”

Reynolds was about to meet with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about “Deadpool 3.” With Jackman in, the rest is comic book movie history.

“Oh my God, I’m thrilled,” Reynolds tells me. “It’s like old home week. To get to be on set with one of my closest friends each and every day is a dream come true. But to do it with these two iconic characters side by side, that’s beyond our wildest dreams.” Reynolds adds that the first time he talked to Feige — three and a half years ago after Disney bought Fox — he’d pushed for bringing in Wolverine. “It wasn’t possible then,” Reynolds says. “For this to be happening now is pretty damn exciting.”

It’s not clear what the new movie will be about. It’s not even necessarily going to be named “Deadpool 3.”

“Well, not in my heart,” Jackman says. “I’m pretty sure Wolverine wouldn’t like that title.”

Epilogue
When Jackman calls me, I’ve just moved to L.A. I don’t have a car yet, and I’m still trying to walk everywhere. “Aw, you poor thing,” he says. “I could sort of feel the pain when I was meeting with you, knowing what was coming.”

He talks about how on a recent Sunday night, after a performance of “The Music Man,” he drove to the Hamptons for a screening of “The Son” and a Q&A after. He didn’t make it in time to sit through the whole film, just the last 30 minutes. “I must admit I was a little open and vulnerable,” he says. “I was very moved by the questions.” I can picture him there, after a long week in the city, in a theater I’d been to — the rhythm, the magic, the life of New York, all on the other end of the line.

Over our three conversations, we talked about a lot of things. But I never shared with him how he floated into my life as I arrived and then finally left New York — and what that really meant. In our culture, we spend a lot of time analyzing why we love movie stars, but at the most basic level, we’re drawn to them because they comfort us. Jackman was doing that again for me — but this time, it wasn’t from a stage or a screen. It was more personal, from the human being who exists behind the curtain.

On the day before our lunch, as I was packing, I found a “Boy From Oz” poster at the bottom of a crate of photos. I’d forgotten it existed. Eighteen years ago, alone in New York, I waited by the stage door for two hours in a sea of Ozalots to get Jackman’s autograph, extending my arm over a barricade — almost getting crushed by other screaming fans. I could still make out the signature in blue ink, but it was now smudged like an old memory.

Styling: Michael Fisher/The Wall Group: Stylist Assistant: Annika Morrison; Grooming: Thomas Dunkin/Art Department/Chanel Beauty; Look 1 (cover and roof): Jacket: Vintage Paul Harden; Shirt: Nili Lotan; Pants: Dunhill: Shoes: R.M. Williams; Look 2 (black leather jacket): Jacket: System; Shirt: Tom Ford: Pants: Burberry: Shoes: R.M. Williams; Belt: Montblanc; Sunglasses: Ray Bans

[jo]

This is the story of finding your own tribe. Before “The Son,” there was another Peter who changed Jackman’s life. He played Peter Allen in Broadway’s “The Boy From Oz.” You’ve probably seen clips of the show on social media, but I was there. When I moved to New York to be a Newsweek intern in 2004, “The Boy From Oz” was the first Broadway show I saw. I knew no one in the city, and I’d never lived anywhere with access to theater. The show, and Jackman’s performance, became a source of familiarity and comfort to me. I went back over and over again (five times in all), scoring nosebleed student rush tickets, and moving up to a box seat in the balcony that the theater never sold because it was too close to the speakers. Yes, I might have been damaging my hearing, but I was hovering over the stage — so close, it felt like the actors could see me during the ovations. Even now, all I have to do is listen to the soundtrack on YouTube, and I’m 21 again.

On the day before our lunch, as I was packing, I found a “Boy From Oz” poster at the bottom of a crate of photos. I’d forgotten it existed. Eighteen years ago, alone in New York, I waited by the stage door for two hours in a sea of Ozalots to get Jackman’s autograph, extending my arm over a barricade — almost getting crushed by other screaming fans. I could still make out the signature in blue ink, but it was now smudged like an old memory.

