Q (interview by Maitland McDonagh): What kind of movie is Scoop? Hugh Jackman: It’s a smart, funny, and witty comedy, with a couple of dark moments. I’m a huge fan of Woody Allen’s movies, and when I read the script, it kind of reminded me of some of his earlier comedies.
In the plot, Scarlett Johansson and Woody’s characters get a tip that my character might be a serial killer. But my character happens to be a budding politician and the son of a Lord. So he’s in every way the opposite of a person you might suspect to be a serial killer. The evidence starts to mount, Scarlett’s character starts to fall in love with mine, and it gets very complicated.
Q: What kind of person is your character, Peter Lyman?
HJ: Well, I saw him as someone who you’d find in the pages of Hello! or OK! magazines in England. Unlike American tabloids, these have [coverage of] the social set, aristocrats and their offspring. Peter is from a very well-established family; he’s a debonair man about town who dates the latest models.
Q: How does he get involved with Scarlett’s character?
HJ: She gets this tip – from a ghost – that Peter might be a serial killer, and she’s doggedly chasing it; she and Woody’s character try to investigate my character. Peter’s world is quite stitched up and very formal. When he meets Sondra – [although] he [initially] knows her as Jade Spence – he’s completely intrigued by her and a little bit knocked sideways by her. She’s very beguiling, beautiful, spunky, charming, and very forthright. And dare I say it, he starts to fall in love with her.
Q: Her character sounds like a spunky reporter, from classic movies, who speaks her mind and goes after what she wants.
HJ: The way Scarlett plays her, it is a little bit of a throwback to those spunky young reporters in old movies.
Q: How did Woody Allen approach you to play Peter?
HJ: I got a phone call from my agent saying that the casting director for Woody Allen wanted to see me – for a movie shooting in England, which seemed odd to me; a Woody Allen movie shooting in London sounded like a contradiction. I was also told not to be offended if my meeting with Woody only took two minutes.
Well, the meeting actually took about three minutes, so it obviously went pretty well [laughs] He was sort of like, “Well, I’ve got this movie and I know you’ve probably got more important things to do. But if you want to read it – you probably don’t, but if you do and you like it, then, you know, I’d love you to do it.” And that was pretty much it. It was, and continued to be, easy. Scoop was one of my favorite film experiences to date.
Q: You worked with him as a director, and as an actor as well –
HJ: [laughs] “Working with Woody Allen – “ I just love saying that, “Working with Woody Allen…” I did have to pinch myself on several occasions…Working with him was terrific, because the atmosphere that he creates on set is incredibly easy. It’s very calm, and all of a sudden, at 3:00 in the afternoon, he sends you home – almost like bankers’ hours.
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