Hugh, in preparation for this movie did you spar at all, and how would you fare in the ring, if you had?
I’m an actor, I may make it look like I can do it, but I would be crying like a baby. I’ll be honest, I’m a little bit Wolverine-like – I haven’t got a temper but if you hit me in the face anywhere I can go into a blind rage, just a warning.
You’ve mentioned before the importance of chemistry between yourself and Dakota, how much did the fact that you’re a dad yourself help you in creating that chemistry, and are there any real life parallels between your relationship in the film, and your own relationship with your son?
I certainly hope I’m a better father than my character Charlie is. In fact, I hope everybody is a better father than Charlie. Shawn and I talked from the beginning that really the spine of the movie is that relationship between Charlie and Max and the success of that relationship on film and their bond over the sport, allows us to care about the robots as well, so it was something we really worked hard on and I just told you a lot about how Shawn really mentored Dakota as an actor, which allowed me to just be with him and play with him and I have an eleven-year-old boy so I had to keep reminding myself that I had to make a very different relationship in the film as there’s a role reversal as Max is almost more like the father and Charlie the kid.
It was interesting because you are a super nice guy and Dakota is a well mannered, nicely raised boy and you had to both play characters who are really not particularly well behaved and on a few occasions I had to really encourage you and Dakota that it was okay to go harder on each other, as its just not how you naturally approach the world.
I haven’t got a temper but if you hit me in the face I can go into a blind rage...
Shawn, the film seems to pay tribute to quite a few boxing movies from the past – is there a particular one that influenced you? And as Real Steel is for a younger audience, was it also to throw in any references for adults watching?
Yeah, I didn’t go into it thinking of it as a homage to any single movie. I love sports movies and I always have, specifically the Rocky movies. Not only the first one, which as a filmmaker I am supposed to revere and do – but even the pulpier, slightly crappier ones, like three and four – I love them too! You can laugh about it, but that rousing, escapist, underdog story, I loved it when I was a young teenager and I love it now. I re-watched all of them when preparing for this movie, and it still works for me. So in that regard, I really do believe that a well-made, engaging, underdog sports movie can be as compelling for adults as it can be for kids, so the goal was to make a movie that would appeal to both of those levels.
My favourite boxing movie is a documentary called When We Were Kings, which I would put in my top ten of all time, but I’m exactly like Shawn, I love all the Rocky movies. I’ll be honest, and I know it’s corny, but I listen to the Rocky theme when I’m training.
Hugh, one of your producers let something slip about you. Apparently you buy 500 lottery tickets every Friday and give them out to the crew members? What’s that all about?
It’s my way of paying taxes. The very first film I did in America, I was embarrassed to say that two months in that I didn’t know half of the crew's names. So I thought that on a Friday afternoon I’ll whip by and buy lottery tickets for everyone and hand them out saying its an Australian tradition, and it’s not …
Really!? I thought it was. You were completely convincing.
I buried myself, because from that moment on I have never had a Friday off from filming. If I’m not called, they find a reason to call me. They were terrified that if I don’t turn up, half the crew won’t turn up either!
Finally, just wondering if Real Steel is a franchise and if you had given it any thought to where it could go?
The short answer is that we really frickin’ hope so.