Hugh Jackman reveals male dieting tips

Actor Hugh Jackman, 40, became a star thanks to his role as Wolverine in the X-Men films. He is married to Deborra-Lee Furness and they have two children. His latest offering, epic blockbuster Australia, is released in cinemas this week.

What are your own Australian roots?
Both my parents are English and emigrated in 1967; I was born the year after. They were called ‘ten-pound poms’. Back then, the Australian government tried to get educated English and Canadian people to move to Australia so they offered them citizenship and a whole load of incentives. For £10, you could sail your entire family out to Australia so that’s what my father chose to do.

Was that an easy decision for them to make?
He said it just seemed like a wise decision for the family. He already had three kids with a fourth on the way – I was number five. He wasn’t earning a lot of money. He was doing OK but the thought of living in London with five kids was a nightmare so he moved to Australia. Back then, Australia was still a bit of a frontier so they were attracted by the idea of the space and opportunity.

How much horse-riding experience did you have before working on Australia?
I’d done a bit of horse riding but then I read the script and realised what was expected of me. It said I had to corral 100 wild horses, which went up to 200 when we were shooting. At that point I realised I had a lot of work to do physically. I actually rode every day for a year leading up to the film and then every day while we were filming. If you add it all together, it was a lot of riding.

What was working with Nicole Kidman like?
We’ve known each other for almost 15 years. She was best mates with my wife when she first went to Hollywood so it was really terrific to work together. You don’t really know someone until you’ve done a film with them because you see people under a lot of stress. It was physically very tough. We were in locations where it was nearly 50˚C some days and we were in ridiculous costumes, riding and sleeping in tents, so we got to know each other very well. She’s very enthusiastic, very demanding of herself and very professional.

Your body is incredible. What training do you do?
I started training intensively in the gym two years ago to get into the right shape for X-Men Origins. It meant my body got bigger and bigger during Australia, and [director] Baz Luhrmann said: ‘I’m not sure if we can cut our film together because you keep changing.’ I train for an hour and a half a day, five days a week – weights, treadmill, rowing, everything. Then I do what my trainer calls ‘a play session’ on the sixth, which previously would have killed me in itself.

What about diet and eating?
It’s all about eating. I get up at 4am and eat egg whites, then every three hours after that. I have a combination of protein or steamed vegetables and brown rice. Then after midday, no rice or carbohydrates. It’s just vegetables and meat or fish.

You must be incredibly disciplined.
I’m not going to live this way for the rest of my life. I do have treats, I love dark chocolate, beer and red wine. I love going out for dinner and do cheat sometimes.

The film is highly emotional. Do you cry in films and which films make you cry?
I’m not an easy crier but the last film where I had a good cry was Tsotsi. That one really got to me. Another big one was Shadowlands. That last scene with Anthony Hopkins absolutely slayed me.

What’s it like being voted the ‘sexiest man alive’?
It’s great. My wife said: ‘Obviously Brad wasn’t available this year.’ My son Oscar, who is eight, said: ‘You? You’ve gotta be kidding me!’

Where are you happiest?
At home with the family.

Via metro.co.uk

Triple-threat Hugh Jackman shakes up Oscar format

He sings, dances, acts on stage and screen, and he's the "Sexiest Man Alive." Hugh Jackman does everything but standup comedy — and that's why the first-time Oscars host fulfills the academy's promise to shake up the show in a way that's as tough to predict as the winners.

Jackman was announced Friday as the host of the 81st Academy Awards, a marked departure from the academy's standard of big-name comedians. Jon Stewart, who hosted in 2008 and 2006, and Ellen DeGeneres, the 2007 host, were the latest in a line of funny emcees since 1990. Billy Crystal did it eight times, Whoopi Goldberg took on four, Steve Martin did it twice and David Letterman and Chris Rock each had a shot.

As the parade of A-list comedians continued, ratings were in steady decline. But with new producers, a new director, new set designer and even a new music director, the academy has been hinting for months at an all-new look and feel for this year's Oscars telecast on Feb. 22.

Having Jackman host certainly fits with that theme.

Producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon called the Australian actor "a consummate entertainer and an internationally renowned movie star."

"He also has style, elegance and a sense of occasion," Mark and Condon said in a joint statement. "Hugh is the ideal choice to host a celebration of the year's movies — and to have fun doing it."

Indeed, Jackman can be a mutant superhero (Wolverine from the "X-Men" movie franchise), a flirtatious singing barker (Billy Bigelow in Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical "Carousel"), a determined magician ("The Prestige") and a dancing penguin ("Happy Feet").

The 40-year-old actor plays a roughhewn cattle driver opposite Nicole Kidman's English aristocrat in the new Baz Luhrmann romantic adventure "Australia." Jackman was abroad promoting the film Friday when his Oscar role was announced.

"Thirty years ago when I was in Sydney watching Johnny Carson host the Oscars with my family, I never imagined that I'd one day have the chance to be up on that stage myself," he said in a statement. "I am very grateful to the Academy for giving me this opportunity. And, excited to be working with Larry and Bill on what I know will be a fun and memorable celebration."

Having an entertainer such as Jackman host the show necessitates a change in the well-established standard of opening the show with a jokes, said Steve Pond, author of the 2005 book "The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards."

"The tricky part is that while he's charming, he's not the kind of guy to go out there and deliver a comic monologue at the top of the show," Pond said. "He's more comfortable with a song and dance, but is a song and dance at the top of the Oscars what people want to see? It'll be tricky adopting what he does best to what works at the Oscars."

But with ratings dropping for all awards shows, it's worth shaking things up to generate interest — and the Academy Awards telecast, which posted its lowest ratings ever in February, isn't the only one trying something new.

The Emmys added a category — best reality-show host — and divvied the show's hosting duties among the five nominees. The results were disastrous: Critics panned the format and the show was one of the least-watched Emmys ever.

The Grammy Awards spiced up its nominations earlier this month by trading its typical staid press conference for a glitzy, live concert special. Ratings-wise, the hourlong show came in fourth among prime-time contenders, behind such dramas as NBC's "Life" and ABC's "Private Practice."

Bringing in Jackman to host the Academy Awards is "a stretch for the Oscars, but at this stage, it's worth taking the risk," Pond said. "He certainly has what it takes to do the gig if some changes are made in what that gig requires."

Jackman also has award-winning hosting experience: He won an Emmy in 2005 for hosting the 58th annual Tony Awards in 2004, when he also took a best-actor Tony for his performance in the musical "The Boy From Oz." Jackman has never been an Oscar nominee, but was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in 2001's romantic film "Kate & Leopold." He also served as a past presenter on the Oscar show.

Jackman and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, have their own Oscar at home — their 8-year-old son, Oscar Maximillian. The couple also have a 3-year-old daughter Ava.

Via associatedpress

Hugh Jackman crowned People's `Sexiest Man Alive'

Hugh Jackman says wife Deborra Lee Furness teased him after finding out he'd been named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive."

Recalling Furness' reaction, Jackman says: "God bless her, she said, `I could've told them that years ago! And then she said, `Obviously Brad (Pitt) wasn't available this year.' And I said, `That was a joke, right?'"

The magazine's executive editor, Jess Cagle, said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show that Jackman is a "surprising choice," but he'd been on the editors' minds "for a long time and it seemed like this was the year to do him."

Cagle pointed out that not only is Jackman's career at its peak, with the "X-Men" movies and his upcoming epic with Nicole Kidman "Australia," but he's "built like a tank."

Via associatedpress