Hugh Jackman Wished He Could Take Back This Story He Told to David Bowie
Hugh Jackman teamed up with Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan for the first time in the 2006 movie The Prestige. He collaborated with a few notable names for the project, including music icon David Bowie.
Hugh Jackman once shared what it was like working with David Bowie in ‘The Prestige’
Bowie’s accomplishments as a musician were almost matched by his accomplishments as an actor. The late artist starred in a variety of features throughout his long career, including Nolan’s Prestige. The picture saw him playing inventor Nikola Tesla, primarily sharing scenes with Jackman’s ambitious magician Richard Angier.
Jackman had nothing but kind words about his experience working with Bowie. During their interaction, however, Jackman let slip that he once tried to attend one of Bowie’s concerts in his younger years.
“I’ve got to say, he’s probably one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. But two days into shooting I told him a story about the first concert I was ever going to go to, which was one of his. I bought a ticket for $20, which was about six months’ worth of pocket money. But on the day of the concert, someone offered me $50 for the ticket because it was sold out,” Jackman once told BBC.
It was at that moment Jackman wished he didn’t bring up that story to Bowie at all.
“David’s face started to glaze over a little bit at this point and I was wishing I could take the story back. He said: ‘And…’ I had to tell him that I sold them. From that moment, he called me ‘the scalper’ and he wanted at least 50% of my profit,” Jackman said.
David Bowie initially turned down starring in ‘The Prestige’
Nolan was very persistent when he cast Bowie in The Prestige. After being tasked with the responsibility of casting Nikola Tesla, Nolan could only picture Bowie in the role.
“Tesla was this other-worldly, ahead-of-his-time figure, and at some point it occurred to me he was the original Man Who Fell to Earth. As someone who was the biggest Bowie fan in the world, once I made that connection, he seemed to be the only actor capable of playing the part. He had that requisite iconic status, and he was a figure as mysterious as Tesla needed to be,” Nolan told Entertainment Weekly in a 2016 interview.
But the “Fame” singer wasn’t on board the project at first. It took a lot of convincing from Nolan for Bowie to do the film.
“It took me a while to convince him, though—he turned down the part the first time. It was the only time I can ever remember trying again with an actor who passed on me. I petitioned to let me explain why he was the right actor for it. In total honesty, I told him if he didn’t agree to do the part, I had no idea where I would go from there. I would say I begged him,” he said.
After finally casting Bowie in the movie, Nolan asserted that everyone was affected by Bowie’s star-power. And in a way that Nolan had never seen with any other celebrity.
“The experience of having him on set was wonderful. Daunting, at first. He had a level of charisma beyond what you normally experience, and everyone really responded to it. I’ve never seen a crew respond to any movie star that way, no matter how big. But he was very gracious and understood the effect he had on people. Everyone has fond memories of getting to spend time with him or speak to him for a little bit,” Nolan said.
“I only worked with him briefly—four or five days—but I did manage to sneak a couple moments to chat with him, which are very treasured memories of mine. Normally when you meet stars, no matter how starry they are, when you see them as people, some of that mystique goes away. But not with David Bowie,” he added.
