Nick van der Leek probes for a Wolf under the Hood of South Africa’s A-List Director, and discovers there are hidden dreams and primal drives that lie dormant in every man.
What on Earth possessed Gavin Hood to get involved in the savagely challenging business of rendering a character as dear to the bleeding hearts of comic book fanboys as Wolverine? Wolverine’s impact on pop culture is profound – ranked #1 for Wizard magazine’s “Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time” and #4 in Empire Magazine’s “50 Greatest Comic Book Characters.” Wolverine, in other words, is a badass; it takes guts to mess with this guy. Can Gavin Hood deliver the animal?
If you’re reading this you probably know by now that he did, that he has. Having seen the flick twice I am impressed. Hood delivers on the whole package: a tight cohesive script, a super cast, explosive and riveting action, beautiful outdoor sequences and a story that connects to audiences in a deep way. Origins also introduces fresh blood that includes Logan’s brother Sabretooth, suffering from a chronic case of bloodlust (Liev Schreiber in outstanding form), and the much anticipated Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), who comes loaded with all the signature moves of a man able to charge matter with volatile kinetic energy and then blow stuff to pieces. There’s more besides in Origins – guy stuff like wars, motorbikes, log cabins, sibling rivalry, various fighting units, teams and squads – but the story is really about two brothers and their desire to, quoting Schreiber, “find their place in the world – to belong to something.” It’s an inner struggle just about everyone goes through at some point and explains why the Wolverine character has such a grip on the collective psyche.
Ok so Origins does the job and Gavin Hood can make big rumble-your-gut flicks, but what makes him tick? At this level of filmmaking mistakes are bludgeoned. How has Hood sidestepped all that? Clearly Gavin Hood has deftly raised his game – I want to know how he did it.
It’s an early Monday afternoon in Johannesburg Hollywood A-listers always seem to have. As we climb the steps towards the lounge for our interview I ask him, conversationally, about jet lag.
“I’m still feeling it, thanks for asking!” his well enunciated English comes out with a gusto that somehow contradicts what he has just said. But the contradiction, if there is one, is the first clue as to why Gavin Hood is not only likable, but has the powerful faculties that high level cinema demands. Hugh Jackman guessed right when he chose Gavin Hood to do the grueling Origins project. Gavin Hood’s success formula can be summarized in 10 points.
1. Keep it simple/who am I?
The Wolverine mythos is neither simple nor easy. Aftyer a shaky start, Wolverine has come to dominate the X-Men, growing more and more popular in step with becoming an ever more powerful, virtually indestructible character in each successive incarnation.
Interestingly when Jackman was offered the role for the first time (and at the last moment) it was not his familiarity with the character but the opposite (will this obscure character that I’ve never heard of work, and be good for my career) that gave him second thoughts. Now Jackman says: “…If I had known I probably would have thought the role was too much pressure – and too much to live up to.
Gavin Hood didn’t suffer similar vertigo, at least, not ostensibly. It all started with a phone call. Hugh Jackman called Gavin Hood because he liked the level of emotional attachment Hood was able to achieve in Tsotsi.
“[He] was at war with himself, just like Wolverine is,” Jackman has said. “I got carried away by Tsotsi’s journey, and by Gavin’s instinct for character and story.”
The first step for the Wolverine (and anyone working on the character), Gavin tells me, is to find out who is, because not even Logan (Wolverine) is clear on that, and he is caught in a constant struggle to first find himself and then keep himself on an even keel. For that you have to go with your gut, your instincts. And Wolverine tends to do that since he cannot rely even on his own memories. Murky may be a good word to describe his past, but a man who has been alive for over 150 years, survived wars and is essentially the King of Pain is always going to be a tough nut to crack.
The brooding, tough as nails Wolverine is difficult to kill because he has had an indestructible substance, Adamantium, forcibly fused into his musculo-skeletal tissue, an excruciating procedure that he was only able to survive by virtue of his healing power. This healing power explains his slow aging process (Logan was born in the late 1800’s to wealthy Canadian plantation owners and today still looks like a guy in his late thirties in peak condition.).