Ramin Setoodeh was an OZALOT, too

Btw --

Ramin Setoodeh
@raminsetoodeh
Co-Editor-in-Chief,
@variety
. EP, “Actors on Actors” on
@pbssocal
. Author,
@nytimes
best seller “Ladies Who Punch.” Email: [e-mail]

Jo

[jo]

[jo]

People are recognizing that the Variety article is a major step in his Oscar campaign --

Joan
@joan_LF
Hugh Jackman en couverture de
@variety
cette semaine. La campagne des Oscars commence, il espère une nomination pour #TheSon le nouveau film de Florian Zeller après #TheFather qui a valu l’Oscar à Anthony Hopkins

Translated from French by
Hugh Jackman on the cover of
@variety
this week. Oscar campaign begins, he hopes for a nomination for #TheSon Florian Zeller's new film after #TheFather which won the Oscar for Anthony Hopkins

I think the major move actually started with the media tour at the Crosby Hotel where the film society sponsored a screening of THE SON. It was surprising to see Associated Press and People.com and other media covering the occasion. The Variety article is of course the most significant publicity effort to highlight Hugh Jackman's journey as an actor and performer!

It was also written in such a beautiful and candid style that it does not strike as simply an Oscar campaign article. It is actually a beautiful portrait not only of Hugh Jackman's engaging journey as an actor but as a person with such a sense of empathy and down-to-earth style.

Jo

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/CkLmSk8MEM5

[jo]

www.instagram.com/reel/CkLnVUDNXvC/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

See the original video on Variety account.

[jo]

A lot of praise for Ramin Setoodeh's beautiful actor profile story on Hugh.

[jo]

Ahem!

Ramin Setoodeh
liked your reply

Beautifully-written actor profile on 1 of this generation's most impressive acting ranges. Drama(TheSon), Musicals(@musicmanbway )& Action(Deadpool 3)! Humorous insight on his costume fallouts in MusicMan as he bulks up for Wolverine

[jo]

[jo]

Erik Anderson latest Oscar predictions --

The same film blog has various interviews --


awardswatch.com/interview-florian-zeller-on-tackling-sensitive-material-in-the-son-working-with-an-all-star-cast-and-if-well-see-the-mother/

[jo]

Reprinting the interview from AwardsWatch --

HomeNewsInterviewsInterview: Florian Zeller on tackling sensitive material in ‘The Son,’ working with an all-star cast and if we’ll see ‘The Mother’

INTERVIEWS

Interview: Florian Zeller on tackling sensitive material in ‘The Son,’ working with an all-star cast and if we’ll see ‘The Mother’
Ryan McQuade October 26, 2022
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For many film audiences in 2020, one of the best films of the year was The Father, written and directed by Florian Zeller. Hailing from France, Zeller’s debut was the most honest depictions of dementia ever put to screen, led by an outstanding, Oscar-winning performance from Anthony Hopkins. In his directorial debut, Zeller put the audience in the mind of Hopkins character and built an empathetic, heartbreaking psychological drama that ranks with some of the best first features we’ve seen in some time, and garnered Zeller an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, an adaptation of his original play of the same name.

Before he was behind the camera, Zeller started his career as a novelist in France, winning accolades for his novel when he was just 22 years old. He then moved on to the stage where he wrote the stage version of The Father, hailed as much from the theater community as the film version. What followed were several more well received plays, including two that went alongside The Father in an unplanned trilogy with The Mother and The Son, the latter of which is now his second feature film.

Much like The Father, Zeller’s The Son looks at a very serious issue, personal depression. In this case, the mental state of a young 17-year-old boy, who has stopped going to school and doesn’t see the point in making friends or going on with the normalcies of life. It is up to his divorce parents to figure out how to help him in a time of desperate struggle before it gets to a point of no return.

In a conversation at the 2022 Middleburg Film Festival, I sat down with Zeller right after an extensive Q&A, in which we discuss his decision to make The Son as his second feature, how he wants the audience to understand his characters in the film, and what’s changed about him since the original stage version just a few years ago. We also discussed working with this all-star cast, what it was like casting the titular role of the film, and if we will see a film adaptation of The Mother on the horizon.

