“I was wishing I could take the story back”: Hugh Jackman reveals the nickname David Bowie gave him
Even A-list superstars can be reduced to trembling fanboys in the presence of their heroes, even if Hugh Jackman was far from the only person involved in The Prestige left overawed being in the presence of David Bowie.
Christopher Nolan admitted the only time he’d ever refused to take no for an answer from anyone who turned down a role in his movies came when Bowie initially rejected the overtures to play Nikola Tesla in his period-set psychological thriller, with the lifelong fan hopping on a plane to New York to pitch him again in person.
Meanwhile, even though Christian Bale had been acting since he was a child and had already played Batman at that point, his mother didn’t think he’d officially made it as an actor until he was working alongside Bowie. That’s the sort of appeal and legacy he held, but he was also a mischief-maker.
Much like Bale, Jackman had a plum part in a massive superhero franchise under his belt, so he was used to the usual trappings of celebrity, but he made the mistake of regaling Bowie with an anecdote from his younger days. Describing him as “probably one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met,” he even maintained that position after subjecting himself to some gentle name-calling.
Ironically, the long-tenured Wolverine star ended up getting a brand new nickname from Bowie after telling him a story that involved a trip to one of his own gigs. “Two days into shooting, I told him a story about the first concert I was ever going to go to, which was one of his,” Jackman explained to the BBC. “I bought a ticket for $20, which was about six months’ worth of pocket money.”
This being Bowie, the concert was a complete sell-out, and tickets had become like gold dust, which sparked an idea in the head of a young Jackman. “But on the day of the concert, someone offered me $50 for the ticket because it was sold out,” he said. “David’s face started to glaze over a little bit at this point, and I was wishing I could take the story back.”
The embarrassment was tangible when Jackman was forced to admit directly to Bowie’s face that he’d sold a ticket to his gig at a 150% markup instead of watching him perform live, and “from that moment he called me ‘The Scalper’, and he wanted at least 50% of my profit!” to rub even more salt into the wounds.
It was a bold move for the affable Aussie to tell Bowie that he knocked back the chance to catch him in concert in favour of earning a little extra cash on the side, and he was forced to deal with the consequences after becoming known as ‘The Scalper’ for the remainder of The Prestige‘s shoot.
