When a film is pitched to you as "Babe meets Knives Out," your ears are bound to prick up. That's exactly the hook writer Craig Mazin used to sell his wildly inventive new screenplay to Hugh Jackman. The end result? The Sheep Detectives, a delightfully charming, star-studded murder mystery that's currently the talk of the town.
Ahead of the movie's highly anticipated release, I had the absolute privilege of sitting down with Hugh for Classic Hits. Broadcasting live from Sydney at the stroke of midnight, we chatted about his surprising new character, the heartbreak of narrowly missing out on sharing the screen with British acting royalty Emma Thompson, and his late-night cravings for one of Australia's legendary breakfasts.
The Sheep Detectives centers around George, a solitary shepherd whose favorite pastime is reading detective novels to his loyal flock. When George is suddenly and mysteriously killed, his sheep decide to take the investigation into their own hooves.
Stepping into George's well-worn boots is a massive shift from playing Wolverine or P.T. Barnum, so I had to ask Hugh why he took the role. To him, it wasn't even a question.
"When I read this script, I actually, if I'm honest, I thought this was one of the most perfect scripts I've read," Hugh shared. "Craig Mazin... just did something—it was pitched to me as Babe meets Knives Out—and I was like, 'Okay, that sounds so crazy, how the hell do you pull that off?' And he does. He makes you laugh and cry, and it's fun, and it's heartwarming."
Though Hugh joked his career must be "downhill from here," he did confess one small regret about playing the ill-fated shepherd:
"I absolutely loved it. I just probably wish I was on screen a little more."
The road to bringing The Sheep Detectives to cinemas has been quite the journey. The movie is an adaptation of the 2005 cult novel Three Bags Full by German author Leonie Swann, an international hit translated into 30 different languages.
Directed by animation veteran Kyle Balda (Despicable Me 3, The Lorax) with Mazin's script, filming took place across the UK over the summer of 2024. The production magically transformed several picturesque counties—including Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, and Surrey—into the fictional village of Denbrook. Major shoots took place at White Pond Farm, Ivinghoe, and the iconic Shepperton Studios. To give things an authentic agricultural feel, they even brought in a real-life rare Norfolk Horn ram from Somerset to star alongside the CGI flock!
This cozy-crime pivot is just the latest in an incredibly varied run for Hugh. After smashing box office records by throwing the claws back on for 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, he's been keeping busy. He starred in the Neil Diamond-inspired Song Sung Blue in 2025, and he’s currently in post-production for A24's The Death of Robin Hood. The latter is a dark, brooding reimagining of the classic tale, which Hugh produced and stars in alongside Jodie Comer.
While the human cast is fantastic—featuring Hugh alongside Nicholas Braun, Molly Gordon, and Nicholas Galitzine—the true stars of the show are the woolly detectives. The talking-animal trope gets a massive upgrade here, thanks to a jaw-dropping voice cast of Hollywood heavy hitters:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus leads the charge as Lily, a whip-smart Shetland sheep who spearheads the murder investigation.
Bryan Cranston voices the surly, black Castlemilk Moorit sheep, Sebastian.
Chris O'Dowd brings Irish charm to Mopple, a sage Merino sheep.
Regina Hall lends her voice to Cloud, a glamorous North Country Cheviot.
Patrick Stewart plays Sir Richfield, a regal Boreray sheep.
Bella Ramsey voices Zora, a Danish Landrace sheep.
Brett Goldstein pulls double duty as twin Norfolk Horn sheep Reggie and Ronnie.
Rhys Darby rounds out the flock as Wool-Eyes, a Lincoln Longwool sheep.
With a voice cast that incredible, you'd think the set would be packed with A-listers. But the reality of modern filmmaking meant Hugh didn't actually trade dialogue with his famous co-stars—in fact, most of them hadn't even been cast yet! To give Hugh a physical presence to act opposite, the production utilized incredible practical puppetry.
"I did have on set an actor reading behind a puppeteer who was puppeteering a very lifelike sheep that looked exactly like Lily," Hugh explained.
He was particularly blown away by Tom, a mastermind puppeteer who previously worked on the legendary stage production of War Horse.
"There was no acting required. It was a good thing. I don't think a lot of the voice cast were even cast at that point... But what I had to act with was incredibly lifelike and real, and an actor was talking to me and it was amazing. Easy."
The film also stars legendary British actress Emma Thompson, but if you're hoping for a Jackman-Thompson acting masterclass, you might want to temper your expectations. Not sharing a scene with her was a major point of frustration for Hugh.
"I am friendly with Emma Thompson and we've been wanting to work together for a while," he lamented. "So this was frustrating because I heard she was in it and then I went reading the script going, 'Oh, we actually don't have one scene together.' I was saying this is so frustrating. So I saw her at rehearsals but not once [on set]."
You can't have two Aussies chatting without bringing up food. Given I was dialing in from Sydney at midnight, I had to flex my late-night delivery order: the world-famous ricotta hotcakes from Bills in Surry Hills.
For those uninitiated in Australia's elite café culture, Bills was founded by the late chef Bill Granger, the man widely considered the "godfather" of avocado toast. His signature dish—fluffy, cloud-like ricotta hotcakes topped with bananas and rich honeycomb butter—is a legendary breakfast institution.
It’s a dish so good that when Oprah Winfrey visited Sydney, she walked four miles just to try them, acting on a personal recommendation from Hugh himself!
While visitors usually queue around the block to get a table at Bills, I proudly pointed out that thanks to food delivery apps, I had a fresh plate at my door in 10 minutes flat.
"I am very, very jealous," Hugh laughed as I showed off my midnight feast.
Before we signed off, he had one final, very important piece of advice regarding those hotcakes:
"You've got to put some maple syrup on that though. Come on, man."
Catch Hugh Jackman in The Sheep Detectives, hitting Irish cinemas first for the Bank Holiday weekend from May 2-4, before rolling out globally on May 8, 2026.
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