But while Logan
“Mum and dad raised me around theatre and Greek mythology. We joke about it now,” Gavin smiles, “but those myths were really about the first superheroes. Zeus with his lightning bolts and Poseidon conjuring up storms,” –Hood’s hands dance with spider like expression between us –“What are they? I approached the mythic Wolverine in the same way. Who is he? Is he a guy with claws or is he a guy with profoundly human emotions that manifest because of his massive rage? And what made those Greek myths so exciting for audiences were 2 things: firstly they were larger than life, but secondly (and more importantly) their disputes were profoundly human. They had issues with their lovers and their brothers and their wives and their sons. These are still human stories told in an exciting, operatic way. And I think what Wolverine is, and what Hugh Jackman represents in Wolverine is exactly that; a modern mythic character that is driven by profoundly human emotions.”
The first piece of the puzzle is to break it down to one’s own context and then to distill it into the simplest terms. For Jackman his mandate to Gavin Hood was simply: “Exceed expectations.” The first step doesn’t have to be more complicated than it needs to be.
2. Manifest Yourself/staying Focused
Wolverine's catch phrase is: "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice."
Knowing what you do and that you can do it is the next step. I’m intrigued when I discover that Gavin Hood’s trip to becoming a movie director echoes to some point Wolverine’s foggy discoveries about himself. It is one thing to know what one does, quite another to understand what that means and what needs to be done maintaining that belief. Lance Armstrong is a manifestation of this in the cycling world. When the stakes are this high self doubt can become overwhelming.
Gavin says he didn’t start out making movies, in fact he admits there was no Damascus experience where he decided that was what he was going to do. It was a process.
It is also interesting to note that while Gavin Hood and Hugh Jackman succeeded in bringing the essence of the Wolverine backstory and mythos to the silver screen, they were also prepared to manifest a few changes that they believed suited Logan Logan
Beyond self belief is having the courage to make some changes, which is something like getting a license, and what are licenses for except permission to go out and do something, usually something risky like buy a gun, or fly a plane.
3. A License to Dream/finding a way through bad memories
When I ask Gavin Hood to tell me about the movies that influenced him I expect him to mention Highlander [swords, decapitations, healing power, living beyond a sell-by date]. Gavin Hood says the first movie that really inspired him was the South African production of eLollipop. “I remember defining moments on the path to me finally being brave enough to do what I really wanted to do… but didn’t think that we were allowed to – could do – from South Africa
Hood hands grip the sofa mimicking himself in situ. “I remember sitting in my seat going, ‘Wow, these people talk like me, sound like me, this is a story about us and people in our country… Up until that point all the movies I’d seen were set in America and in England
When you made your decision to study film did you also make a geographic shift?
“Yes, because for me I was starting over and when you do that sometimes it’s good to be away from the world where you grew up.”
4. Hero on a Quest/ must leave the nest
Origins starts off with two young brothers who have a traumatic experience and are immediately propelled out of the nest, the safety of home. This is a recipe for great trauma, but also for great adventure and of course, growth.
“The classic story is when the hero leaves the home and goes to another world, has all kinds of adventures and then comes home. Nobody gets a particular amount of life experience by staying too close to the nest.”
It goes without saying of course that ‘leaving the nest’ doesn’t have to happen once or twice in your life. Every time you give yourself permission (or find yourself hurled into) the next quest, be it by losing one’s job or applying for a new one, you leave a set of familiar circumstances. It’s the only way we grow.
