15 September 2011, 15:19 Culture

“If androids dream of electric sheep, we have big problems.”

Interview with actor Hugh Jackman

Interviewed by Lena Tikhonova close 100%

Actor Hugh Jackman

ITAR-TASS Hugh Jackman visited Moscow, where he presented the film “Real Steel” - the story of a robot boxer trained by the hero of the actor famous for Wolverine. In an interview with Park Culture, Jackman talked about why he goes unshaven, about robots and losers.

— They say that “Real Steel” is your first film that you showed to your children? Why this one?

— Before that, I mostly starred in quite serious films and also in “X-Men.” But in X-Men, I play a guy who chops people up every now and then, and I spend my whole life trying to convince my kids not to kill each other. They are, after all, relatives. If they saw my hero cutting everyone around, it would hardly help my parenting mission in any way.

- They also say that one of your children saw your kiss with the heroine Evangeline Lilly and said something about it...

- Yes, he said: “You will get into trouble!” He's old enough to begin to understand what's what. But my wife (she’s also an actress) - she said: “You starred in a Hollywood film, and it ended with one kiss? This is bullshit". In fact, this is not about jealousy, but simply about the fact that it is not very pleasant to look at. If in the film my wife was hugging some guy, I wouldn’t be jealous of her, of course. But he didn’t want to look at it either.

- You once said that you go to auditions exclusively unshaven, and you also came to the Russian premiere with stubble - do you expect to get a role from some Russian director?

- Oh, that would be wonderful! Do you have anyone in mind? But in general this is true. The directors of almost all my films did not want me to come to the set clean-shaven. Being clean-shaven, I resemble a schoolboy. And I’m actually forty-two, and when I play, say, Wolverine, the directors don’t want me to look like... well, yes, like a schoolboy. By the way, the same applies to photography. During the press tour, I fly to different countries, in many of them I have photo shoots planned, and before these shoots, photographers look at some old photos of me, and then call me asking me not to shave.

— What is more interesting for you: robot boxing or real boxing?

- Probably real. I love sports in general, so I like it when it's real. But you know, as for this film, in Paris I was able to watch it with the audience, and I saw how many of them began to move after the heroes of the film. For me, this reaction was very pleasant. They seemed to become emotionally involved in what was happening.

- But they say that you have loved skating since childhood...

-Are you crazy? We only have two skating rinks in the whole of Australia. Maybe as a child I was once at the skating rink, but no more.

— What qualities of your character Charlie Canton attracted you in the first place?

— I was always very touched by characters who, due to some life circumstances, lost faith in themselves or in those around them. Because life can turn out differently - no one is immune from events that can force us to change and lose faith in ourselves. If your first love turns out to be unhappy, then this is reflected in your whole life. And if from the very beginning your relationship ends badly several times in a row, then there is a chance that it will never work out well.

Human well-being is very fragile. And nothing is ever certain. It happens that we look at a person and think: “Yes, he will always be confident, he will always be fine.” No, really anything can happen. And I think that’s why audiences like films like these. We must constantly remind ourselves: we are lucky to be healthy, we are lucky to be alive, we are lucky to have everything that we have. And for Charlie, his son becomes something of a second chance. And at the same time, he is still scared: he is afraid that nothing will work out. Life in general is scary. I'm afraid of her. And I always specifically look for some things that would scare me. After all, if you are calm, if there is nothing scary around you, there is a high probability that you are in a kind of stagnation. But it is clear that a life filled with risk also has its price. And I realize this isn't the most original answer, but it's the only answer that comes to mind when I'm trying to figure out why I'm truly drawn to characters like Charlie.

— One way or another, you finally starred in a film about robots and now, probably, you can answer the question, do androids dream of electric sheep?

- Oh, well, if they dream of electric sheep, then we have big problems. After all, this is one of the main fears of humanity - losing control over the planet. We've been running it for quite some time, so it would be unpleasant to suddenly lose that, especially in favor of something that we ourselves created. But I can’t say that this scares me personally. This is hardly possible. Definitely not in my lifetime.

— What is your next project?

— I’m starring in a film based on the musical Les Misérables (“Les Misérables”), and it’s a dream come true. I really wanted to star in a musical. He's not very well known here, but he's very popular in London and the States.

- What about Wolverine?

“I think it will happen right after this.”