"I
find it very difficult to watch myself sing,'' says Hugh Jackman of his role in
the new film Les
Miserables. Picture: Universal Pictures Source:
Supplied
Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports
It might be the role for which he is being tipped for an Oscar nomination, but Hugh Jackman spent several weeks working up the courage to watch himself in Les Miserables.
"(Director) Tom (Hooper) offered me the chance to see it about a month ago but I said no, I wanted to see it done - which was me chickening out really,'' he said in Sydney yesterday during a break from the set of The Wolverine.
"I find it very difficult to watch myself sing.''
Jackman was so nervous about his performance as convict-turned-mayor Jean Valjean that he elected to see the hotly anticipated film version of Cameron Mackintosh's groundbreaking musical for the first time on Friday night at a private screening attended by his wife Deborra-lee Furness, his father and stepmother, and a couple of close friends.
"I told them they were only allowed to say good things and that they weren't allowed to talk to me for a few minutes afterwards.''
Hooper, who won an Oscar in 2011 for The King's Speech, has said that he would have walked away from the project had Jackman turned down the role.
"There was no second choice,'' he told Vogue magazine.
But three weeks before filming began, Jackman says he rang Furness with serious doubts about his ability to pull it off - both in terms of the acting and his character's two-and-a-half octave range.
"She listened and then she said: You can't play Jean Valjean and not feel that. Embrace the vulnerability.''
Jackman says Hooper's decision to film the songs live was nerve-wracking for the entire cast, which includes Russell Crowe as Valjean's arch-nemesis, the police inspector Javert and Anne Hathaway as the story's tragic heroine Fantine.
Almost no changes were made to the vocals in the post-production suite.
Les Miserables is already a hot favourite to pick up Oscar nominations for best film and best director and Hathaway has been a shoe-in for best supporting actress ever since the release of the first trailer, in which she sings heart-wrenching showstopper I Dreamed A Dream.
Jackman faces stiff competition for best actor from the likes of Daniel Day Lewis (Lincoln), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), John Hawkes (The Sessions) and Denzel Washington (Flight).'embrace
But while nobody is underestimating the dramatic heft wielded by his opponents, industry observers and indeed Hopper himself have pointed out that there isn't an actor in Hollywood who can match Jackman's triple threat.
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