Ryan McQuade: When did you know after making The Father that this was what you wanted to pick up as your second feature?

Florian Zeller: I knew before I stopped The Father that I would make it afterwards if I had the opportunity to do it because it’s never granted. I knew it strongly because this is the story I needed to tell and also that I felt that needed to be told. I felt that necessity, this urgency. I didn’t take the time after The Father to question what would be the better opportunity or the better strategy or nothing. I was focused on my conviction that I wanted to explore these emotions.


RM: What changed the most for you from first creating the project for the stage to now in its cinematic form?

FZ: Yeah, so it’s true that it comes from theater and to me it was like a pairing, I would say, to have the experience so many times in a room, this story with the audience and the emotions, it gave me the direction I would say that I wanted to follow. Somehow, I feel that it was the continuity of that experience. What you don’t want to do for sure is just to film a play and you have to find a cinematic way to tell these stories and for example, but every story has its own necessity. For example, for The Father, we stayed in the same apartment. We did everything in the studio in three, four rooms because this is what the story required according to me. Meaning that it was a way for me to build like a labyrinth, to make the audience experience it from the inside as if we were in Anthony’s brain. It was the whole thing about that story.

Here it was not needed to use the sets in a cinematic way. I really wanted to try to be as simple as possible and as straightforward as possible, as linear as possible somehow in order to reflect what was my intention, which was not to shy away from this topic. I really wanted just to face that pain and to ask people to face it as well in order to force us or to invite us to have a conversation about it. As I said, I really feel that there is so much ignorance and so much shame and so much guilt about these topics. The only way to prevent bad things to happen is to talk about it.

I know that strongly and my only contribution that I can make is to make a film about it. That’s the answer to your previous question about why this film is that I think that it’s urgent, strongly urgent to speak about it, to feel comfortable talking about it, not to shy away and to share these emotions because I know that so many people are related, so many people are connected. There are so many people in pain, so many people alone with that pain. To experience something like that, I hope makes people remember that we are not alone. When you are going through a difficult moment, you feel like you are alone, you are the only one to experience this as a parent and you’re completely lost. To remember that you know are not, and we are all in the same boat and we are all part of something bigger than ourselves, which is humanity. I think it makes a lot of sense and it’s a consolation and this is what art can provide.


RM: You mentioned The Father and that is primarily in one location, but most of these conversations about mental illness, depression in this film, they are done in an apartment, more specifically a living room. What about being in one location really draws out the emotions you want to see as a director and as a writer?

FZ: Yeah, you’re right. I mean it was a way also to be as close as possible to the actors and to the characters. There is a lot of conversation in that film that’s true. It’s not because it comes from theater also. I really wanted to keep, there is a lot of words, a lot of sentence and still we don’t say what needs to be said. I only wanted to highlight the fact that they are not capable to face the real conversation by talking too much somehow. I thought that it would be even more clear, even clearer, sorry if it was in everyday lives space, kind of small, but it was not about creating something claustrophobic or something that it was in The Father.

Because again, I was not trying to tell the story from the son’s perspective. It could have been another film, it could have been a bit like The Father, and I could have done that, and I would’ve loved to do that, meaning to try to experience from the inside, what it could mean to feel this kind of anxiety and suicidal thoughts and to use the cinema as a way to reflect this internal experience. This is not what I was, somehow it would’ve looked a bit like The Father. I was tempted to do something like that because somehow this is the way I think. Also, I know it’s somehow more challenging. My intuition was to try to dare being as simple as possible.

Sometimes simplicity is the hardest thing to achieve in order to tell that story from Peter’s perspective, those who are around someone who’s suffering, and they don’t know how to deal with that. He’s trying hard to help his son. He is a loving father. He wants to open a door, but he doesn’t have the keys. This is the feeling and the frustration I wanted the audience to feel. Sometimes love is not enough. You can have the best intentions. Sometimes it’s not enough when you’re not capable just to face the right questions. This is what happens with this character who is in a way completely blind and he’s blind because he feels guilty, because he thinks that everything is his fault, and he wants to repair what he thinks he has destroyed.

