Hugh Jackman Had to Stop His Terrifying Love Scene With Rachel Weisz in ‘The Fountain’
Hugh Jackman is used to shooting love scenes in his movies. But he found his intimate moment with Rachel Weisz more harrowing than most, especially when her ex-lover at the time was nearby.
Hugh Jackman didn’t want to go any further with Rachel Weisz during their love scene in ‘The Fountain’
Jackman collaborated with Weisz on the Darren Aronofsky picture The Fountain. The film saw the actor playing a character traveling through time in a desperate attempt to save his lover. Although Weisz is currently married to Daniel Craig now, she was romantically involved with Aronofsky when she did the project with Jackman.
Initially, Aronofsky didn’t consider casting his then- fiancé at the time opposite Jackman. But Jackman convinced Aronofsky to hire her.
“It was Hugh’s idea,” Weisz once told Movieweb. “I really wanted to do it, but I never said it. Darren’s one of the greatest directors around. I think that who we are in our work and who we are at home is very different; I met the director, and he met the actress. It definitely exceeded my expectations; it was an amazing collaboration.”
But the relationship between Weisz and Aronofsky posed an unexpected problem for Jackman when it came time for them to film love scenes. According to The Himalayan, Jackman had to be talked into completing his love scene with his co-star.
“In the scene, she pulls me in the bath and we start kissing. Darren didn’t shout, ‘Cut,’ so we kept kissing,” Jackman said. “Rachel started to take off my shirt and I was thinking, ‘Shall we keep going?’ Then I heard Darren yelling, ‘Take off his pants! Take off his pants!’ But we couldn’t do it. He said, ‘Why did you stop?’ And I said, ‘Because I thought you were going to beat the crap out of me.’”
Darren Aronofsky initially didn’t think of casting Hugh Jackman because of his ‘X-Men’ performance
Aronofsky originally had Brad Pitt in mind to star in his 2006 movie. But after Pitt became available, he had a difficult time finding a suitable replacement. Jackman wasn’t even on Aronofsky’s mind when he was considering possible stars for his film.
“To be honest, Hugh wasn’t actually on my initial list, because I had seen him in the X-Men movies, but I hadn’t seen the work he can do dramatically,” Aronofsky once told Ain’t It Cool News.
This changed after Aronofsky was invited to Jackman’s play Australia, where he had the opportunity to see the actor’s range.
“He just lit up the room. At the end of the show, I’m suddenly with everyone else on my feet–standing ovation, you know. And, I talked to him, and he was a really nice guy, and everyone will tell you how nice a guy he is. But, he’s authentically nice in the sense that when we were on set, he would treat every P.A. in the same way he treated me,” he said.
Aronofsky decided to send Jackman his Fountain script, and the actor was on board the project the next day.
Hugh Jackman felt lucky to be with an actor like Rachel Weisz for ‘The Fountain’
As much as Jackman wanted to work with Aronofsky, he felt fortunate teaming up with the Black Widow star. He was proud of the chemistry they had, and their ability to translate that chemistry through the big screen. But even as a fellow actor himself, he couldn’t help admire and appreciate his co-star’s skill.
“We had a relationship and a close bond between these two people and that just had to happen on set, and I was very lucky to have Rachel; that girl can do anything as an actress and she’s incredibly generous,” he said.
