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Hugh Hugh Hugh!

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souxi:

--- Quote from: mariez on April 19, 2008, 09:58:45 am ---Thanks for all the great pics and links.  The word on "Deception" doesn't sound very promising, does it?  But I'm sure I'll at least rent it even if it disappears quickly.  I went to the official website and this litte audio clip:  "Do you like being a lawyer?  Yeah, it's all right I guess, if you like working with asses" gave me a pretty good chuckle. 

As for this pic:




Lordy lordy, there isn't a millimeter of this man that isn't sheer perfection. 

Marie


--- End quote ---

Amen to that Marie. I thought about having Hugh for my wallpaper...trouble is, I,d never do anything then. I,d just sit staring at him all day lol.  :laugh:  *sigh*

magicmountain:
Recent news item in Oz press.

HUGH Jackman has put the spectacular failure of his American television series Viva Laughlin behind him and is banking on the success of his production company's first feature film, Deception.

Jackman co-produced the film and also stars alongside Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams in the movie, which opens nationally in Australia on April 24, and on 3200 screens in the US the following day.

"There's nothing like the driving factor of fear of failure,'' Jackman told The Sunday Telegraph from the Sydney set of his current film, Wolverine.

"I am 39. I am not a kid, so if you can't roll with the punches and still find enjoyment with what you do even when things don't go well it's a pretty miserable kind of life.

"Even with Viva Laughlin we failed spectacularly but we went for it and I am still proud we did it. I have no regrets.''

Jackman's Seed Productions, which is also helmed by his wife, Deborra-lee Furness, and business partner John Palermo, suffered a major blow when Viva Laughlin was axed from America's CBS network after just two episodes last October.

But Deception is less of a risk, Jackman said.

"I am really proud of what we've come up with and, of course, I want everything to be a smash hit but I am also a realist and I know that is not going to happen,'' he said.

"But, financially, it can't be a massive flop.

"It was set up in a way where we had taken a lot of financial pressure off ourselves. We were very diligent as producers to make sure we didn't get excessive on the budget and push things too far.''

Seed's next big co-production - with Twentieth Century Fox - is Wolverine, Jackman's X-Men spin-off which also stars Liev Schreiber.

Jackman is 10 weeks into filming the big-budget Hollywood film.

"We are now producing a much bigger movie and the things we learned on Deception were invaluable,'' he said.

MaineWriter:
this is not the most coherent article I have ever read but oh well...

No secrets to hide

Sacha Molitorisz
April 24, 2008

The wholesome Hugh Jackman is a far cry from his character in erotic thriller Deception. SACHA MOLITORISZ reports.

HUGH JACKMAN isn't just handsome, charismatic and living the showbiz fairytale, he's apparently a really nice bloke. "You've got to love Hugh," a friend of mine says. "Family man and super talent."

Can his life really be as perfect as it seems? It's time to hunt for skeletons; time to ask whether Jackman is anything like Wyatt Bose, the conniving character he plays in the new thriller Deception. Bose is an ambitious ladies' man with a dark side. What you see is not what you get.

First it's worth noting that Deception demonstrates yet another of Jackman's abilities. Not only does he play the quixotic main character, he also produced the film. Deception is the first feature from Seed, the production company of Jackman, wife Deborra-Lee Furness and longtime collaborator John Palermo.

Jackman is in make-up at Fox Studios in Sydney as he talks to Metro over the phone. "Right now I'm getting stuff stuck all over my body so I can go on set as Wolverine."

After the success of the three X-Men films, Jackman is now starring in a movie based around his character, Wolverine. Seed is producing this one, too.

"Actually, I'm loving producing ... I find I enjoy the acting a lot more being a producer, because you're so much more involved with the process of the creation of the scene.

"I think the hardest thing as an actor - and of course actors' personalities sometimes don't help - is that when you concentrate on what you're doing, you can forget the film as a whole. As a producer, that's what's on your mind the whole time. You're thinking, 'How can I make the best film possible?' [To be a producer and an actor], you've got to be a bit grown-up."

Now he's trying his luck as a producer in Deception, which co-stars Ewan McGregor as a lonely accountant and Michelle Williams as a troubled temptress. Set in New York and Madrid, the plot takes in a sex club, romance and embezzlement.

One feature of the film is it includes lots of sex and not much gore, marking a welcome contrast to much Hollywood fare.

"It's a very sexual film," Jackman says. "But I wouldn't say it's salacious. There's every aspect of sexuality in there."

This talk of secret sex clubs seems at odds with Jackman's personal life and wholesome public image. Bose and Jackman are polar opposites, which Jackman says was a large part of the attraction for choosing the part.

