The 1985 Australian institution Hugh Jackman refused to star in: “I was shocked”
Ever since he first popped his claws as Wolverine, Hugh Jackman has been on a path to the very top.
Apart from playing the X-Man approximately 5,000 times (and counting), he has expanded his portfolio to include comedies, action flicks, tense dramas, and just about everything else under the sun to become one of the most famous and recognisable people on the planet.
He is living proof that even the most humble beginnings can lead to worldwide acclaim, as prior to moving to the United States, Jackman had already made a name for himself in his native Australia as a stage actor, playing notable roles in local productions of Beauty and the Beast and Sunset Boulevard, while one of his earliest TV roles was in the show Correlli, which is where he met his future wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, and he also starred in a film version of the musical Oklahoma!, presumably back when he could still hold a tune.
Right at the very beginning of his career, Jackman received an offer that might have changed the course of his life, and not necessarily for the better. In an interview with Bafta, the Oscar-nominated hunk revealed that he could have starred in one of the most famous Australian TV shows of all time, admitting, “I had a job offer for Neighbours. I was shocked”.
For those who don’t know their soap operas, Neighbours first launched in 1985 and quickly became a national obsession. Set in a fictional suburb of Melbourne, the show follows the lives of the various people and families who make up the community, and it is best known internationally for spawning an ungodly number of future superstars.
Margot Robbie, Guy Pearce, Liam Hemsworth, and Kylie Minogue are just some of the world beaters who rose to fame on the streets of Erinsborough, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a famous Australian actor who hasn’t appeared in either Neighbours or its rival show Home and Away, except Jacob Elordi.
Jackman didn’t detail the part he would have played on Neighbours, but he did reveal that the offer came through at some point in the early 1990s, and explained why he didn’t take it. On the same day he was offered the gig, he also learned he had been accepted into the prestigious West Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
“I ended up taking the drama school, mainly because in my heart of hearts, my dream, my goal, would be one day to be at the National Theatre, to one day be in the Royal Shakespeare Company,” he revealed, “I thought ‘That’s the best place in the world to act’.”
If Jackman had followed his old pal Russell Crowe to the set of Neighbours, he might never have unlocked all the opportunities that led to his superstardom, for while soap operas represent a great opportunity for young actors to cut their teeth and earn a sustainable income, they take a lot of work and can be stifling. While there’s nothing wrong with taking a job on a soap, this situation worked out for the best.
