Hugh Jackman on ‘The Music Man,’ ‘Deadpool 3’ Rumors, and K-Pop

Hugh Jackman has quite a daunting schedule, starring in the choreography-heavy revival of The Music Man on Broadway eight times a week. Amazingly, however, the acclaimed actor still found time to stop by the Condé Nast offices and speak to a group of editors and writers. “I know how busy you [all] are. I’m not! Not till 7 o’clock tonight, anyway,” Jackman joked at the start of the conversation, flashing his movie-star smile.

Jackman was an open book during the hour-long discussion, moderated by Vanity Fair editor in chief Radhika Jones. The actor, who is only an O away from EGOT status, fielded wide-ranging questions on everything from working to diversify Broadway audiences to his newfound interest in K-pop (by way of his daughter). Below are selected excerpts from the conversation.

The actor kicked things off by discussing his role in the upcoming film The Son, adapted from writer and director Florian Zeller’s acclaimed play. “It is, I think, an incredibly important movie, particularly as we are finding out how many people, particularly young people, are dealing with mental-health issues,” the actor said. “The movie tackles really, really difficult issues: suicide, depression, mental health. I think even more importantly, on a meta scale for me, it examines the trauma that is passed down through generations.”

Jackman revealed that he pitched himself aggressively for the role: “All I can tell you is I read the script, and I knew there were other actors being talked about.… This is one of those great stories where you know you have a great agent.… There were two or three names being bandied about, and there were questions about their availability. She read the script and said, ‘No, no, this is Hugh’s movie.’”

The actor took the role just as seriously once he nabbed it. Jackman and his family were “basically secluded” while he filmed in London, observing tight COVID restrictions out of fear of disrupting shooting and pushing the film over budget. “If we shut down for even five days, it looked like our movie could go over,” he said.

Speaking of COVID, Jackman shared that he dedicated a lot of time to dancing during lockdown: two to three hours a day, three to four days a week. “I had my choreographer Warren Carlyle for The Music Man come in with me, and we would dance. He was teaching me the dances, and we were working them out together. So I turned up the first day of rehearsal feeling pretty good. And I could see the dancers were a bit like, Wow, because I just got it. After lunch on the first day, all my year-and-a-half credit was gone.… It was pretty demoralizing to realize they had learned in three hours what it had taken me a year and a half to learn,” Jackman recalled with a laugh.