To promote the release of
The Wolverine on blu-ray/dvd, Hugh Jackman spoke with the
Daily Star in a lengthy Q&A covering a wide range of topics. One interesting subject broached was the question of whether comic book movies will ever be truly recognized by the Academy Awards. Said Jackman, "Heath Ledger won the Oscar for his portrayal so in many ways I think they are seeing it. I think more and more they are seeing the quality of filmmaking and the aspirations of filmmakers. I think the same about comedies. I always think that not enough of the academy members have actually tried to do a comedy, but heaven knows how hard that is to pull off. So when you get a great comedy — I thought Bridesmaids was going to win a whole load of stuff."
The conversation also turned to an interesting topic, the question of if Clint Eastwood were younger, would he be in a superhero movie given this current trend of blockbuster comic book movies. "He sort of had one with Dirty Harry, didn’t he, though he was human," said Jackman. He continued, "There weren’t many franchises around like that apart from James Bond. Probably. I remember shooting X-Men 1. It is fascinating how it’s changed. Bryan Singer would not allow one comic book on the set. He was terrified that actors would read them and come with over-the-top with two-dimensional performances. That was the perception of what comic books are, though X-Men is not like that at all. It is sophisticated in its themes and political in what it is trying to say. But that’s what Bryan worried about back then, so it is a very different world now. There was no genre when the first X-Men was made and you have to give credit to Bryan and to [20th Century] Fox for taking that risk."
And in terms of
X-Men: Days of Future Past, Jackman commented on the growth he's seen in director Bryan Singer."All of us are different but essentially I see in him all that brilliance and confidence and then some," began Jackman. He continued, "It seems to me that he has made a lot of different movies. He has reached among the fan base a kind of iconic status because of what he has created. I think he is really enjoying the challenge of this film. I know it is a big challenge and he doesn’t take it lightly. He really is absolutely delivering. I think that this going to be right up there."
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