Out of all the places he has performed around the world, Hugh Jackman has described Dublin audiences as "the best".
The actor made these comments while speaking to RTÉ Entertainment with Kate Hudson and Craig Brewer, as the pair co star in the upcoming musical drama, Song Sung Blue. Directed by Brewer, the film is based on the true story of Mike and Claire Sardina, a-down-on-their-luck couple who performed as the Neil Diamond tribute band, Lightning & Thunder.
Hailing Dublin audiences, Les Miserables and The Greatest Showman star Jackman who had previously brought his The Man. The Music. The Show world tour to the 3Arena in May 2019, said: "I just did a film in Belfast, which I just loved, and we filmed all around, and that was incredible. But I have performed in Dublin, and of all the places I've been to in the world, that's the best audience. Now I'm going to annoy everyone in the world!".
At this point, Hudson added: "I love Ireland. The west coast is so beautiful", while director Brewer, known for his films Hustle & Flow and Dolemite Is My Name, said he was inspired by an iconic 90s Irish movie while making Song Sung Blue".
Kate Hudson herself has earned huge praise for her portrayal of Claire Sardina, garnering a nod for Best Female Actor - Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy at the Golden Globes. She also released her debut studio album Glorious last year.
Speaking in the same interview, Hudson has said that she was keen to work with Brewer on a project.
"You don't read scripts like this very often. To be able to do all of these things in one movie, as an actor and as a singer, is just a dream - I mean, it does not come around very often," she said. "The thing for me was that I knew Craig could execute something like this, something that could so easily go in another direction if in the wrong hands. I was just so grateful that it came along and we did it".
Song Sung Blue will also see Jackman and Hudson sing live together in many of the beautifully executed scenes.
Speaking about the first time that the pair sang together, Hugh Jackman said that "in a way it mirrors Mike and Claire".
"Mike revered Claire's voice and loved it, and that's how I feel about Kate's voice," the Australian said. "So I was pretty nervous".
"I did get kept behind at recording sessions for a little remedial recording time!," he added with a laugh.
"I was nervous too!", Hudson claimed. "I love meeting people, I'm not nervous to meet somebody, but I didn't know how we would connect.
"Is he gonna want to be intimate and connect? I'm super tactile, I'll sit on his lap right away! And I was like, 'How's this gonna go down? And how are our voices gonna sound together?'
"You don't know any of these things. And it was immediately just easy and fun. He's an Aussie. He's easy".
Elsewhere, Hugh Jackman also revealed that he received a phone call from a tearful Neil Diamond, who had just watched the movie for the first time, saying that his seal of approval was the icing on the cake for himself, Kate Hudson and director Craig Brewer.
"It's a love letter to him and his music and the power of it, so of course we wanted that approval. But he always loved Mike and Claire's story," Jackman explained. "He said to me, 'Remember, I'm a kid from Brooklyn, I didn't know I was gonna be Neil Diamond. I'd be Mike - I'd be playing at the bar. So he gets it".
"Neil Diamond and [Pearl Jam frontman] Eddie Vedder have been really the champions of Mike and Claire Sardina," Brewer added. "From the documentary to our feature film, we would not have been able to make this movie without Neil Diamond giving us his blessing and also giving us the catalogue for us to choose from".
"I think it's really admirable that these two major musicians, these two big stars, have really turned up and shown up for two people that were just really great fans".
Song Boy Blue will hit the cinema screens on January 1.
This comes after Diamond had previously revealed that he had performed classic Les Miserables hit, I Dreamed A Dream with Diamond at karaoke. More on this story here.
