Making the film had an unexpected effect on Jackman, whose reputation for being the kindest, cheeriest person on set follows him everywhere he goes. “I have always been able to go to sleep quickly and sleep as long as I wanted,” he told Variety last fall. “But not on this one. I look back now and I’m like, ‘Of course I wasn’t sleeping.’ There’s some history of mental illness in my family, and there was a lot of stuff coming up for me.”
During the shoot, he recalled, “I was waking up at 4 a.m., knowing I hadn’t had enough sleep. Thank God I was playing a part where I was meant to look like s–t, because I was feeling pretty bad.”
Jackman said the movie, which he first watched privately with Furness and their kids before its splashy premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, changed him as a parent. “I’m more vulnerable in front of my kids emotionally,” he explained. “I’m more verbal about stuff I’m going through, even if it’s stuff to do with them.”
But however much Jackman chooses to share going forward, in his reported book or otherwise, he’s also made it clear that he’s not just busy working out. He’s working everything out as he goes, as well.
And keep reading for more scenes from Hugh Jackman’s squad era (Taylor’s version):
