When Tom Hooper’s ultimately-disastrous Cats was first announced, I think the assumption was that the greatest showman himself, Hugh Jackman, would find his way into it. I mean, why wouldn’t he? He’s found plenty of success with Hooper in the past, and Jackman is one Hell of a multi-talented entertainer. Well, turns out he was asked, and his response is pretty great.
Speaking with The Daily Beast, Jackman gave a very simple, to-the-point answer when asked if he turns down a role in Cats…
“Umm… yep.”
Of course, the interviewer, who was really digging for a quote of Jackman crapping on the movie, pressed forward and asked what Jellicle he might’ve played…
“You know, Tom rang me early on because we did Les Mis together, and there were a couple of options there based on availability and time, and I really… yeah, I just wasn’t available at the time.”
Jackman dodged a bullet there, although he might’ve made that movie a lot better. It couldn’t have been worse, could it?
Anyway, as I mentioned above, the interviewer was quote-whoring hard here, but Jackman was not about to trash Hooper or the movie he made…
“I’m in the theater, man, and I don’t want to be in the business of bashing people—or jumping on bandwagons. I haven’t seen it, and Tom Hooper’s one of the great filmmakers we have.”
We can agree to disagree about Hooper being a great filmmaker, but I do respect Jackman’s professionalism. Perhaps he’s just waiting for the sequel and the inevitable (hopeful?) butthole cut.
