Skip to the six minute mark for the Q&A
The Sydney Morning Herald was covering Julia Gillard's visit to the set of
The Wolverine. Star Hugh Jackman was asked about the tragic events that took place at the screening of
The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado.
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"All I can echo is just the sorrow I feel for the families, for the community, for everybody," he said from the set of The Wolverine. "It's an issue that goes obviously way beyond acting, beyond film, beyond anything like that. This is just a tragedy on a level that we have experienced in Australia many years ago, in Tasmania, and it's just devastating."
On a lighter note,
The Wolverine will start filming in a week. Ms. Gillard used the event to promote the burgeoning film industry in Australia. To secure the film the federal government committed $12.8 million. In return
The Wolverine will create more than 2,000 jobs and generate more than $80 million to the local economy.
Hugh Jackman also reiterated his love of the Wolverine character. A role that fell into his lap once first choice Dougray Scott departed from Bryan Singer's
X-Men.
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"I still love the character. I had no choice at the time - I was going to take anything that came along - but I happen to have walked into probably the most interesting and complex of the superhero characters."
Director James Mangold (
Kate & Leopold) was also on hand for the festivities. He was very enthusiastic about recreating the look of Japan on an Australian soundstage.
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"It speaks to the incredible craftsmanship [here] that we can make so much of Japan - feudal Japan, urban Japan, sets - all here on our soundstages in Australia."
While
The Leader is reporting that a World War II prisoner of war camp is being created in Kurnell at the Bonna Point Reserve. I'm not really sure how that comes into play in the movie as I don't remember that in Frank Miller's Japanese saga that which the film is based on.
One of the sets for Hugh Jackman's next Wolverine flick is already under construction at Kurnell.
Neighbouring residents were notified by the production company, 20th Century Fox, that Bonna Point Reserve would be temporarily occupied to make way for a World War II prisoner of war camp set (pictured under construction). Scenes for the film will be shot in two days between Monday, July 30 and Thursday, August 2.
The Wolverine will be directed by James Mangold (Knight and Day), from a script written by Christopher McQuarrie.. The cast includes: Hugh Jackamn (Logan/Wolverine), Svetlana Khodchenkova (Viper), Hiroyuki Sanada (Shingen), Hal Yamanouchi (Yashida), Tao Okamoto (Mariko), Rila Fukushima (Yukio), Brian Tee (Norubo Mori), and Will Yun Lee (Kenuichio Harada/Silver Samurai). The film will claw into theaters July 26, 2013.