BY DAVID SERVER | Thats right, boys and girls  heres our interview with the one and only Hugh Wolverine Jackman!

Q: How did this, being the second film, affect how you and director Bryan Singer worked together? Was there a big difference for you?

Jackman: Yeah, there was tension on the first day, but to be honest, it was hard for me to spot because I was only cast a week into shooting. So it was my first Hollywood movie and I didn't really know what it was like, and he seemed pretty relaxed to me when we were shooting, but now having done other movies and as we got into, and as the studio started to like the dailies from the first one, you could feel it relax more. There was huge pressure on him, I mean huge. If you think about his career, this was a big jump for him to take, and then when it was a success, they let him alone a lot more. But from day one on this shoot, I remember Bryan with the fans. There were always fans wherever we were, and he'd go out almost every day, pick a fan and say, "Do you want to come and have a look on the set?" then take him around. There we are, going from our trailers trying to hide from paparazzi, and Bryan's just taking people through, "Come have a look. Welcome to our set." So, it was very different and I dont think hed mind me saying this, but he seemed more confident and to me and I think it was a hell of a lot of a difference. But I also thought that I could trust him. We always had a good relationship on the first one. Actually, I haven't told too many other journalists this, but there was a moment on the first film where he pulled me aside and said, "What you're doing is good, it's good, it's good, but I think that I want more out of you," and I'll always respect him for that. I think that it was that talk that kind of really woke me up and took me out of this whirlwind of, "I'm in Hollywood and it's all new and everything", and I just got back into the acting to find it, and I think thats when I really found the character, and he kind of had faith in me, so weve always had a good relationship.

Q: Do you remember what part of the movie that was, when he pulled you aside?

Jackman: It was after a break in shooting, but the scene was in the mansion when I was upstairs and I enter into Professor Xaviers room. I had a little bit of confidence at the time to ad-lib a few lines and Bryan loves that, there I was thinking, "Well, I've got to please the director," but Bryan was more like, "Do whatever you want and I'll tell you if you're wrong," So it took me a little while to work that out.

CountingDown: So did you feel more comfortable with the character right off the bat with this movie?

Jackman: Yeah, from day one, I felt really good. I was physically in better shape because in the first one I had no chance to get ready -- I literally had come off a three-week holiday in Sicily so I wasn't in the best of shape. And on this one, they gave me a trainer to get into shape, and not only that, they gave me a nutritionist. I think they thought that an Australian's idea of a diet was to have only six beers instead of 10 or something (laughs), but I'll tell you I learnt a bit. That nutritionist, man, it was brutal. There was no bread, there was no sugar, it was kind of wild.

Q: You had to bulk up, right?

Jackman: Yeah, that was it. I wish that it was padding. Unfortunately, no. There's padding in the suit.

Q: So were you finding out more about Wolverine in this one too?

Jackman: Yeah, I was. I was really excited when I read the script because I had always hoped, I had a feeling that they were going to go back to Wolverine's past and find that out. I always hoped that they would center on a famous X-Men comic called Weapon X which deals with the birth of his character, when he was experimented on. Weapon X focuses on when he was transformed into this ultimate fighting machine. Then he breaks loose and is this rogue mutant traveling around on his own, not knowing anything about why he's got claws or whatever. So, I was really thrilled that they got into that, and I really relished that as an actor, they had that sort of meat on the bone. Then the same with the romance with Jean Grey. I think that kind of hotted it up, but not just sexually, you almost got the feeling that if Cyclops wasnt around that she might of chosen him and they might have been an item. It was almost unthinkable for Wolverine, that he would actually trust or have a girlfriend, because everything about him is pull back, be on your own, dont give out, dont trust anyone, just watch people. And I think he was falling for her.

Q: There was more emotion in this film, was that Bryan's sensibility as a director?

