Hugh Jackman & Cast of 'Pan' Bring a Fresh Take to Neverland

Hey guys, Nicki Novak here for Young Hollywood at San Diego Comic-Con in the Nickelodeon suite with the wonderful Men of Pan and the wonderful director of Pan. Great to see you. Great to have you guys here.

Good to see you.

Um, have you guys all been to Comic-Con before? Have you I know you have, obviously you.

I never have. No. It's my first time here. It's pretty cool.

I can imagine you think this is pretty cool. Yeah. What's better, this or Neverland?

They're both cool but yeah. They're both cool in different ways, so. I don't think I can decide between the two.

Good answer. You haven't been in Hollywood that long. He has very diplomatic answers. How's he how do you think he's doing?

He's doing awesome. He's doing so good. This is his first interviews, first anything. And the first thing he did, we were throwing into Hall H, I don't know, 6-7,000 people and you handled it like a pro. Give me five.

And how has the reaction been so far?

It's been amazing. Yeah, it's such a great I mean, close your ears. Joe Wright is a genius and uh, this is Neverland like you have never seen it before. And so we showed some footage to the audience and on that massive screen, it looked incredible. I think people were pretty blown away.

So how did each of you bring a fresh take to to the role?

In the rehearsal stages, I had a chat with Joe and we spoke about Peter, his character, what he's like and what I can bring to the role. And Peter is brave. He is I guess the hero of Neverland. We spoke about this, he's also quite selfish.

It's unnerving doing something that's uh, going to be a prequel in an origin story. And and for me, in the beginning, it really was because you're having to accept that it's not the the Hook that everybody knows and loves and and the the villainous pirate. And it starts from such a unique place where you get to see a sort of younger Hook and and what he's been enduring on this island and it feels like everything's unfair for him and then he sees this boy, you know, that fulfills all the myths about a boy that can fly and this is more selfishly his ticket to uh, get off the island and and it's a really uh, unique route to go once again, you know, for Jason Fuchs and what he did with this script was just amazing and and it was beautiful and by the time I finished the script, I remember telling Joe, I was like, I laughed. I I cried.

That's okay, men that cry, that's good.

And what about you, too?

Um, so Blackbeard is obviously he is actually mentioned in the original J. M. Barrie book as been the the guy that Hook learned his trade off. Some page 53, there's one line, so you know, I had open slather to do what I wanted and the script was just fantastic. It was such a fun, exciting villain, a guy who loved the sound of his own voice, made these sort of grand speeches. And Joe was just brilliant to work with because he really helped me flesh it out and I think if there's one thing that Neverland and Peter Pan is about is about that childhood spirit, the imagination and creativity and having fun with life and and keeping that as an adult if you can is sort of one of the themes, I think. So I think for all of us making it, I felt like a little kid. And I said to Joe when I first saw the movie, I wrote an email to him and I said, I don't know how you've done it, but every adult who sees this is going to feel like a kid again. And every kid is just going to think that's how the world should be. And that's really what Peter Pan sort of about, I think.

What is the most sort of childlike thing about yourself? Or immature? And what is the most grown-up thing about yourself? You heard that.

I'd just say my the goofier side of myself, which is what Joe tried to ask me to not be afraid to bring more of within this role and and to really take advantage of having fun in the environment that we were and with the material that we had. What makes me grown-up, I mean, the grown-up side of me would be the I don't know, I'll have to think about that one.

We'll have to think about that one. I can answer that for you. One of the things.

Oh, I think one thing is your ability to handle pressure that a lot of adults would crack under. I don't think you even even understood the level of pressure, but playing Peter in a movie of that size, being on set every day all day, every day is really, really hard work. Promoting a movie like this, and you always did it with such joy and then you had that even when the camera wasn't rolling being so polite and thoughtful and kind to everyone.

And your most childlike?

Well, my job is dressing up and pretending to be people. I'm pretty much made the choice to stay a kid. Um, I I wear a suit just to pretend actually. For me, it's the water. The ocean, the water. I am literally like, I will sometimes be in a car and I'll just get out, drop and just run into the ocean. And food. I eat food and if I don't get fed, I literally start stamping on the table. I'm selfish and self-centered and uh, rude and um, and if I don't get fed, I get angry. I'm heartless um, and uh, heartless and I am and and those are all childish qualities.

If we were to tell each of your origin story of that moment that made you go, I want to be in this business.

I grew up in a small town where we're really left to our imaginations and and we had a lot of woodlands so so uh, cowboys and Indians and cops and robbers. I mean, this was a big thing and all we really had was our imagination and this was the one sort of, you know, profession where like you were saying, you hope to never lose that imagination, sense of uh, you know, uh, carelessness and excitement and and amazement for for things that are fantastical and that's why I think, um, yeah, it was as a kid running through the woods.

When I was younger, that's when I got into acting. So I was probably about five, six. My sisters were dancing and they were being seen by people in the crowd. They were also on commercials and they were being seen by people and I I guess what kind of wanted me to do it in the beginning was I was a bit jealous that people were seeing them. Then again, I was five. So I guess you could say jealousy of my sisters.

Thank your sisters then.

Yes. Give them a big thank you.

Mine was when I was five as well. And I was uh, a school concert and I was in the choir then at some point I got pulled out of the choir to go behind the curtain. I was put on top of a box about this high. And they put a cape around me and put a cardboard crown on my head to sing Camelot, a song from Camelot. So I started singing Camelot and I remember the curtains open and I start singing and I remember thinking, I love this. And then at some point, the crown, which was too big for me, fell down right over my head. And for about half a second, this was just a disaster. I was still I remember it like a film. And then there was this uproarious laughter and I thought, this is fantastic. No matter what you do, they love it. It's great. Not always the case by the way.

Uh, I was 14, 15 and there was this girl called Tanya Grossfield and uh, I really liked her. The name has been changed. Uh, and uh, and I really liked her. Um, and she didn't pay me any mind. And so I thought if I told her that I was going to be a film director, she might go on a date with me. And um, and so and so, um, so I told her I was going to be a film director. Um, but she didn't go on a date with me, but um, that was okay because I just kept on making films just in case.

I want to thank you all.

Can I just say one quick quote? Um, my favorite line from Peter Pan is all you need is faith, trust and a little bit of pixie dust.

Very feel very lucky to have you guys here. Thank you very much. Thanks for the chat and congratulations. Can't wait for Pan.

Thank you.