Hugh Jackman on the Death of Wolverine and Playing a Politician

Hugh Jackman has taken about eight months off, which is not something he’s ever done before. But the down time is set to end soon, when Jackman starts filming Bad Education, a true story about a embezzling Long Island school superintendent — the second real-life person he’s played in a row. The first is Gary Hart in The Front Runner, and Jackman’s performance is already been talked about as Oscar-worthy.

The film, out this week, is the story of Hart’s rise as a 1980s political golden boy and his fall, in the midst of the 1988 presidential campaign, after he was caught in an alleged affair. Jackman plays Hart as a proud, unyielding man, writes GQ, and his performance is “a clinic in charisma.” He took the role because of his interest in politics, he told GQ, and because of Hart’s similarities to Jackman’s father.

“I’m very interested by people who occupy the office, or potentially want to occupy the office, of president. I mean that is a fascinating character study. What kind of person puts a hand up and believes that they should be the one to lead the free world?” the actor said to GQ.

Last year, Jackman retired his most famous character, Wolverine. But he told GQ that no one thought comic book movies were going to take off like they did.

“I remember my friends saying: ‘Make sure you book another movie before this thing comes out, man, because no one likes comic book movies. They’re dead. There hasn’t been one for years and so it’s probably going to die a death. So make sure you’re at least working when it comes out,’” Jackman told GQ. “No one saw it coming. I don’t know what the numbers at Comic-Con were back then but I would say it was like a quarter of the size it is now. And the Internet of course has exposed so much more of what was a subculture. Which is now really the mainstream culture.”