5. Be brave/Use your skills
In an odd sense the character in Origins is probably the most restless of all the mutants – never quite satisfied with who he is and how things are, but determined to take a stand nonetheless. He is galvanized by the past and hellbent on venting himself on the world. Similarly what Gavin Hood has done is that he has bravely stuck to his guns, debuting with the 35mm 22 minute short film called “The Storekeeper” in 1998. The film won thirteen international film festival awards, one of which qualified Storekeeper for Academy Award consideration in the same year. Gavin then wrote, directed, co-produced and starred in “A Reasonable Man”. In 2001 All Africa Film voted Hood best director, best screenwriter and best actor and Variety named Hood one of their ten directors to watch at the Sundance Film Festival. Hood’s adaptation for a Polish children’s adventure story – set in Africa – became the highest grossing movie in Poland US
5. Beyond the language barrier/universal languages
Wolverine is a character that is always trying to figure out who he is and where he came from. The answers lead to even more questions. Don’t be afraid to face those inner monsters. Face up to it because there are treasures there in those thorny thickets that can save us from repeating past pain and deliver us to our true potential. Reality. The sooner we go through this prickly process and sooner we get on track to being effective in what we’re truly meant to be doing.
On at least two occasions the cinematography in Origins alludes to the fog, the smoky uncertainty that Logan
How, I ask, spinning my pen in the air, did you go about making movies across so many cultures and in so many languages? “For me I’m always trying to get to the emotions, that look in the eye that lies underneath lines. A line is always floating on something. That’s what’s important. Not what’s being said. We find that audiences respond not so much to what we say but how it’s said. It’s all about tone of voice and body language in this business.” To demonstrate the point he asks me, with a congenial grin: “How are you?” Then he folds his arms dramatically, sits back in his seat and with a low voice, and hooded stare, says, “How are you?”
Gavin Hood has learned to polish and articulate himself to Hollywood
6. Understanding Inner Conflict/ Trauma changes us
Trauma. It can lead to growth, stagnation, mutation or decay. The Mutant gene is symbolic for that change which may be either constructive, or destructive, or both. But whatever happens we still have to manage that process.
“I’m much more interested in stories that acknowledge our own capacity for…” (his eyes bulge for emphasis) “evil, if you like. Or doing unpleasant things. And we have to monitor that within ourselves. I think human beings are more complicated. If there is a parallel between Tsotsi and Wolverine both of these characters have an inner conflict about whether they even like their own nature. And it’s that struggle for their better nature to come forth that they have in common. And certainly, ironically, that’s what Hugh Jackman loved about Tsotsi, and why he asked me to do the movie.”
After cracking a joke (Gavin Hood is an entertaining mixture of drama, levity and seriousness), he says, “I want to thank Hugh Jackman for his recognizing that maybe I could bring that inner struggle out, because that’s the reason you make a movie. You’ve got to make sure it’s packaged with great special effects, but special effects alone won’t hold an audience. What holds an audience is still that old-fashioned thing of do we sense some affinity with the character. And that affinity is usually because most of us, at times, aren’t sure we like ourselves.”
The same is true in life. Be yourself, but get a load of liking and embracing all of who you are. Don’t fight it and don’t deny it. If you like yourself, and you’re honest about that deal, there’s a good chance other people will embrace you and your ideas as well.
7. The Weight of Expectation/don’t rip yourself off
“On every film that you make there are expectations. There’s the excitement of it coming out and the fear that you may have screwed it up and you hope like hell that you can keep working. Because I love what I do but you really do exist job to job.”
I tell him about a man who pulled out a pirated copy of X-Men Origins on William Nicol Road
Hugh Jackman offers a different perspective. Get in character. “I lift twenty percent harder, heavier and longer as Wolverine, than if I train as myself,” Jackman explains with a grin. And Jackman’s ethic rubbed off on co-star Liev Schreiber who gained 40 pounds of muscle for his role.
8. Money Matters/do the job properly
How do you work with millions that belong to other people?
