HUGH JACKMAN Talks Religion, Meditation, And His Mother
Posted on February 13, 2013 at 5:00 PM
Hugh Jackmanis just everywhere these days! The “Les Miserables” actor, who we just can’t get enough of, opens up to this week’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter, where he talks about everything from drinking with Russell Crowe, to his religion beliefs, and to his feelings about his mother abandoning him. Check out the highlights of what he says below:
The Extremes Jackman Took to Achieve a Ragged Appearance for Les Mis:
“I didn’t have anything to drink until late in the day when we did the opening scene with Russell Crowe,” he says, explaining the dehydration gave his skin a gaunt, haggard look that makes his initial appearance as Valjean so shocking. “You lose up to 10 pounds of water weight, mainly from the exterior of the body. But it was really brutal. About 20 hours in, a headache came. Then I wanted to drink water out of the ocean! I see the scene now, and I look really thin, really sunken.”
Admits Sexuality Rumors Have Taken A Toll:
Jackman admits rumors about his sexuality have taken a greater toll than previously acknowledged, especially on his wife. “Just recently, it bugs her,” he says, blaming the Internet, which she frequents more than he does. (Jackman largely sticks to cricket sites and The Economist.) “She goes: ‘It’s big. It’s everywhere!’ ”
Roles He’s Turned Down include leads in Chicago, Drive and James Bond:
Some of the projects he has turned down are as fascinating as those he has accepted. He rejected the Richard Gere role in Chicago because he felt he was too young; pulled out of the Ryan Gosling starrer Drive, which he had developed, because he was unsure about working with Nicolas Winding Refn, then a relatively untested director; and declined to be considered for James Bond around the time of the first X-Men. “I thought it would box me in too much,” he says. “My natural instinct is to keep as many doors open as possible.”
On the Abandonment of His Mother:
He describes being 8 years old when his mother, Grace, abandoned him and his four elder siblings, leaving them in Sydney with their father, Christopher. His mother’s departure never was fully explained to him, and indeed Jackman only realized it was permanent when he was 13 and his father’s attempt at a reconciliation failed.
“Dad went off to England to bring her back, but by this point she was married to someone else, with a kid,” he says. “It was really complicated. So when Dad arrived back — not three weeks later, as planned, but five days later — I just knew. I was old enough to go, ‘This is not happening.’ ”
On Religion and Meditation:
Today, he is not particularly religious, and says he never prays, though he believes in some form of God and afterlife and meditates twice daily for 30 minutes. “It is about quieting that part of the brain and just seeing and being,” he explains.
Hugh Jackman is just everywhere these days! The “Les Miserables” actor, who we just can’t get enough of, opens up to this week’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter, where he talks about everything from drinking with Russell Crowe, to his religion beliefs, and to his feelings about his mother abandoning him. Check out the highlights of what he says below:
The Extremes Jackman Took to Achieve a Ragged Appearance for Les Mis:
“I didn’t have anything to drink until late in the day when we did the opening scene with Russell Crowe,” he says, explaining the dehydration gave his skin a gaunt, haggard look that makes his initial appearance as Valjean so shocking. “You lose up to 10 pounds of water weight, mainly from the exterior of the body. But it was really brutal. About 20 hours in, a headache came. Then I wanted to drink water out of the ocean! I see the scene now, and I look really thin, really sunken.”
Admits Sexuality Rumors Have Taken A Toll:
Jackman admits rumors about his sexuality have taken a greater toll than previously acknowledged, especially on his wife. “Just recently, it bugs her,” he says, blaming the Internet, which she frequents more than he does. (Jackman largely sticks to cricket sites and The Economist.) “She goes: ‘It’s big. It’s everywhere!’ ”
Roles He’s Turned Down include leads in Chicago, Drive and James Bond:
Some of the projects he has turned down are as fascinating as those he has accepted. He rejected the Richard Gere role in Chicago because he felt he was too young; pulled out of the Ryan Gosling starrer Drive, which he had developed, because he was unsure about working with Nicolas Winding Refn, then a relatively untested director; and declined to be considered for James Bond around the time of the first X-Men. “I thought it would box me in too much,” he says. “My natural instinct is to keep as many doors open as possible.”
On the Abandonment of His Mother:
He describes being 8 years old when his mother, Grace, abandoned him and his four elder siblings, leaving them in Sydney with their father, Christopher. His mother’s departure never was fully explained to him, and indeed Jackman only realized it was permanent when he was 13 and his father’s attempt at a reconciliation failed.
“Dad went off to England to bring her back, but by this point she was married to someone else, with a kid,” he says. “It was really complicated. So when Dad arrived back — not three weeks later, as planned, but five days later — I just knew. I was old enough to go, ‘This is not happening.’ ”
On Religion and Meditation:
Today, he is not particularly religious, and says he never prays, though he believes in some form of God and afterlife and meditates twice daily for 30 minutes. “It is about quieting that part of the brain and just seeing and being,” he explains.
Photo via The Hollywood Reporter