This is a transcript of a very good roundtable discussions among certain Hollywood producers sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter --

http://www.hollywoodreporter.c...0b6c11d9a635745?pn=1

Excellent insights - very interesting reading if you are curious about the whole process of movie-making, this time from the point of view of a major player in making the movie happen. They have always been behind the scenes, but this is a calling that Hugh is increasingly interested in -- that of being a producer ( movies or theatre)!

There's reference to Hugh being hired as Wolverine based on an audition tape.

quote:

Bill Mechanic: We shot for 30 days on "X-Men" without Wolverine, without Hugh Jackman. It was originally somebody who got very big and dropped out, and literally we went off an audition tape. He was doing Gaston (in an Australian stage production of "Beauty and the Beast") and he looked like a young Clint Eastwood. We flew him in and said, "If he's got charisma he's got the job."

The producer probably got the show wrong. It was probably Oklahoma! and not Beauty and the Beast, although maybe Hugh had sent in a tape from BATB originally. He did say he auditioned twice for Wolverine - sort of 9 months apart. Wasn't Hugh originally turned down by Bryan Singer ( he preferred Dougray Scott to Curly's curls) but he relented when DC dropped out? Maybe Bryan finally saw something in the second audition tape. I find it funny about Bill Mechanic's remark -- that after they had seen the tape, that he said that if the guy had charisma that he would be it! Little did they know how much charisma Hugh has, even down to the littlest finger! LOL!

There was also a comment re Murdoch always wanting to keep the costs down. The producer obviously didn't like that -- but in this day and age, it only shows how prescient Murdoch was! No big business ( or small one) can be run without minding the costs a lot! The producer did say that FOX always wanted the best version there is of the movie. Hopefully, he meant that FOX still pays top attention to the most creative aspects of movie-making, despite all the brickbats from fanboys.

Btw, Rupert Murdoch has just been named by Forbes as the 7th most powerful man in the world. Recently, when asked after giving a speech, Mr. Murdoch said that in the world of entertainment, "...(he) admired people such as Tom Hanks and Hugh Jackman, who were decent people with great character ".

Sorry for the Off-topic on Murdoch -- but do read the discussions - very interesting facts and insights quoted there... PS-I didn't know that Sean Connery had a cancer scare. Glad that he is still around!

Jo

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