Cinematic Crush: Hugh Jackman

Bursting onto the silver screen with claws blazing, Hugh Jackman became an overnight superstar as the brooding superhero Wolverine in X-Men. With his rugged physique and looks to match, his charisma was palatable, his wit as sharp as the blades that protruded from his knuckles.

His charming screen presence carried him through lesser follow-up roles (Someone Like You, Swordfish), but he regained his mojo as the swoon-inducing romantic hero of Kate & Leopold and his return to mutantkind with the blockbuster sequel, X2: X-Men United.

Although another franchise attempt (Van Helsing) failed (I blame the hair), Jackman floored everyone with his triple threat tour de force as the flamboyant Peter Allen in Broadway's The Boy from Oz, which won him the Tony and let him kiss hunky Jarrod Emick every night. Of course, Jackman was no stranger to musical theater, having starred in Beauty and the Beast, Sunset Boulevard and Oklahoma! in his native Australia and England.

There is no stopping the seemingly tireless Jackman. Last year alone he starred in six movies. And after conquering film and stage, his next target is television with this fall's Viva Laughlin. Plus, he'll reprise his signature role in the eagerly anticipated Wolverine solo feature.

But no matter where he is, onstage or onscreen, one thing is certain: we'll be watching him.

Links via Imdb.com and Playbill.com.

Out in Film: Ian McKellen

I am not aware of what exactly was going through the mind of Ian McKellen when he publicly came out in 1988, but I am fairly certain he did not think he would be as big a star as he is now, almost twenty-years later.

Following his acclaimed role as gay Frankenstein director James Whale in Gods and Monsters (landing him his first Oscar nomination, the first out gay actor nominated for playing a gay character), McKellen went on to star in two of the most successful trilogies in movie history, The Lord of the Rings and X-Men. In these two fantasy franchises, McKellen displayed his inarguable range, playing the noble, heroic wizard Gandalf (his second Oscar nomination) in the former, the cold-blooded, calculating evil mutant Magneto in the latter.

Prior to those heights, McKellen turned in compelling lead performances in Richard III and Apt Pupil, as well as memorable character parts in Six Degrees of Separation and Bent. With magic and mutants behind him now, he has recently appeared in The Da Vinci Code and won an Annie Award for his droll toad in the animated Flushed Away. He will next be 'heard' again as the narrator of Stardust and seen onstage as King Lear.

Knighted in 1990, Sir Ian McKellen is also very active in gay rights issues and continues to be an inspiration both on and off screen.

Link via Imdb.com.

Holdin' Out for a Hero

Thanks to a certain web-slinger, superhero movies are now all the rage, as witnessed by the next batch of comic book-inspired flicks:

- If you like Hugh Jackman the way I like Hugh Jackman (sportin' claws and 'burns), then you'll be glad to hear the X-Men spin-off Wolverine just nabbed an Oscar-winning director.

- A big screen Green Hornet has been rumored for years, with everyone from George Clooney to the late Brandon Lee attached. So how did they end up with Seth Rogan?

- Kevin Spacey will return as Lex Luthor in Superman: Man of Steel, directed by Bryan Singer after he helms the long-delayed The Mayor of Castro Street.

- Stan Lee says Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr., will be "something totally different than anything we have seen before." Except that, like every other comic book-based film, it will have him in a silly cameo.

- Frank Miller's legendary Watchmen series inches closer to the silver screen, with the rumored casting of Billy Crudup as the Superman-like Dr. Manhattan. This is very good news for Crudup fans as the character does not wear a costume. Oh yeah, and he's blue.

- For the time being, it appears that all we'll get of Heath Ledger as the Joker in the next Batman film, The Dark Knight, is fuzzy pictures and even fuzzier plot information. Could a possible teaser trailer offer us any more?

Links via Cinematical.com, DarkHorizons.com, Variety.com, CinemaFusion.com, CHUD.com, Wikipedia.com, Batman-Dark-Knight.MovieChronicles.com and SuperHeroHype.com.