Hugh Jackman by Anthony Bunko

Author:Anthony Bunko [Anthony Bunko]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844549047
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2012-12-23T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Van the Man

While Hugh was still strutting his stuff on stage in New York, a few films that he had completed prior to becoming the infamous Peter Allen were released in the same year.

The first two were short art-house movies, which were seen by a much smaller and different kind of audience than he had become accustomed to. Standing Room Only was a short silent film written and directed by his wife, Deborra-Lee. It was her directorial debut and focused on a kaleidoscope of people queuing up outside a box office and waiting to get tickets for a sell-out show. The idea came to Furness six years earlier while she and her husband had themselves waited in line to get tickets to an Al Pacino performance (it was, of course, before they became rich and famous).

Deborra-Lee recalled how it all came about: ‘We were in New York and Al Pacino was doing a one-man show and we wanted to go and see it, so three mornings in a row we got up earlier to get there to get in line to get tickets. And on the third day we got in line and we were among the first eight people there.’

For the next few hours the incongruous group, which included a plumber and his wife from Jersey, Hugh and Deb from Australia and a woman from Spain, talked, joked and formed an invisible bond that got stronger the longer they stood in line. Eventually, they got the tickets and the strangers disappeared from each other’s lives. On the night of the actual performance by the great man himself, Al Pacino, Deb was so tired from getting up so early for three mornings on the trot that she actually fell fast asleep on Hugh’s shoulder throughout most of the show.

Yet it was the entire experience, not just the show itself, which left its mark on her, and ultimately got her creative juices flowing: ‘I said to Hugh at the time, I said this would be a great short film, such a metaphor. We were so result orientated, that you know that was all about seeing the show, like getting the tickets and doing that, and the actual journey of getting there was far, infinitely, more interesting, meeting these amazing people.’

She quickly wrote a story loosely based around their experiences that morning, and then more by accident than design, got money from Sting’s wife, Trudie Styler, to help fund the production after talking to her at a party. ‘I told her about the idea at this party and she wrote a cheque right there on the spot and gave it to me.’

Miramax Films’ kingpin Harvey Weinstein topped up the remainder of the budget of $250,000 while they were attending a ceremony in Los Angeles. He told Deb: ‘Kid, you’re making a movie, and if people think I’m only giving you the money because your husband is Hugh Jackman, just tell them it’s called using whatever advantage you have.’

It wasn’t long before the film began to come to life.

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