Jackman Declines Offer to Host Oscars for Second Year

Hugh Jackman, currently starring on Broadway opposite Daniel Craig in A STEAD RAIN, has declined the opportunity to host the Oscar telecast for a second straight year, Variety reports. Jackman was supposedly offered the job, but turned it down, as he begins preparing for his new role in the movie The Real Steel following his Broadway run, as previously reported.

Despite initial doubts, Jackman's stint as Oscar host for the 2009 ceremony earned him considerable praise under producer Laurence Mark and executive producer Bill Condon. Reportedly, while he is interested in hosting again, he did not want to do so two years in a row.

Jackman stars alongside Daniel Craig in Keith Huff's A STEADY RAIN through December 6 at at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The play tells the story of two Chicago cops who are lifelong friends and their differing accounts of a few harrowing days that changed their lives forever.

A STEADY RAIN is produced on Broadway by Frederick Zollo, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Raymond L. Gaspard, Frank Gero, Cheryl Wiesenfeld, Jeffrey Sine, Michael Rose Ltd, The Shubert Organization, Inc. and Robert Cole. Set and costume design are by two-time Tony Award winner Scott Pask, with lighting design by two-time Tony Award nominee Hugh Vanstone and original music and sound design by Mark Bennett.

Tickets range from $140.00 to $66.50. The performance schedule for A STEADY RAIN is as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are also available at www.telecharge.com (212.239.6200).

Hugh Jackman won a 2004 Tony Award, Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World awards for Best Actor in a musical for his portrayal of the 1970s singer-songwriter Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz. Previous theater credits include Carousel at Carnegie Hall, Oklahoma! at the National Theater in London (Olivier Award nomination), Sunset Boulevard (MO Award - Australia's Tony Award) and Disney's Beauty and the Beast (MO Award nomination). From 2003 through 2005 he hosted the Tony Awards, winning a 2004 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Performer in a Variety, Musical or Comedy program. Mr. Jackman made his first major U.S. film appearance as Wolverine in the first installment of the X-Men franchise, a role he reprised in the enormously successful X2 and 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand. Most recently, he reprised his role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine which serves as a prequel to the popular series and grossed an outstanding $85 million domestically in its first weekend of release in May 2009. On February 22, 2009, Jackman took on the prestigious role of Oscar host as he fronted the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

 

 

 

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