Jackman: I think he felt that he could have had more emotional impact in the first one. I think he wanted to have more. He told me he played it real in the first one, there was so much to do, establish so many characters, establish the worldI think he always thought the second one would be the emotional payoff to the relationships, and things being at stake. Bryan is nervous about things being cheesy, which is why he makes such good movies and why he's such a great director for this kind of film. It's great as an actor because even if you feel you have some dialogue that's a little on the nose, it'll either get cut or it'll come off fine or hell change it. I think that he's found a good balance in this movie. I think that he did a great job.

Q: How would you compare and contrast him with Stephen Sommers, the director you're working with now on Van Helsing?

Jackman: They're very different in process, very different. Bryan sort of comes out and goes, "What should we do today, what do you want to do," and Stephen is incredibly organized. He knows his shot list, he knows everything. Whereas Bryan is more intuitive which, at times, drives a studio mad because it can mean we don't shoot until lunch time cause its not right. But with Stephen, that never happens because hes very organized. Both of them dont have an ego that will limit them from hiring people far better than them at other jobs. And both of them are very good at that, they both amass good talent around them. I can say with Van Helsing, and I can only go off of what Stephen tells me, is I know he wanted to go to another level in his filmmaking, being more heartfelt, more real, and I think hes done it, hes doing itwere only halfway through the movie, but people personalities come through on the screen, and Stephen's like a little kid. He's got this lightness. He loves life and everything is fun. He's got this twinkle in his eye about everything, but what he's done is try to make it a little bit more real and that's what Bryan does so well. What I think that Bryan has done in the second one to come close to a Stephen Sommers is that he's been more relaxed to kind of go, "Lets have a little more fun with it, lets have a little more fun with the characters". I mean, I just thought Ian McKellen's character in this was brilliant. He never lost any of his power or his majesty. I watched the film the other night and he just had some wickedly funny moments that were not really there in the script, but that he and Bryan worked on together. I think the movie is funnier in general, but if you watch Ians performance, it will show you how Bryan is more confident to have a little fun and a little more of the wink in the eye.

Q: Everyone in the film is so attractive. What do you think about that?

Jackman: Having been in one scene, underneath four of the women, I can certainly guarantee there are some beautiful women in there. I'm not sure that I look at Wolverine and go, "God, you're a good looking guy". (laughs) That hairstyle on the mountaintop. But maybe that's a criteria of being a mutant, you know, you have to be good looking (laughs). Maybe that's the next evolution.

Q: Do you think that you have to be really attractive to be in films these days?

Jackman: No, but if you're not, you have to be a damn good actor. There are some people who are attractive who you see in films who aren't particularly funny, they're not overtly engaging but they're easy on the eye and you watch them and it's okay. My whole time in Hollywood, people want to put a stereotype on what makes you successful, and there is beautiful, but its not that, theres plenty of beautiful people who just are boring as anything on the screen. But there's got to be something attractive beyond the physical for people to be interested in you on the screen. There's a confidence there and that's the great magic of film.

CountingDown: Were you surprised that this film was more violent than the last one? Because it made things more exciting but it was also notable, I mean in the screening people were hooting and cheering when you were ramming your claws into those guards

Jackman: Yeah, its a bit like being in the Coliseum, huh? Kill! kill! [But I wasnt surprised], because I was fighting for it. If I've had one criticism from fans, it's been like, "We didn't see your berserker rage, we didn't see you kick enough ass". To be honest, I didn't think of it until I watched the movie. I was like, "God, you're right, there's hardly anything to it". I had one fight with Mystique where she kicks my ass and I end up knocked out on the floor, then there's a bit in a cage at the beginning which is with humans, not even with mutants, and so, you really didn't see a lot of fighting, so I was really at pains to keep saying no no no, lets go for more more more more more. I mean the studio were nervous because they were worried about losing their rating. And the fight with Kelly Hu, and that was three weeks of shooting, and that was cut down quite a bit because I think it got a little bit too brutal. Unfortunately, it was at the end of the movie so by the time the ratings board got to it, they were like alright, thats it! So, unfortunately that fight probably suffered more than others.

