Reminiscence, opening in theaters and on HBO Max August 21, skillfully combines science fiction with romance and noir. Hugh Jackman stars as Nick Bannister, a brilliant and lonely man who offers clients the chance to relive their best memories. After falling for the mysterious Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), he must turn his technology into a tool to hold onto the woman he loves - and to uncover her dangerous secrets.
Jackman spoke to Screen Rant about mixing several genres, acting opposite holograms, and his own personal X-Men reminiscence.
Screen Rant: I love the classic noir of Reminiscence, but it's really a blended genre thing. It just keeps turning and unfolding; it's so layered. Tell me a little bit about your character, Nick Bannister, and about the machine.
Hugh Jackman: What a great description of the film. Literally, everything you said is everything I love about it. Lisa Joy is the bomb, and she's created something really unique.
My character - that she wrote for me - I guess on one level it has an element of Wolverine in it. That tough, impenetrable exterior underneath a lot of pain and brokenness, with a little bit of badass in there. But you mix that with an almost obsessive love affair that happens out of the blue for him, and then she disappears.
For the character, I think it's very much like what the audience goes through with this movie - which is, "I know what this movie is." 10 minutes in, you're like, "Yeah, I get it." And then very quickly, it goes into areas and places narratively and emotionally that you don't expect. It's the same for Nick.
Ultimately, the movie feels very poetic to me. I'm afraid that will scare people away, but what I mean by that is it will resonate with you in different ways days after.
I want to talk about Lisa Joy real quick and the technology because that's another thing about this film that I want everybody to know. This isn't necessarily CG. Talk to me about this technology, because when I read about it, I couldn't even wrap my head around it.
Hugh Jackman: Well, I couldn't either. She told me she was gonna do this thing, and I was like, "Has that been done before?" She says, "No, we're working it out now." And I'm like, "Okay... You're a first-time filmmaker, that's a big thing to take on."
But the holograms - which is not really what they are, but that's the best way to think about it for most people watching - are real. They are in-camera. So when I as the actor was standing at that reminiscence machine, I'm looking at a real hologram of Rebecca Ferguson singing. Even at the point where - I don't want to give it away, but - I enter one of the memories, that's real.
I'm so used to, my whole life, acting to tennis balls on top of a stick. It was really complex and really difficult. And I said, "Lisa, we've got to get the word out that you've done this." Because no one will know or believe, they'll just assume it's so brilliant that it had to have been done by computer.
We're dying to see you back in the MCU. Is there any chance that we could see you reprise your role as Wolverine, or is that in your past now at this point?
Hugh Jackman: It's in my past, man. Don't tell anyone, alright?
Let me just say one more thing. Because as I said that, there's not a day [that] goes by where I'm not unbelievably grateful for having been part of that MCU Universe. Particularly to be there at the beginning of it, and to watch it. To see Kevin Feige going from being an assistant to a producer and a mate of mine, to where he is today. And that was a role of a lifetime.
So, I don't ever want people to feel that when I say I'm done, it's a glib thing. It was one of the great chapters of my life.