What we have to learn, I think, is that there is no simple explanation. No responsibility, so no guilt and nothing good could come from guilt. There is no explanation. Of course, some traumas we know that could lead to mental health issues, but most of the people, you don’t have a simple explanation. Of course, there is psychological layers but also biological layers or chemical layers. It means that we have to accept not to see this reality like is it the result of what I did wrong? It’s a major shift I think we have to do in our way to see mental illness. The same it would be completely pointless to blame someone for having a heart issue or a stomach issue. I think we should be the same for someone who is suffering from struggling with pain, with mental illness issues. We all know people that on paper they have everything in life to be happy and still they are in pain. There is no responsibility. This character is completely missing the point because he doesn’t know that there is no explanation. He thinks everything is his fault in a way.


RM: And hopes that it will go away. As an audience, we can sit there and we can watch these characters and we could feel as if we’re going to yell at the screen, “Oh no, you’re doing this all wrong.” It’s very easy to be an armchair critic in this case.

FZ: Yeah, you’re right.


RM: But the way you write these characters, you’re trying to evoke that empathy for the situation, especially for Nicholas and what he’s going through.

FZ: It’s through that from the outside, as you said, it looks like you want to shake these characters and say, “this boy needs treatment” or “you shouldn’t do that.” I like trying to put the audience in an active position, trying to be part of the narrative and to have a specific reaction to what is happening on screen. To me, it was a way to highlight the fact that when you are not in that position, watching it from the outside, but when you are like a father or a mother or a brother, it’s so difficult and painful and takes a lot of courage to dare open your eyes to their question, see the reality as it is. Sometimes it takes time, and we don’t have that time or sometime this is when tragedy could happen. I think the more we know about it, the more we learn about it, the more we talked about it, the better we have the chance to save people from tragedy.


RM: You work with an extraordinary cast here. Can you speak to your relationships with them working on this film? Because it must’ve been a lot on them.

FZ: Yeah, it was a lot. I don’t know if you know that, but Hugh came to me in the first place. It started that with something very genuine, honest, and humble approach. He said, “I will love you to know why I should be the one to” so I’m going to try to be very quick. From the start, I felt that he would be available to do something very special, that he would do something that he hasn’t done yet, which was not to try to perform in order to perform or to fake something or to imitate something, but just to be in front of the camera and to be as connected as possible to the true reason why in the first place. He approached me that he felt connected to this issue as a son or as a father.

I mean, who knows, but to me what matters is not his backstory, but just the fact that I felt instinctively that he knew what we were talking about and from that point on, he was so generous, he followed me exactly where I wanted him to go. He explored all these tough emotions with a superb open heart. I’m extremely grateful to him because it was a joy to share that with him because he was always honest, humble, and brave. That was not easy. Somehow, he knew that he was, I mean, we all wanted to tell that story so much. Everyone that was involved, Laura Dern, it was the same. They were here for specific reasons and that’s why it was an intimate space where just few people in the room trying to tell that story and we knew why we wanted it to be told. We knew that it was important to tell that story.

That they were not trying to be characters, they’re just trying to explore in deep down in who they were, who are the truth emotions, the true emotions that could overwhelm us. For example, Laura, she was the brilliant actress she was, but she was also a woman and a mother. It gave a lot to her performance, I think.


RM: The titular role is played by Zen McGrath. What was the process of finding him and him working on this film, since he is the centerpiece and discovery of the film?

FZ: The casting process started with Anthony Hopkins, to be honest.


RM: Then you wrote the new scene in the film because it wasn’t in the play?

