Gene drives you home on cartoons, cartoons. Q I scrolled back furiously on my instagram to 2013. I found a picture of us wolverine red carpet and stole. I was in the media box. That was eight whole years ago. Can you see
remember when we used to be able to stand that close together.
Isn't that crazy? I mean this is unheard of right now, isn't it?
It's good to see you again.
Good to see you again Hugh. Now you've just grown from strength to strength. Congratulations on reminiscence. What was it about this role that made you want to take it up?
Lisa joy the writer director who just from meeting as soon as I met her, I
kind of knew I wanted
to do the film. She, she pitched the film before I read it. She pitched it. She showed me some art. She told me why she wrote it. She told me she'd always had me in mind, which I didn't believe at first, but then she made me believe it and she had like a confidence to her and an intelligence and I know this is her first feature film. She's written on a lot of things and done Westworld of course.
So it felt like she had done 10 movies. I just knew I just had them feeling in my bones that playing a character like Nick, which was something different to anything I've played in a movie that she had written and directed was going to be something original and fresh, Not just for me but for the audience. Yeah,
I heard that. Like if you didn't play the part, she would have not wanted to do the movie. I
actually, yeah, I actually said that like she handed me the script at the end of our meeting and I said, come on brad pitt said no, right. And she said no. I said, I'll prove it to you. I said, but how can you prove it to me? She goes, if you say no, I'm actually not doing the movie. And I went, really? She has no. And I said that's a lot of pressure on me reading this thing and it's just the truth, luckily I liked it. Amazing
reminiscences about navigating your memories. So if you could get into that contraption yourself right now, which part of your past would you find yourself looking at?
I'm gonna get on my bike Singapore. I'm going to go down and say a prayer that temple, I'm gonna go to the local cafe and order some kaya toast, have my coffee. I was just such an awesome morning. I just, I loved my time there sit in that crazy pool on the top of that crazy building. I can't remember what it's
called.
Yeah. Anyway, so that's where I went to immediately. But honestly I would love to hold my kids again like his babies smell the tops of their head,
I'm going to squeeze in one more quick question, Favorite part of the movie for you to film, which was your favorite bit
whenever I was on set with Rebecca Ferguson and Tanda Wayne Newton together and lisa Joy who was always there. The three of them are wickedly funny. When I say wicked, I mean cheeky, naughty and funny, hilarious. It was that, that was always my favorite bit.
Thank you so much hue
and good to see you. Really
good to see you all the best for everything. Okay, lots of love
to see you soon.
The best mix of music class 95 hygiene. I love Singapore. You do. We were there with Westworld year before your year before last, before this pandemic struck, it was my first time. I absolutely loved it. Stand away. Really wonderful seeing you. Director lisa said she wanted somebody who is tough, yet full of heart for this film and I think you totally encompassed that in the movie. Were you excited to get the call for this?
I was terrified. I love Lisa so much that I was so worried that I wouldn't like what if I let her down? That was my feeling, I love her. And it's one of those things where isn't it better just to not in case I did let her Anyway, I got over that very quickly because as soon as I got into the costume fittings, I just felt absolutely just inspired and thrilled. And then I met you Jackman and it was like, oh, this is just, it's a match made in heaven
Now. The film is about navigating your memories. If you could get into that machine right here right now, where
would you want to go to? There was a coat, a mani cote that I think I either left on a plane or it may have been in the car and it was about 20 years ago and I really would like to find out where I left it and I'm joking, but I wouldn't want to use it to go and like, I would want to use it to try and discover stuff that would help people who have messed up so many people try and alter history so that some of the cataclysmic events in our world could perhaps be altered,
you know, and it is the stuff of many movies and books, this idea that if we could alter the past, how would it affect the present? And you always come down to, well even the bad things have had consequences that have been beneficial. It's a really interesting concept. Hi Daniel,
how are you? I'm
okay. So we saw a lot of your martial arts in this movie and I read that you tend to like to do all your own stunts. So did you do them all for this film?
