Hugh Jackman
Actor Hugh Jackman has said he was “a hot mess” making his latest film, TheSon.
The 54-year-old X-Men star explained: “I certainly realized how vulnerable Iwas.”
He plays a successful lawyer with a teenage son (Zen McGrath) from a previousmarriage who is suffering from depression.
Jackman told the BBC the subject matter of the film and returning to actingafter not working during Covid lockdowns caused him “anxiety”.
And then his father died while he was making the movie.
“My father actually never missed a day of work in his life,” Jackman says,explaining why he did not take any time off to grieve. “I did imagine what myfather would say and he would say, ‘Go to work’.”
Nevertheless, making The Son was hard and the pressure took its toll.
“I would be one of the least [likely] people I know who I’d describe as a hotmess, but I certainly was during this.”
Jackman suffered sleepless nights while playing the role of Peter, aworkaholic with a new partner, young baby, an ex-wife and their troubledteenage son. The star says he continues to consult a therapist who helped himthrough filming.
The film’s producers also employed psychiatrists on set in case members of thecast and crew needed to talk about the upsetting material.
“This was the first time I’d ever seen such a thing on a film,” says Jackman,”and people used it and it was necessary.”
While intimacy coaches have become commonplace when sex scenes are beingfilmed, Jackman advocates mental health support as well.
Jackman’s other big roles include the lead in The Greatest Showman
“There’s a little part of the old school part of my brain [that thinks],’Well, that’s up to you to work out.’ If you need to go to a doctor, forwhatever reason, your foot, your mental health, you know, you work that out.
“But I think it certainly would be a sign from an employer that we understandtaking care of the whole person, not just paying them, but taking care oftheir wellbeing in all forms is really, really important.”
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See-Saw films, which produced The Son, worked with the Film and TV Charity,which has developed a free industry-wide resource to destigmatise poor mentalhealth in film and TV.
The charity’s 2021 Looking Glass survey found that nine in 10 people workingin the sector had experienced a mental health problem.
The Whole Picture Toolkit offers guidance and advice on supporting mentalhealth and wellbeing on set and pre and post-production and, so far, the kithas been adopted by 35 productions.
Jackman says he hopes The Son will spark conversations around mental healthissues “that are urgently needed”.
He says: “There is a real lack of knowledge and ignorance and shame around thesubject and I think it’s something we need to confront, really, reallyquickly.”
The film, which explores absentee parenting and the effects of divorce onchildren as well as adolescent mental illness, is tough to watch.
While The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw praised the “beautifully composed andliterate drama”, not everyone was a fan of The Son, which premiered at theVenice Film Festival and opens in the UK in February.
The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney said it was “a depressing film aboutdepression, while The Times’ Kevin Maher dismissed it as “a wearily predicableslab of family values hokum.”
However, Jackman has already received a Golden Globe nomination for best actorfor his role in the drama.
It comes at a moment when some are questioning the future of gendered actingcategories in awards ceremonies.
Jackman says he’s a “a big fan” of having one gender neutral acting categoryin which all performers compete.
“That would be a really positive step. I don’t understand why it’s split intojust two genders when we all know it’s a much bigger spectrum.”
Jackman is arguably best known for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men series
Acknowledging that he “might have just shot myself in the foot” as his ownchances of winning would be halved if there was one non-binary acting categoryinstead of separate best actor and actress categories, he adds: “Whatever themix is, we should maybe just break down any of those categories that end upbeing divisive and unnecessary.”
If the past is anything to go by, Jackman could be in with a shout of takinghome an award this season. The Son was co-written and directed by FlorianZeller, who directed the 2020 drama The Father, which earned its star SirAnthony Hopkins his second Oscar.
Sir Anthony, famous for his roles in The Silence of the Lambs, the Thor moviesand Westworld, makes a cameo appearance in The Son.
And Jackman gives a fascinating insight into how Sir Anthony continues to workafter more than six decades on screen.
“He shot for one day. He spent six months emailing the director Florian everysingle day. Florian said to me, ‘I got as many emails about this one scene ina movie as I did for The Father, where he is in every scene .’ He takes it soseriously.”
And that meticulous approach on continued set.
“At one point, he wanted to redo his close-up again. And I pulled Florianaside and I said: ‘But what he did was so incredible.’
“And he said: ‘Oh yeah, I’ve got everything I need, but I think he just missesacting. He hadn’t acted for 18 months. I think he just misses it, he wantedanother go.'”
The Son represents a departure for Jackman, who played Wolverine in nineblockbuster films – and is coming back for at least one more.
He also made his name in movie musicals, including Les Misérables and TheGreatest Showman and on Broadway, where he is currently starring in The MusicMan. So how does he pick roles?
“I’m always looking for things that I haven’t done before, that challenge me,that scare me,” Jackman says.
“And by the way, when I did Wolverine, it always scared me, too. That’s amillion miles away from who I am as well.”