Q: How different were things for you on the set for this one because you're a bigger star now and the lead of the movie?

Jackman: My trailer was much bigger (Laughs). No, no, my entourage was huge. (laughs). Its kind of different, except that if you want to pull any stunts, its very tough to come back to your colleagues that youve worked with, so you cant really pull too many stunts cause theyll just go, Cmon pal, we were there two years ago In terms of myself, I felt far more confident than I did on the first. I think it took me four weeks on the first to feel confident -- I was doing a lot of acting off screen. Its a pretty daunting place. By the time we got back to X-Men 2, it was my sixth film in America. So, I was a little more used to it and I was not afraid to say, "Listen, I think that this in the script needs to be changed." I wasn't thinking, "Oh, I'm going to get fired." Or I wasnt thinking so much that Ive just got to please the director, when you first start you just feel like, please dont fire me, but then your confidence gets better.

Q: Were you able to walk around Vancouver and be left alone?

Jackman: Yeah, pretty much! I have a few more problems in New York and in LA. I think that doing shows like Saturday Night Live, that's when you start to get noticed a lot more. Vancouver I don't recall being too bad, I think because while I'm shooting the film I've got these weird mutton chops. So, I get noticed by X-Men fans whereas normally, those fans don't really notice me.

Q: What kind of response did you get after the first one?

Jackman: Pretty good. I think the X-Men fans would be the kind to come up and spit on you if they didn't like it -- they're pretty into it.

Q: Ever been spat on?

Jackman: No, no, maybe behind my back, but not in front of me. They were vocal, saying in the next film, youve got to do more and more of this, and more of this. Canadian X-Men fans were all, Aw, I wanted to hear more of a Canadian accent in there. More references to Canada! But generally, that was one of the more thrilling things. I think that the fans were happy with it. And I think they'll like this film better than the first one. Thats my gut feeling. But I still think they felt happy. They didnt feel betrayed or embarrassed or angry.

Q: Is there a film version of a musical that you would love to be in?

Jackman: Sweeney Todd. I think that's a genius musical and I think in transferring it to film, that would be one of the better ones, I think.

Q: How do you feel about Musicals becoming more prominent?

Jackman: Thrilled! Its bizarre, when I started in film, the first film I ever got, I had to audition three times for this nothing, I got paid $300 a week. It was called Erskineville Kings, and the guy wouldnt see me! Because he said, oh, isnt that the song and dance guy? Isnt he in musicals? Most people assume that youre not an actor, that youre some kind of performer. To me, I came into musicals by mistake, I was trained as an actor, classical trained actor, Shakespeare and all this, and having done this I realized that this is probably the toughest acting of all, to make people believe when youre singing that youre actually communicating thoughts is much harder than anything! It was frustrating as hell, and now all of a sudden its in vogue! And people can see a musical with Rene Zellwegger and Richard Gere and Catherinze Zeta Jones and Queen Latifah and applaud their acting and see how hard it is, and like it! Im quite thrilled. When I came to musicals, I had never done one before, I done in a TV series where I played a prisoner. And I was literally going to rehearsals while still filming in my short mullet haircut and tattoos and prison gear, and people were going whos this freak, so I felt like the outsider in the musical world before I trained and got into it. And I think that the best musical theater starts from acting. And the voice is very important part of acting, and singing is very important, but if you dont have that acting element, it doesnt matter how beautiful youre singing is, its nothing.

Q: What are you doing now on Broadway?

Jackman: The Boy From Oz is about the life of Peter Allen. It was a huge success in Australia and will be the first Australian musical ever on Broadway. I'll be playing Peter, which is the polar opposite of Wolverine.

Q: X-Men was your introduction into American films. How did that happen?