Yeah, Yeah, I mean this, this was not as complicated as, let's say something like into the Badlands, I wouldn't say there was a lot of martial husbands a lot of gunplay, like john russell gunplay and so it was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was, we, we did all our own stunts, including Hugh as well, like with his head in that fish tank, when it blows everything. That was that was you doing everything himself.
Now, your character ST joe battles Hugh, Jackman's character, nick, Banister, what was it like filming the scenes together?
Um it was really interesting, you know, first of all, Hugh is a great guy, like he's a triple threat
who can sing, act and dance. Every actor was jealous of him, he played wolverine, all that stuff, but when it comes down to like working with him, he is really down to earth and really cool and generous also as well, like for example when we're doing that fight scene with his head in the fish tank, he did, he did it himself, we could have done put a double in there, we could have put someone else in there, but he did it himself and he was wet all day long and a lot of actors last to like,
you know, change out of their clothes and being something dry and comfortable, he was like, I'm going to be wet anyway, so let's just leave it like this and he was wet all day long for like three days straight. So yeah, he's really down there was a really cool guy to work with, very easy to work with, great guy,
great guy. Indeed. Now if you could get into that machine, you know, and go back to a specific memory yourself right now, where would you, where would you go, Daniel?
I know most people would be surprised to hear this, but I would go back to my high school years like 16-18 because I think that was probably the most innocent time in my life where you didn't have to worry about the future so much, you had no responsibilities, I didn't have to make money. I didn't have to support anybody. I was living at home with my parents. My mom was cooking good food for me, you know, it was, it was good times and I was hanging out with my friends and had a car,
I could drive around. So I would go back to that period of time
sounds amazing daniel, One final question. I read that the film did not use any green or blue screens and use this new technology. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
I was very surprised about that because when we're making it, I was like where are the greens beans? What are we going to do with that? And they're like, no, we have this way to do it. We used some, some of these effects on Westworld because lisa joy worked on Westworld and so we're going to employ those effects on this thing. I'm like, okay, which is interesting because as the actor, you don't get to see what the movie or the world really looks
like until the movie comes out. And so when I saw it two weeks ago, I was like, wow, amazed, just amazed at how they were able to make a future, you know, Miami in the Future in New Orleans um with the practical effects and the effects they were able to do on top of that.
Thank you so much. Daniel. Real pleasure speaking with you.
All right, Dean, take care
The Best Music Class 95. Hi lisa, Hi jean, how are you? I'm good. So, you wrote, you directed you produced this Baby. I love the fact that the story was based off of something that you actually experience. What was the push for you to make it into this film? You know, I I've always been fascinated by memory and I think so many people are, it's a way of encapsulating the moments that were the most valuable for us. Love stories, uh stories of happiness and excitement and I think everybody likes
to travel back in time to relive those things. So I just, I couldn't help it and I was having a baby at the time and I knew that I would be cherishing that moment forever. So, it all felt very top of mind. I heard that you wanted Hugh Jackman and Hugh Jackman alone for this movie. If not you probably weren't going to do it. Is this true? Yes, that was true. I mean, it was my intention, that I just felt like it was meant to be creatively.
I had a very idealistic take on it and that if you didn't want to do it, then I had to really reevaluate what where my head was at because I was so sure that he was my nick Banister. Yeah. And he was excellent in it. So you were right to go with your gut for sure. The film is really apt for our times and people wanting to look back pre pandemic days. Did you personally, also during the course of making this movie, find yourself doing a lot
of that? Yeah, I I think that absence is the greatest aphrodisiac in some ways when you're unable to touch and connect with people in the way that you were, it makes you so much more powerfully drawn to them and so much more palpably appreciative of what you had.
And so I hope that after we come out of these times, just like after people come out of watching the film, if there's any lesson that we learned, it's to hold on to those that we love and to really cherish the moments of happiness that we have in this life, I hear you already have a follow up in mind a bit of a distant cousin as opposed to an
outright sequel. Is there anything you can spill about that, there is a lot of action, it's very heavy on that and there's a new form of action that I've been noodling around within my head that I'd very much like to bring to the screen. We're very excited about that, lovely speaking with you, lisa, and really enjoyed the movie. Thank you so much. It was lovely talking with you, Gene drives you home on cartoons.