Wolverine gets 'Real'

"REAL STEEL"Ph: Melissa Moseley�DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC. �All Rights Reserved.

Hugh Jackman might have a reputation as one of Hollywood’s nicest guys, but that hasn’t stopped him from connecting with some pretty shady characters.

Consider Wolverine, quite possibly the surliest superhero in the comic book galaxy. Or the sleazy attorney Jackman played to perfection in the little-seen “Deception.” Or “Real Steel’s” Charlie Kenton, a hothead who, among his other flaws, is one of the world’s worst dads.

“Truth be told, I enjoyed playing that,” says Jackman with a laugh. “I have an 11-year-old son (and a 6-year-old daughter.) And, literally, there are times that you want to say things, and you just have to shove it back down inside. I’ve walked out of rooms so frustrated and in fear of what I’m going to say in that moment. For the three months (of shooting the movie), it all just came out.”

As if connecting with his inner-badass wasn’t fun enough for Jackman, he also grooved on playing a grizzled ex-boxer who’s given body and soul to the fight game.

When “Real Steel” begins, it’s 2020 and Charlie’s sport has been taken over by 8-foot steel robots. To make a living, he’s become a coach and promoter, working dingy venues across the country.

At his lowest ebb, Charlie reluctantly agrees to assume custody of his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo). The pair winds up coming together to rebuild and train Atom, a ’bot boxer one step away from the scrap heap. For Charlie, it’s his “Rocky” moment, his one last shot at the big time.

“He’s a guy who’s lost belief in himself, Charlie has,” notes Jackman, 43. “He thinks the world has passed him over. He doesn’t feel anything anymore because it’s easier to live that way. When life is disappointing to you and you get hurt so much, you end up just switching off.”

Boxing movies have been a mainstay in Hollywood dating back to the days of silents when both Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton played pugilists. Since then, everyone from John Garfield and Kirk Douglas to Robert De Niro and Hilary Swank has stepped into the ring.

Jackman thinks he knows why boxing is so popular with filmmakers. “Dramatically, it’s such a perfect scenario,” he notes. “You have a very confined space and clear delineations of victor and vanquished. You probably have the greatest test there is for a human being in terms of courage, heart, mental acuity and brawn.”

Asked to name his favorite boxing movie, Jackson selects the Muhammad Ali documentary “When We Were Kings.” “It’s not only a great boxing movie, I think that’s one of the greatest movies of all time,” he raves. “And I love ‘Rocky’… Some people have said to me that there are things in ‘Real Steel’ reminiscent of ‘Rocky.’ You bet there are, and why not? I feel like this is ‘Rocky’ for a new generation.”

“Real Steel” benefited from the expertise of executive producer Steven Spielberg, who warned director Shawn Levy (“Date Night”) not to rely solely on computer-generated ’bots. For the sake of the actors, the production built life-size robots which were operated by human handlers via high-tech remote control panels.

“Shawn never lost sight of the fact that we need to make people feel for these robots,” says Jackman. “This is not a showcase for special effects. This is not a movie where you’re going, ‘Oh, wow, cool.’ The only goal is that, at the end, people should be cheering and feeling for that robot.”

In the movie, the mechanized fighters do most of the boxing while Jackman works as Atom’s corner man. Still, the actor wanted to look like a grappler who’d spent his life in the ring. Enter Sugar Ray Robinson, who served as the film’s fight choreographer and Jackman’s trainer.

“I’d already been doing some training when I saw him the first time and he was, like, ‘You’ve got a little more work to do, pal.’ So, he was honest with me about that,’” says Jackman.

Although Jackman was still in fighting trim thanks to his portrayal of Wolverine, he had to develop a whole new set of skills for Charlie Kenton. “When I play Wolverine, I don’t always have to keep my fists up, guarding my face … Wolverine has claws and can take your head off. So, on this one, I had to be a little more specific about my training.”

Speaking of Wolverine, as anyone who’s seen “X-Men: First Class” knows, Jackman had a hilarious cameo in the movie as the typically churlish superhero. Much to the actor’s delight, Wolverine got to drop an f-bomb, a first for the franchise.

“They asked me to do that bit a year before they shot it,” recalls Jackman. “I said, ‘Pitch me the concept.’ I thought, ‘OK, yeah, I like that.’ I said, ‘Is anyone else swearing in the movie?’ and they said, ‘We don’t think so.’ I said, ‘Promise me no one else swears in the movie and I’m in.’”

It’s only a matter of time, says Jackman, before “The Wolverine” goes in front of the cameras. “Walk the Line” helmer James Mangold recently took over the directorial reins from Darren Aronofsky (“The Wrestler”) and the script is undergoing a final tweak.

“It’s going to be a little darker and I think a little more truer to the character of Wolverine,” says Jackman, noting that Chris McQuarrie’s screenplay is “by far the best script that we’ve had (for an ‘X-Man’ movie).”

After all these years, does Jackman ever get tired of playing the character who made him famous?

“No, I love Wolverine,” he says. “‘X-Men’ was the first film I did in America and somehow I lucked upon the greatest of all the superhero roles because he feels very human to me. He has dilemmas and demons. When I play Wolverine, I don’t feel like a guy with claws and ridiculous hair. I feel like a guy battling against life.”

Next up for Jackman is the big-screen version of the Broadway musical “Les Miserables.” Under Tom Hooper’s (“The King’s Speech”) direction, Jackman will play the parolee-turned-industrialist Jean Valjean who is pursued to hell and back by the exacting police inspector Javert (Russell Crowe.)

“If you’re going to do a musical, it helps that it’s one of the most beloved musicals of all time,” says Jackman. “Jean Valjean is a great part … From working with the director of ‘The King’s Speech’ to Russell Crowe playing Javert, this movie feels special to me.”

If Jackman is worried about the iffy track record of recent musicals at the box office, he’s not letting on. “Look, I just did a movie about robot boxing that’s supposed to make both my mother-in-law and my 11-year-old son happy,” he says with a laugh. “I know what’s a tough task.”