'X-Men Origins: Wolverine': Summer Movie Preview

While the parties were discussing, a raft of Internet stories popped up and fanned the controversy by alleging that Fox's Rothman ordered a set to be repainted in a less gloomy palette without Hood's approval — and that Hood had been replaced by Lauren Shuler Donner's husband, director Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon). ''That was exaggerated,'' says Jackman of the degree of conflict, adding that Donner was brought on set to offer advice on some complex action sequences, nothing more. ''Dick was there in a kind of procedural role, just to make sure we were on the right track.'' Bottom line: The kid stayed on the picture. ''Was [the shoot]easy? No,'' recalls Hood. ''But if Tom and I didn't have a healthy respect for each other, he would have fired me, or I would have walked.'' For his part, Rothman insists he always backed Hood's vision; otherwise, he wouldn't have hired him in the first place. ''We knew what we were getting into and embraced it,'' says Rothman. ''This movie is very badass, and we knew it would push the furthest limit of PG-13. But once Dark Knight came out, we saw that there wasn't any level of intensity we couldn't go to. We could both have what we wanted.'' Translation: Studio heads all over town had been looking for the next Dark Knight, and Fox execs found themselves in the enviable position of sitting on another superhero movie with a central character who can barely live with himself.

On March 31, the day that fateful leak hit the Internet, Jackman wasn't crying in his beer or embarking on a vigilante manhunt. Instead, he was spearheading a Web contest inviting fans to write in and lobby to host the premiere of Wolverine in their hometown (the winner will be announced April 20). By all accounts, Jackman has remained relentlessly upbeat about the film's prospects. Some might attribute his response to spin or denial, but Jackman's positivity seems unusually sincere. Unlike most creative types, whose best work is often fueled by angst, despair, and self-doubt, Jackman seems to be driven by sheer force of will. ''That affable nature of his hides a steely professional focus,'' says director Baz Luhrmann, who worked with Jackman on Australia and an Oscars musical montage. ''Whether he's standing on the stage at the Kodak Theatre or in the middle of the vast Australian desert...I have never seen someone as consistently pleasant in difficult or extraordinary circumstances as Hugh.''

Case in point: Thirty minutes before Jackman was due to perform his opening number at the Academy Awards on live TV, the show's producer Bill Condon found the actor in his dressing room with the door open, casually joking with anyone who wandered in. Even now, Jackman insists he never worried that he'd preside over a career-tarnishing, Letterman-like bomb. ''It just felt very relaxed,'' he says. ''The first thing I did when I went out on stage was look at my wife, and I knew that even if I completely died on my ass, she wasn't going to go, 'He's just not attractive anymore.'''

Jackman applies the ''What, me worry?'' philosophy to everything he does. For instance, six years ago he knew he might risk his budding action-hero career by taking the leading role in The Boy From Oz on Broadway, as gay Aussie song-and-dance man Peter Allen. ''I'll never forget kissing a guy on stage and someone from the crowd shouting 'Don't do it, Wolverine!''' recalls Jackman, who has two children, Oscar, 8, and Ava, 3, with his wife of 13 years, Australian TV actress Deborra-lee Furness. ''I don't waste time or energy with it. I think there's far too much importance placed on people's sexuality anyway. I love sex, it's great, but it's not the measure of love or a relationship. And whether you like girls or boys, whether you like the light on or off: Who cares? I always find sexuality one of the least interesting things about a person.''

A meal with Jackman is full of the type of openhearted insights that make you feel like he's read ahead a few chapters in the manual on how to be a better human. Then again, maybe it's just that he loves entertaining people as much as he seems to, and that he doesn't really resent the attention that goes along with fame. Both on screen and off, he's more afraid of missing an opportunity than losing his foothold on the A list. ''If it was all over, I would find it a little hard, no doubt,'' says Jackman, who cleared his schedule post-Wolverine to spend time with his family and has yet to line up his next gig. However, he adds with a broad chuckle, ''there will be a time when I'm on the 'Oh, My God, Look What Happened to Him' list, or the 'He Was Once the Sexiest Man Alive?' list. You can't take yourself too seriously.'' Even Wolverine might have to agree.