Firing on all cylinders
Hugh Jackman brings to life the role of a villain in chappie.
BE IT on film or in person, Hugh Jackman has the reputation of being a nice guy. Even when he’s playing the bad-tempered and gruff Wolverine in all of the X-Men movies, he is still likeable.
So, it’s interesting that director Neill Blomkamp ( District 9, Elysium) cast him as the villain in the new sci-fi film Chappie. And Jackman’s character is not your typical villain mind you, he is a straight-talking Aussie (who wears shorts to office!) named Vincent.
In a transcript provided by Sony Pictures, the 46-year-old actor explained his character in the film: “I play him a bit like that kind of guy who feels he’s someone everyone likes in the office, you know? But in truth, they don’t ( laughs).
“He goes around thinking he is the guy, but increasingly he’s in this world where he sees young, techy, brilliant geniuses who are outstripping him, outdoing him. His life work is becoming redundant, and almost being laughed at.
“It’s this guy whose world is shrinking, in a way, and whose possibilities are shrinking. You mix that with the quality of someone who does not want to lose and who will not lose, and will do anything to protect his life’s work – even lay his life on the line – then it’s kind of an explosive mix.”
Chappie is set in the near future when the city is policed by autunomous robots, artificial beings that can’t be negotiated with. Things change when one such police droid is stolen and reprogrammed to have both thoughts and feelings. Meet Chappie, a young impressionable fella.
Vincent is an engineer who is vehemently against the idea of thinking robots, and instead wants to utilise them as a force to keep peace. Like most villains, he doesn’t see himself in that role but rather thinks he is doing the world a favour.
“He’s someone who kind of profits on fear, and uses it as a weapon. We live in a world today where there is a lot of that, and he feels that he is actually providing a solution, which is undefeatable,” the actor said.
Jackman noted that – like in Blomkamp’s previous films – Chappie brings up a couple of big themes worth thinking about. “It’s a very emotional story about this innocent being coming into this world, and how impressionable we all are, and how our destinies can all be changed by our surroundings, or by our circumstances,” Jackman stated.
“When you speak with Neill, his knowledge on, not only science, but philosophy, too, is extraordinary. He can talk to you until the cows come home about consciousness – what is consciousness? That is something that is really explored in this film. The film operates on whatever level you like.”
To make Chappie real for both the actors and the audience, Blomkamp opted to have actor Sharlto Copley portray the artificial intelligence. Jackman agreed that this made the process more organic for the actors, especially since Copley often improvises on the set.
Jackman recalled an example: “Sharlto really wanted to get into the method of it. At one point he becomes sort of more gangsta, because Chappie’s adopted by this gang, and they’re trying to teach him to be cool, so Sharlto would actually wear shorts that would hang around the bottom of his arse, just to give him the walk ( laughs).
“He obviously didn’t need that for the motion capture, but he wanted to have the right shoes on, the right feel to help him create the character physically.”
Other actors the 1.8m-tall Australian got to share his scenes with include Sigourney Weaver – in the role of a CEO who only cares about bottom line – and Dev Patel who plays a tech genius who is behind Chappie’s change of personality.
In the film, Jackman and Patel’s characters are obviously on the opposite sides of the spectrum. When asked if it was hard to muster the required aggression towards Patel – you know, since both of them are nice guys – Jackman replied: “No, I’m not a nice guy ( laughs).
“He was great, and he was totally up for anything. We were sort of ad-libbing a fair bit of that, and he was totally up for it. I just think he’s brilliant. I loved working with him and I hope I get to do it again.
“There was some project actually, recently, that sort of came my way. I heard a rumour – though I hadn’t actually read the script – of me playing his parent in a movie. He emailed me saying, ‘Hey man, I heard this rumour you may be playing my dad,’ and I emailed him back saying, ‘Settle down, man. Settle down. I’m not that old, bud!’” – Mumtaj Begum
Chappie opens in cinemas nationwide today.