"All actors love to play shadier characters," he says. "And these are parts I don't get to play a lot. With Wyatt, you're not quite sure what his motives are at any point in time. You just have the feeling that, enticing as he is, you probably shouldn't be going along with him. It might lead to trouble."

What Jackman and Bose do have in common is that both are high achievers. Born in Pymble in 1968, Jackman was school captain at Knox and studied communications at UTS before enrolling at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth, where he graduated in 1994. After TV work on shows including Correlli, where he met his future wife, in 1999 he appeared in two Aussie features, Erskineville Kings and Paperback Hero.

A year later Jackman hit the Hollywood bigtime when he was hired as a last-minute replacement for Dougray Scott in 2000's X-Men. Its success propelled Jackman into co-starring roles alongside John Travolta and Halle Berry.

Even when the films were disappointing (Swordfish, Someone Like You, Van Helsing), Jackman emerged unscathed. There were impressive efforts too, including the X-Men films (which reputedly earned more than $1 billion worldwide) and Happy Feet and Flushed Away, for which Jackman did voiceover work. Meanwhile, he was warbling and waltzing. He won a Tony Award in 2004 for his portrayal of Peter Allen in the Broadway production of The Boy From Oz, as well as hosting those Tony awards. By 2006, Jackman was so hot he could have won an award for tying his shoelaces. That was the year he was cast to star opposite Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's Australia, which is out in November. He was a master of all trades, jack of none.

However, success producing was not instantaneous. Seed's first venture, the TV series Viva Laughlin, was pulled from Aussie screens after one episode. But Jackman has high hopes for Deception. "We had a production company and wanted to make a movie but I didn't want to jump straight into making Wolverine, which is a massive movie with massive demands. It was a movie for us to cut our teeth."

As producers, the Seed trio is largely driven by their own curiosity, Jackman says. And by the fact that, once all the reviews are read and box office figures are tallied, films aren't really that important after all.

"For my wife and I the most important thing is family," Jackman says.

In Deception, McGregor's character is vulnerable because he has no family. Jackman, by contrast, cherishes his wife of 12 years and two adopted kids, Oscar and Ava. Jackman says his prioritising of his family comes largely from his dad, who - like McGregor's character - was an accountant. Jackman was one of five kids; when he was eight, his mum left the family.

"My dad was very hard-working, very diligent, very loyal. And he was quite extraordinary as a father. There was a very difficult period where he was largely looking after us all on his own, so you can just imagine with five kids what that was like.

"And my dad doesn't give a lot of advice but when I got married he said you're going to come to crossroads in your marriage all the time, and every time if you ask yourself, whatever choice is facing you career-wise or personally, 'Is this good for my marriage or bad for my marriage? If you do what's good for your marriage, you'll be fine.'

"Oh," he says, "the guy's behind me are motioning for me to take my pants down. It's time to end the interview."

What's this? A scandal?

No, just the make-up crew transforming Jackman's lower half into Wolverine's.

DECEPTION

Director Marcel Langenegger Stars Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams

Rated MA15+. Screening now.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/04/23/1208743020724.html

MaineWriter:
from the Associated Press:

'Deception' by first-timer Marcel Langenegger isn't even guilty pleasure

One of the producers of "Deception" says in the movie's production notes that he views it as "something of a throwback to an earlier era of filmmaking." He must be referring to the 1980s, because this feels like the kind of slick, mindless thriller Adrian Lyne used to make — for better and for worse.

For a while, it has the guilty-pleasure allure of a "9 1/2 Weeks" or a "Fatal Attraction," and it certainly resembles the British director's esthetic with its handsome characters, urban setting and cool, steely greys and blues. Eventually, though, "Deception" collapses into such a ridiculous pile of plot twists and double crosses, that there's nothing pleasurable about it - guilty or otherwise. It tries to deceive us into thinking it makes sense.

The director, for the record, is first-timer Marcel Langenegger, who works from a script by Mark Bomback ("Live Free or Die Hard"). Together they've come up with one of those movies in which supposedly smart people do incredibly stupid things, and all you can do is stare at the screen and shake your head in disbelief.

Ewan McGregor puts on a hammy New York accent to star as Jonathan McQuarry, a lonely, naive accountant whose life consists of working late nights. While auditing an upscale law firm on one such night, he meets the mysterious Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), a lawyer at the firm who saunters into the conference room where Jonathan is working and, in no time, offers to share a joint with him. It all happens so quickly and out of nowhere, you'd be excused for thinking the reels have been mixed up and you've started at the middle. (Wyatt is good enough, though, to explain to Jonathan upon introducing himself, "We met before in the can." Thanks for that.)