Jackman: They basically did this cattle call for Wolverine. I think they had run out of money and thought, they'd get a starter because Dougray Scott who was going to play the role was not available. I went and I had two pages, thats all I had is two pages. And my wife was reading it, and it said Wolverines claws come out of his hands  Shook! Thats S-H-OO-K. And she said, Hugh, you cant do this! This is ridiculous! Youve got claws coming out of your hands...theres mutants I didn't think anything of it and six weeks later they said, "We want you to come back again." Then, "We want you to fly to New York," and on I went. So I did the whole many auditions on the road, jumping over hurdles each time. Thay said to me, when you do your next test, can you not sound so much like a cowboy? Because my American accent was totally Curly [from Oklahoma]. And every night Id done it for years, and I was trying not to but every night Id done it for years. I was trying not to but I couldnt help it!

Q: Have you ever sent Dougray a thank you note?

Jackman: I have spoken to him, I didnt quite have the guts to say thank you, I kind of apologized more to him. It was funny because I was there for the launch of Fox Studios and we had just started shooting and I had to fly back, and they were introducing all the people who were there, and Nicole Kidman was there, and Cate Blanchett, and Tom Cruise was around doing Mission Impossible, and I got introduced, and it was a photo call, and they said and Dougray Scott, and I say (mumbling) Dougray Scott, and I look down the line and there was Dougray looking down the line at me just waving, and I just thought that no one had any idea that anybody knew that there was a *really* good photo opportunity there, and I spoke to him later, and he said, Yknow, I love that script, I think its fantastic, and I said, Well Im sorry, I dont know what else to say, and he said Ah, thats Hollywood, these things happen. Because he got delayed on Mission Impossible. So that was how I had the chance to do it. But the first day I went to the set after being cast, I arrived and it was a night shoot at the train station for the first movie. Now, Ive done two movies in Australia, once cost about 25 thousand US and the other probably cost about a million US, I thought I was turning up to the Rolling Stones concert, there was like 400 extras, there were lights in the sky, these big balloons that they hang in the sky that light up this entire area, and they showed me into my trailer, apologizing that my real trailer wouldnt be there till Monday. The trailer I walked into was bigger than my apartment in Melbourne. No one would call me Hugh, they would all call me Mr. Jackman, I said just call me Hugh, man. I thought this was bizarre. And that first nightI couldnt have felt further from Wolverine if Id tried, I was just like a little kid at the fair.

CountingDown: Can you talk about Van Helsing and your character?

Jackman: I play Van Helsing in a loose adaptation of Bram Stoker's version where there is like a 60-year-old Dutch professor whos a bit freaky and into the occult and Dracula and things like that, and he ends up being the Dracula hunter in that book. So this is the 34 year old version of him out there, and hes kind of the mercenary for the Catholic church, just killing nay possessed soul out there that they send him to kill. This mission is to go to Transylvania and find out what's going on with Dracula and take him out, but he ends up encountering a lot of other monsters along the way, and he gets involved romantically which of course he doesnt want to do. Things get very complicated, but it's a very good story.

CountingDown: Has it been fun shooting it?

Jackman: So much fun. I am having so much fun. Kate [Beckinsale] is great. The cast is such an Aussie mafia with Richard Roxburgh who was in Moulin Rouge and David Wenham who's in Lord of the Rings, and Shuler Hensley play Frankenstein, which is a complete fluke because he played Judd Fry when I was in Oklahoma. His mother was very upset, his mum who I know very well is this Southern Belle, a ballet teacher, and she said (in Southern Belle accent), Oh Shullerwhy you playin Frankensteinwhy cant you play the lead guy? So, for me, it's like old home week with all my mates, and just having so much fun.

Q: Where could we see Wolverine go in the next film?

Jackman: Somewhere warm? [laughs] Its hard to imagine, because I was really thrilled on X-Men 2 how they really took him and paid off a lot of his original story and found about his past, so I dont have any particular desires. I love the part in the comics where he's in Japan, but that's a prequel and so, I don't know if that'll ever happen, but I'd love it. You never know.

CountingDown: A spinoff would be nice for that

Jackman: I can see it! I dont know if Fox can see it, but sure!