Thursday 16 April 2009

'I'd jump off an 80ft cliff into the sea': Hugh Jackman, an action star off screen too

From: DailyMail.co.uk

Given the choice, what would be your superpower? As star of new comic-book movie spin-off Wolverine, Hugh Jackman went for lupine claws, an unassailable exo-skeleton... and a wolfish grin (or was that just left over from his recent gig with Nicole Kidman?)

Cockatoo Island is just a 20-minute ferry ride from Sydney Harbour, but it feels like the middle of nowhere. Convicts were sent here in the 19th century to build the dry docks. You can imagine what they went through. It's 1am and bitingly cold and a sense of desolation permeates the stone buildings.

Beautiful but bleak, this is one of the key locations for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman.

When I arrive for my exclusive set visit, they are in the middle of filming a pivotal scene; Jackman, ripped and rugged as Wolverine, is tearing through a cavernous warehouse. Roaring with animalistic rage, he is laying into his brother, Sabretooth, played by an equally vicious-looking Liev Schreiber. Both are bloodied and sweating; the fighting is visceral. You can almost feel the force of the punches.

There is a macho competition between the two actors, explains Jackman later, when he stops for a break between takes.

'There is a fair bit of testosterone flying around. We look to see if the other one's fading and then both of us always say, "No, I'm fine, let's go again. Come on, you can hit me harder than that."'

He thumps the table with his fist.

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