Jackman joined female-dominated Reminiscence without reading script

He may be a Hollywood superstar, but Hugh Jackman could not believe his latest leading role was written specifically for him. 

Set in a war-torn and flooded Miami of the future, sci-fi thriller Reminiscence - which opens in cinemas here on Aug 19 - stars the 52-year-old Australian actor as hardened veteran Nick Bannister who, with his business partner Watts (Thandiwe Newton), offers a service that allows people to relive their memories. 

He falls in love with a mysterious client Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), who has a violent past. When she suddenly disappears, he sets out to discover who she really is. 

Writer-director Lisa Joy revealed that Jackson was the actor she had in mind when she wrote the character and he was her muse.

Reminiscence is the feature film debut for Joy, who created the HBO series Westworld with her writer-director husband Jonathan Nolan, the brother of auteur Christopher Nolan. 

Jackman said: “Yeah, she did actually say that to me when we first met, but maybe I’ve been in the movies too long, I was a bit like, hmm, I’m not sure. 

“Does that mean it was only Brad (Pitt) that turned it down or was it Leo (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Brad? I’m not sure.

“But I have to say, I actually do believe in that now; she made a very convincing tale and it was incredibly flattering. I’m a huge fan of Westworld. Just literally the moment you meet her, there’s a competence to her, you know you’re in good, safe hands, and we just got on incredibly well.”

At their first meeting, Jackman decided to do the movie after hearing her pitch - and without even reading the script.

He said: “I just thought it was such a cool world, so original, so surprising; I didn’t see where it was going, and I certainly didn’t see where it was ending. I just thought it was a different kind of role for me. And I just loved Lisa. So, it was a very easy yes, but it wasn’t a conventional yes, that’s for sure.”

Nick has two loving relationships with two very different women, played by Thandiwe Newton and Rebecca Ferguson. Can you talk about the character dynamics and about working with those two powerful actresses?

I’m so incredibly lucky. They are both incredible actors. I love them both. I’ve worked with Rebecca, obviously, on (the 2017 musical drama film) The Greatest Showman, so I knew her well. And I’d do a hundred more movies with Thandiwe, she’s just phenomenal and great fun, I love her. 

In the movie, they’re really such strong female characters. 

The obsessive love interest is Mae, and it’s an unusual relationship for Nick. He is a very guarded person; he is not one just to fall in love with every girl. He is a slightly broken man at the very beginning. 

And she comes in and upends his life very quickly and then disappears. And he has no knowledge of where she’s gone, and that love affair turns into an obsession for him. And he goes down a pretty dark path. 

Watts and Nick were in the army together. They’ve been friends for a long time, incredibly loyal, best friends. Is there something else underneath? I’ll leave it to the audience to find out, but she certainly is a really unique and special bond in Nick’s life; she’s probably the best thing in his life.

You’re on a set helmed by a very strong woman, playing opposite two very strong woman, not to mention Natalie Martinez, Marina de Tavira and Angela Sarafyan. Did it impact how it felt on the set?

It’s funny, the very first thing I ever did professionally was directed by a woman and it starred a woman who became my wife. That was a TV series called Correlli back in 1995; I haven’t actually been in a situation since where a set is so dominated by women until now, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s awesome. 

I mean, it’s just fantastic, mainly because of who those women are. They’re incredibly collaborative and strong and confident and really fun. It was just a great set and we all worked so well together. I think I’ve made nine movies playing Wolverine, and if we ended up doing nine versions of this movie, I’d be a happy man.

In Reminiscence, nostalgia can become a drug, one that’s easily addictive. And I think that actually applies even more now, in the present day. Can you talk a little bit about how that pertains to the film?

I think it’s a great point. The film certainly explores the idea of memory and nostalgia as something that is potentially addictive, or just enticing to go back and live in the good old days, remember that time. And with this technology, you can relive it and just stay in the past. 

But what is the cost of that? And what does it mean for the future of these characters or even the present when you can so easily escape in the past? 

I think we live in this changing world. We’re in this post-pandemic world right now and we’re now coming out into... is it a new world? Are we going to try and re-create what we had before? 

And I think it’s a really interesting time and a very uncertain time. And I hope the movie resonates in that way, where it is wonderful to have memories, but as humans, we have to be constantly creating new ones. I hope in a way that this film opens that sort of discussion.

If we could conjure a reminiscence tank right now, what would be the first memory that you choose to relive?

The first thing I want to do is go back to when I was young. I don’t know about you, but because I’m 52, there are holes in my memory from when I was super young. I would love to fill in things that my brothers and sisters can’t, that I can’t remember either - fun things, good things, interesting things. I would love to be able to just somehow see those and feel those things.

And I’d love to get back to those early days of my kids, literally like Day One. Both my kids were adopted, and I was at the birth of my son and my daughter. They’re now 15 and 21.