“Well in a sense I’m working with their money and, whether they know it or not, they’re working with my money. If this is a failure for me I won’t have money in the future. So both of us have the same financial risk riding on this. A lot of people say, ‘Well they have a lot of money’ and I say, Well, hang on a minute. If it fails and I don’t get to work I can’t pay for my kids to go to school either. I try to worry not about money so much as just trying to make a good film. For me, for them, for everybody. And that’s a pressure.”
You’re responsible for what you do and what you represent on behalf of someone else, or your company.
Imagine it’s your own money because at the end of the day, everything you do is either a step towards or away from another project.
9. Balancing Act/stay grounded
Delivering an idea – a concept – on target in the face of effusive praise and scathing criticism may be the hardest part. You scale the dizzy heights. The media sing songs of praise. It’s easy to get over-confident and lose the plot. I remind him that he’s won a Men’s Health Best Man award.
“The nominees were very thin that year…” he says, then laughs. Beyond having a sense of humor, how do you keep your wits?
“I like the praise,” he chuckles. “Criticism…is inevitable in what we do,” he says cautiously. “Sometimes it hurts like hell, sometimes it’s illuminating. Sometimes they’re right and you’ve got to say, ‘Wow, I didn’t do that as well as I could have and maybe I can do better next time.’ What helped tremendously was that I was lucky to be working with a leading man who is truly one of the nicest guys [Hugh Jackman] in this business. And I think what we have in common coming from the Southern Hemisphere is that we’re quite down to earth, and don’t take ourselves too seriously. And,” Gavin says, “he’s a very hard working guy.”
Jackman was the producer in Wolverine and made no bones about putting Jackman the actor through some rigorous training. In Origins Jackman says he managed to get himself looking the part of Logan Logan
One way to find a balance, to deal with pressure is to work damn hard at getting everything done right.
With a South African directing an Australian, was there any ribbing? Did he enjoy telling an Australian what to do whilst simultaneously they were having their butts kicked in cricket.
“SURE!” he exclaims with a big laugh. “Ja, we kick their asses of course, except after losing the last test I’m sure he will call me and say so.”
Then, with a small open handed wave and starting off in a near whisper, Gavin Hood says, “I’m not sure if I can consciously explain how I deal with pressure. Obviously I felt a lot of pressure on the project and still feel a lot of pressure that the movie will work for the public. I want it to work for the public.” The volume of his voice rises a few notches. “If they like it, it makes me feel good, if they don’t,” he chuckles, “it makes me feel depressed. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the scale of it all. You just have to come back to the place where you say, ‘You know what; I’m still just telling a story about a character that I want people to enjoy.’ And all these wonderful tools that we have at our disposal must be in service to that story, in service to that character. But you know I had a great time working with this scale of visual effects. It was like giving a painter who has been used to working on a tiny piece of canvas a giant canvass and saying to him: wanna throw paint at that? I mean, who wouldn’t!”
Balancing then is really about having an ordered sense of one’s priorities, working with people who have a similar work ethic (people you can work with), coming up with the ability to love what you’re doing and have fun, and at the same time not losing sight of the primary objective.
10. Dig Deep/be brutally honest.
By the end of our interview I’ve come up with a profound truth, and it’s based on interviewing a string of successful people. Almost all of them refer to the impact of their parents. To the schooling and nourishing influence they have had as young children. Almost all of them treat life as an adventure; and they embrace the thrill of being part of that adventure. Becoming who you really are, they recognize, means you can attain tremendous personal power in the world.
You realize watching Origins that the things that are the most painful for Logan
“Hugh isn’t self-pitying,” Hood says with admiration. “This is all about going on a journey with a character. This guy reaches rock bottom because first one motivation is taken away from him when he loses his lover, and then he discovers his revenge, another motivation – and not a very good one – is taken away as well. Okay, he’s in a mythic landscape, but he’s still a character that you fall in love with. And that’s where I think Hugh does such a great job. He finds all of this inner turmoil. Without being melodramatic. He just is. And I think he’s done an outstanding job.”
You have too, Mr. Hood.
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