The 2001 scene that left Hugh Jackman completely humiliated: “My first mistake”
It would be fair to assume that Hugh Jackman has seen everything there has been to see of the entertainment industry. Throughout his career, the Australian actor has appeared in a wide range of roles, whether on stage or screen, always being admired for the great lengths he goes to portray his characters.
For instance, we know well Jackman’s contribution to the superhero movie genre, considering his Guinness World Record-earning effort as Wolverine in X-Men and the “longest career as a live-action Marvel character”. Elsewhere, though, Jackman has proven himself as a triple-threat, singing in the 2012 version of Les Misérables.
Jackman’s early career had consisted of a number of performances in his native country, but by the time the mid-2000s swung around, he’d begun to establish himself as an international leading actor, appearing in the likes of Van Helsing and The Prestige. Another vital movie for Jackman around this time was James Mangold’s 2001 romantic-comedy fantasy film Kate & Leopold.
The movie tells of a physicist by the name of Stuart Besser (played by Liev Schrieber), who accidentally brings his great-great-grandfather, Leopold (Jackman), through a time portal from 1876 New York to the present. At this point, Leopold falls in love with Stuart’s ex-girlfriend, Kate (Meg Ryan).
Discussing his character’s impression of Kate in an interview with the BBC, Jackman noted, “He loves her spirit, her freedom, and her ability to talk back and argue. This is something he’s never experienced in a woman before.” Still, Jackman felt that Kate & Leopold showed that we should not necessarily hark back to a simpler time, saying that we’ve lost some “things for good reason”.
For Jackman, the role represented another chance to demonstrate that he was far more than an action star in the making. Although audiences would soon come to associate him almost exclusively with Wolverine, Kate & Leopold showcased a very different side of his screen presence, requiring charm, wit and old-fashioned romanticism rather than claws and brute force. It was the sort of performance that hinted at the versatility that would later define his career.
That versatility also meant embracing the less glamorous demands of period filmmaking. Looking convincing in nineteenth-century dress, mastering the refined manners of an aristocrat and navigating scenes on horseback all formed part of selling the illusion, even if some of those challenges proved considerably more difficult than they appeared on screen.
At some points in the movie, Jackman appears on horseback and the BBC interviewer pointed out the fact that the actor seemed to look very comfortable riding a horse. However, Jackman felt differently about the way the scenes were produced, with a certain air of shame and humility.
“Actually, those scenes were particularly humiliating for me,” he said. “Meg asked me one day if I could ride, and I said I was learning, which was my first mistake. The day we were supposed to shoot the scene with Meg on the horse as well, I came along and rode straight past her which was fine and as it should be.”
Things seemed to be going well for Jackman as he was riding his horse around the set of Kate & Leopold, but he had an equine surprise just around the corner. The actor continued, “Then, the horse decided to put the brakes on, and I went straight over the top and landed on my arse which hurt like hell!”
Still, Ryan was eventually able to get on the horse with her co-star, which Jackman described as “truly heroic”. It might be easy to think of Jackman being able to do anything required of him. After all, his shown his comfort on the stage, in singing roles and, of course, in truly physically demanding roles like in X-Men.
However, as his experience on Kate & Leopold proves, an actor ought to be wary of getting too ahead of themselves, lest they look like an arse in front of their co-stars. Still, his effort in Kate & Leopold was an important one for Jackman and set him well on his way to international stardom.
