Hugh Jackman tells PEOPLE "there are some definite parallels" between 'The Death of Robin Hood' and his 2017 superhero movie 'Logan'
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/jackman-ceeb4649932f4253b79a1e5edc23c00a.jpg "Hugh Jackman depicted in two different roles in sidebyside frames")
Credit: Aidan Monaghan; Ben Rothstein
NEED TO KNOW
- Hugh Jackman tells PEOPLE about his interest in playing antihero characters throughout his career
- The actor portrays an aged Robin Hood in the new movie The Death of Robin Hood
- The Death of Robin Hood is in theaters now
Hugh Jackman can do it all, but the superstar actor seems to have an affinity for gruff antihero characters.
"I am fascinated by them," Jackman, 57, tells PEOPLE while discussing his newest movie, The Death of Robin Hood, alongside costar Jodie Comer.
The new movie sees Jackman portray the legendary English folk hero and takes on a gritty, darker look at the character than past films have attempted. Longtime fans of Jackman may notice similarities between the movie and 2017's Logan, which offered a similarly mature look at Jackman's X-Men character Wolverine as he grew older.
"I go back to even Star Wars as a kid, it was, 'Who's Han Solo? That's an interesting character.' I was very intrigued by them," Jackman says.
Credit: Aidan Monaghan/A24
He cites Clint Eastwood's 1992 movie Unforgiven as a similar example of a film with an antihero at its center that made an impression on him. "I think as I get older, I'm more and more drawn to the gray areas of humanity rather than the easy fix or this is who that person is, this is who that is."
"I really love that — because Logan, I had a lot of say in where we were going with that, and I think this takes it even further, but there are some definite parallels there," he adds.
The Death of Robin Hood meets Jackman's iteration of the character as an older man grappling with the long-term effects of a life of violence. Robin is severely injured in a fight early in the movie, leaving him in the care of Comer's Sister Brigid at a monastery. Bill Skarsgård, Noah Jupe, Murray Bartlett and Faith Delaney appear in the movie as well.
Jackman also tells PEOPLE in the interview that performing in a movie that deals with the main character's death gave him plenty of "healing" opportunities to reflect. “I keep saying the word beautiful, which sounds a little reductive or something,” Jackman, who also produced the movie, says. “But it feels that way to me in the way that humanity can be complex and beautiful.”
“There's something about sitting in the idea of the final moments of life when you're hoping it's not the final amounts of life, but you get to go there and experience it,” he says of filming the movie's death sequences.
Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty
“There's a beauty to death, to the ending,” he adds, as Comer says, “Letting go.”
“Letting go, exactly,” Jackman says. “That was the feeling of this character, who's been so held on to so many things and carrying the weight of so much guilt and pain. Being able to let go of it and going into that space is meditative, calming and really healing actually.”
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The Death of Robin Hood is in theaters now.