FZ: Right, it was not in the play. I wrote it because I was hoping to work with him again. It was such a sentimental experience to share with him. I really wanted to do it with him again. Also, I knew that it would be a pivotal scene in the film when we understand that this father is actually a son and he’s a son in pain and still trying to deal with his past. That’s probably why he was not able to deal with his present and that he was just trying to be a better father than the one he had. We are all like that, trying to deal with what we received from our parents.

It was an important moment for me, and I was so happy that he read the script and three hours later he called me, and he said, “I want to be part of it.” It was the beginning. I was so happy with that. See I tried to be quick. Then it was so, so powerful to have that conversation with Hugh and to feel that he would do something extraordinary. Then I started to dream about who could be there and Laura Dern, I love her, and she was extraordinary. I think when I edited the film, I was so many times so moved by what she does in the restaurant scene, for example. I think she’s tremendous. Vanessa Kirby, I think she’s one of the greatest in the UK and she’s so intense. It was great.

The real question then was so who is this young person? What I knew is that I didn’t know him yet because he’s 17 years old. That was something very joyful when you have the chance to have these great actors to know that you could find a new face and someone you don’t know yet. I met a lot of people on Zoom because it was COVID to find him. I remember when I received his tape, I immediately knew that he was the one. He was coming from Australia, so it was more complicated for travel, COVID, accent. Still, I really wanted him. I took another meeting with him just to see how he would react to my direction. Then I made the decision, pure instinct, but real conviction. I met him two days before we started shooting because of COVID. It was not possible to do otherwise. It was very strange.

He was very professional, brave, and strong to be that fragile. Also, I think that he was very helped by Hugh by the fact that he’s the kindest person in the world, Hugh. That’s the truth. He creates something very special around him. I mean he’s one of the nicest human beings. I don’t say that like a general sentence.


RM: You’re not the only one that says that about Hugh. (both laugh)

FZ: You know what, people told me that when I was talking about the fact that I was about to work with him, so many people. I was surprised not because I didn’t believe, but it was coming and coming all the time. Now I can tell that’s the truth. That’s what I felt that that’s also the reason why I wanted him to be involved is that I needed someone new. You feel that he’s a good person. You feel that he’s a good father, you feel that he’s a loving father doing his best. Just to make people an audience feel, understand that sometime love is not enough. It was the whole point of that film to experience the situation where you are powerless and that you do not know what to do anymore as a parent, even though you have the best intentions. I thought that he would be the best to explore this paradox.

In real life, on set, he brings the best energy around him, and you need only one person that good to force everyone to be in the best version of himself. He was really, really helpful to make sure, Laura did as well, and Vanessa as well, to make sure he felt comfortable that he was part of the family and in order to try to tell that story without being too much hurt.


RM: You’ve done The Father, and now you’ve done The Son. There’s one more piece in this stage trilogy of yours that we have yet to see adapted for the big screen. Is that something that you are looking into and interested in doing?

FZ: To be honest, I don’t know. No, it’s true. I don’t know. I mean, I love the idea of a trilogy. I did it with Isabelle Huppert on stage in New York and she’s the best. I love her so much. Only this could be a good reason to do it. The thing is that to make a film takes so much time, energy that you need to do it for good reasons. Today the honest answer is that I don’t know, I’m still with The Son and I like also to stay a bit in the unknown to see what could appear that I am not aware of yet. It could be that but I’m not sure. I don’t know.


RM: I appreciate your time Florian.

FZ: Thank you very much.

Sony Pictures Classics will release The Son in select theaters on November 11. (Jo's Note: Limited release date moved to November 25, 2022. Wide release on December 16, 2022)

[jo]

The article's author reacts --

Ryan McQuade
liked your reply

Excellent interview!
Clarifies right perspective on writer/director's cinematic vision.
That the play/film version focuses on Peter (HughJackman)who may or may not have realized what was happening. Out of love & confusion he may have misjudged his reaction to an oncoming crisis.

[jo]

We all wish that Hugh finally gets his EGOT status!

But it must be rationalized in terms of his artistic accomplishments.

[jo]

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/CkQkIxjrs0N