Hugh Jackman's role of a lifetime

Scott Pelley: Beautiful house, but not your house.

Hugh Jackman: No.

Deborra Lee Furness: We're always living in someone else's house.

Jackman wasn't making the same mistake again when we met him in Sydney. He was spending six months here shooting an action film so he moved the family too.

He was returning, for the fifth time, to the character, Wolverine, from the X-Men comic books. Jackman told us that the only time he didn't listen to his wife was when she urged him to refuse the role. These films made him wealthy and he emerged an international star. It's a physical part for which Jackman sculpts both beard and body. And he invited us to his two-a-day workouts.

Hugh Jackman: That didn't feel easy this morning.

Scott Pelley: Impressive. Impressive.

Hugh Jackman: I always say when I lift something heavy, I remember that is Wolverine. The little bit to where you're going to want to drop it and then you go, "No way," that little bit is Wolverine.

Scott Pelley: You change bodies the way other actors change costumes.

Hugh Jackman: Well this is your tool as much as your voice, as much as your emotions, and so I've always taken that very seriously and I love playing Wolverine. It's a great character, but I want it to be better than the last time. I want to be physically in better shape, otherwise, there's no point doing it.

Scott Pelley: But look, you're a successful guy. You don't have anything to prove to anyone. You have this little voice in your head telling you to do more, do better?

Hugh Jackman: If I didn't have that, I wouldn't be sitting here opposite you. At the same time, for the sake of people around me, it'd be nice to be able to, "Whew," you know, put it down for a while.

It might also be nice for the people around him if he didn't take the risks that he seems to relish.

He won one of the first of his two Tony's on Broadway, playing Peter Allen the gay Australian songwriter.

Scott Pelley: Did you think for a minute, "Man, this could be career limiting? I don't know if I want to take this chance?"

Hugh Jackman: Never thought it for a second. What sexuality you are is not the most interesting thing about you. It's the kind of person you are. And that role, just, had, first of all, it was naughty.

[Jackman at the Tony Awards: How are we doing downstairs? There's a few nervous people in the front row all of a sudden.]

Hugh Jackman: I would never give myself permission to do the things I did as Peter Allen. And his sexuality, for me, w-- is another costume. It's a personality trait, it's not who you really are. However, when I was doing Peter Allen, there's a scene where I kiss my boyfriend, who's dying of AIDS. And I go in for the kiss, and I heard this, "Don't do it, Wolverine."

Scott Pelley: From the audience?

Hugh Jackman: From the audience. Obviously some, some kid's going, "Yeah, let's go and see Wolverine in that show, Mum. Let's go and see it." He's like, "What?" As I come out with my maracas and pineapple shirt, you know?

["Les Miserables": Who am I? I'm Jean Valjean.]

And Jean Valjean may be another surprise for an audience that can never be sure what it will see when the camera rolls or the curtain rises on the characters of Hugh Jackman.

["Les Miserables": Who am I? 24601.]

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[Henri_Rochard]

French Revolution... Isn't that where they ended up with Robespierre and Marat ?? I'm not saying conditions in France at that time weren't ripe for 'gotta revolution', but those two were just as evil as the French Monarchy they replaced.

OTOH, I like Hugh Jackman. I always enjoy someone who becomes successful. A rising tide lifts all boats.

[Yes_ABWH_Fan]

Waiting for Jackman to reboot the "Dirty Harry" franchise.
If anyone can pull off Eastwood plausibly, it's him.