Wyatt is suave, moneyed and confident - everything Jonathan isn't, which fascinates him. The two are soon playing tennis by day and prowling for women by night (though the vaguely homoerotic vibe is unmistakable). One day, they "accidentally" swap cell phones while dashing off after a lunch. Then Wyatt's phone starts ringing, and when Jonathan picks it up he hears the same greeting over and over: "Are you free tonight?"

Turns out this is code - it's the way members of "The List," an exclusive executive sex club, initiate meetings with each other. Intrigued by the female voice on the other end of the phone, Jonathan shows up at the Dylan Hotel at the scheduled time and has an anonymous romp with a gorgeous blonde (Natasha Henstridge). With Wyatt out of town, Jonathan now feels emboldened to embark on a string of flings with the women whose numbers he finds in his contact list, including Charlotte Rampling, who briefly classes up the proceedings, though her presence here is baffling.

If nothing else "Deception" does offer an impressive array of sexy lingerie. And it is sort of fun to watch Jonathan come out of his shell and into his own through these various encounters, especially if you can keep your brain from wandering toward such thoughts as: Are these people using a condom? Does "The List" screen for STDs? And how is it that someone with Hugh Jackman's gorgeous looks needs to be a member of a club to find a sex partner in New York City?

Anyway, there's one woman during all these escapades who knocks Jonathan on his butt, literally and figuratively. She will only divulge that her name begins with the letter S, and she's played Michelle Williams, all glammed up in hair extensions and high heels to look like Gwyneth Paltrow. But, of course, S is not who she seems to be, and - surprise! - neither is Wyatt, if that's even his real name.

We won't give away the details of the deadly scheme that's driving "Deception," but suffice it to say, Jackman gets snarlier as the movie builds toward its over-the-top conclusion, hissing generic threats like, "You have no idea what I'm capable of."

Jackman, who serves as one of the film's producers, also has the impossibly uncanny ability to be everywhere, all the time. If he's so crafty, couldn't he have figured out what a dog this would be ahead of time, and said no? One and a half stars out of four.

"Deception" - First-time director Marcel Langenegger works from a script by Mark Bomback ("Live Free or Die Hard") to produce one of those movies in which supposedly smart people do incredibly stupid things, and all you can do is stare at the screen and shake your head in disbelief. Ewan McGregor puts on a hammy New York accent to star as Jonathan McQuarry, a lonely, naive accountant whose life consists of working late nights. While auditing an upscale law firm on one such night, he meets the mysterious Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman). Wyatt is suave, moneyed and confident - everything Jonathan isn't, which fascinates him. The two are soon playing tennis by day and prowling for women by night. One day, they "accidentally" swap cell phones. Then Wyatt's phone starts ringing, and when Jonathan picks it up he hears the same greeting over and over: "Are you free tonight?" Turns out this is code - it's the way members of "The List," an exclusive executive sex club, initiate meetings with each other. With Wyatt out of town, Jonathan embarks on a string of flings. There's one who knocks Jonathan on his butt, literally and figuratively. She will only divulge that her name begins with the letter S, and she's played Michelle Williams. But, of course, S is not who she seems to be, and - surprise! - neither is Wyatt. Jackman, one of the film's producers, has the impossibly uncanny ability to be everywhere, all the time. If he's so crafty, couldn't he have figured out what a dog this would be ahead of time, and said no? One and a half stars out of four.

-Christy Lemire, AP

MaineWriter:
Oh, poor Ewan...

Ewan McGregor exhausted by sex scenes in thriller Deception

April 22, 2008 12:00am

EWAN McGregor has been known to get his kit off regularly for his film roles, but even he says that the endless sex scenes in his new movie left him exhausted.
The Scottish actor - who plays a boring accountant who discovers a wild sex club in thriller Deception - spent days shooting steamy scenes with a host of beautiful naked women.

He is quoted by Britain’s Daily Express newspaper as saying: “I would be introduced to a girl, do sex scenes with her, go back to my dressing room, have some coffee, come back, then it’s ‘Hello,
‘I’m Ewan’ to another girl, clothes off and off we go again. “I’ve done my fair share of sex scenes in my career, believe me. But this was something else!”

McGregor - who married French production designer Eve Mavrakis in 1995 – also revealed he is worried the title of his new movie will stop fans from going to see it.

The 37-year-old star added: “Deception is just a horrible title. It sounds like a bad movie. So I think they have f***ed it up already.”

Deception, which also stars Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams, opens worldwide from April 24.

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