@HeyUGUysLive was at the UK premiere of ‘Real Steel’ at the Empire Leicester Square last night. There was also some fella there called Hugh Jackman.
HUGE Jackman!!
‘Real Steel’ is based on the short story penned by Richard ‘I am Legend’ Matheson and tells a tale set in 2020 of a ‘down-and-out’ boxer named Charlie Kenton (Jackman) who trains up a fighting robot so Kenton can reclaim his name and former glory. In 2020 Robot fighting is essentially the biggest sport since Ultimate Fighting. On the journey Kenton learns new things about life, love and happiness – cue the heart wrenching, gutsy power ballads.
The attending crowd were treated to a scale model of ‘Atom’, one of the 8-foot robots featured in ‘Real Steel’, and a comedic performance by another one of Real Steel’s robot fighters – ‘Titan’. Through the medium of dance, sound-effects, sound-bites and some water sprayed from it’s robot eye sockets, ‘Titan’ entertained admirably until the stars showed.
We caught up with HJ and the film’s director Shawn Levy who talked to us about how the movie was unique, especially since we have seen another gigantic robot flick on our screens not too long ago.
“Yeah, its definitely not Transformers!” said Avery. “What we wanted to do was honour the short story and give the robot characters an identifiably human side to allow the audience to see them more then just hunks of metal. We also wanted to make the movie fun, but at the same time, it’s hopefully a tear jerker too.”
It would appear that Real Steel holds ‘More Then Meets The Eye’. Talking about things that hold ‘more then meets the eye’, Hugh Jackman cruised in to a roaring crowd oozing more sex appeal then Prince Charming riding a horse called Charisma into the land of Suave.
Working the crowd with more personal professionalism, kindness and time management then has been seen in a while at these kind of shenanigans, we asked him how he feels about another potential blockbuster – Wolverine 2:
“It’s on the cards, I am helping the writing team get it together so it’s ready and good to go for next year. I am looking forward to it!.”
It’s a pleasure meeting Hugh as he comes across as genuinely grateful for all his success, fortune and respect that he has earned in the industry – we asked “Why?”
“I am genuinely appreciative of everyone coming out tonight, and all the support from people who watch my movies. I suppose I can say that ‘hand-on-heart’ because I started acting late in life and got life experience before being rushed headfirst into success through X-Men and all the other wonderful projects I’ve done since, including Real Steel.”
We shake hands and look each other deep in the eye.
I say “Congratulations”.
He says “Thank you so very much”.
Awesome.
I step back to allow others to field their questions and whims. As I turn to pick up my bag and move along, I overhear Hugh make a bellowing proclamation:
“Australia for the Rugby World Cup!”
Oh, Hugh. You were doing so well.
When inside the cinemas, Jackman gave the following introduction which was recorded by Paris Davis before joining his mum and other family members who were all the audience:
“Hello everyone, thank you so much for coming to the London premiere of Reel Steal or as I like to call it the Jackman family screening. There are at least 30 that I know of here and there may be other relatives that I don’t know. But seriously thank you so much- I know people say Hollywood movies and underdog stories that happen on the screen but couldn’t happen in real life but let’s face it, the canaries are in the premiership league-anything can happen!! Enjoy Real Steel.”
Real Steel hits cinemas on the 14th October. Keep your eyes peeled for our interview with director Shawn Levy nearer the release date.
Check out the images below from the premiere and click here to see the rest of our coverage.
