Hugh Jackman talks sheep!

0:01 You see?

0:02 Yeah, this is awesome.

0:04 It's the Radio 2 Breakfast Show and I am so excited about my next guest.

0:09 Last time he was in the UK, it was all about Neil Diamond.

0:13 And now he steps into the boots of another iconic role, that of a shepherd.

0:19 Good morning, Hugh Jackman.

0:21 Good morning.

0:21 How are you?

0:22 It's so great to have you in the studio with us this

0:24 Thanks.

0:24 I'm happy to be here.

0:26 Thank you.

0:26 From a Neil Diamond impersonator to a shepherd, you've got range, haven't you?

0:31 I [laughter] do.

0:32 But uh I tell you sitting in the English countryside waiting for sunshine,

0:38 this is my idea of heaven.

0:39 I just felt like I was at Lords watching cricket.

0:42 Yeah.

0:43 You know?

0:43 It looked beautiful where you filmed The Sheep Detectives.

0:46 so it was heaven.

0:48 It was and now I want to say Hambledon.

0:51 Hambledon, does that sound right to you?

0:53 Sounds good, yeah.

0:53 I stayed near Henley.

0:55 So it was in that Oxfordshire sort of world and it was just spectacular.

0:59 I mean we were obviously it's meant to look like

1:02 idyllic for English countryside and yes we were waiting for sunshine,

1:07 but that was it was fantastic.

1:08 We were up there all day, summertime.

1:10 It was it was heaven.

1:12 The Sheep Detectives.

1:14 Um all about sheep.

1:16 It's all about sheep.

1:18 Oh, what is that?

1:19 I think it's a road.

1:19 But what is it made of?

1:21 Well, not grass, I can tell you that.

1:28 You're going to learn a lot about sheep and I'm going

1:30 to tell you you're going to fall in love with sheep and you're

1:32 going to on your drive and you see sheep there

1:34 on the hill you're going to you're going to look at them differently.

1:37 Do you know what?

1:38 After seeing the movie and I and I actually went to the movie,

1:41 I knew nothing about it.

1:42 I hadn't hadn't seen a trailer,

1:44 hadn't seen I just went completely with an open mind.

1:47 Thank you for going by the way.

1:48 No, thank you for giving me an invite.

1:50 And um I loved it.

1:53 Did you?

1:53 Yeah, I mean it it it it's probably one

1:56 of the most heartwarming films I've seen in a long long time.

2:00 Yeah.

2:01 I I I first got the script my friend Eric

2:03 Fellner uh who I did Les Mis with and he

2:06 he rang he emailed me and he said I'm sending

2:08 you a script and it's something like Knives Out meets Babe.

2:14 And he like [laughter] and he goes it's going to sound a little crazy,

2:17 but I think you're going to love it.

2:18 And I just thought it was beautiful cuz it's you're right, it ticks for me.

2:22 It's smart, there's a murder mystery,

2:24 but it's really in the end is very heartfelt.

2:28 When my chores are finished and the sun [music] starts to sink low in the sky,

2:32 I choose a book to read out loud to them.

2:34 Detective novels, mysteries, [music] who done it's all my favorites.

2:39 I know when Rodney Hollingshed was murdered and I know who the real killer was.

2:45 I'd like to pretend that I follow along with the story,

2:48 but I know in my heart that as special as they are, they're still sheep.

2:56 No, no more.

2:58 Go on, there's a lot of you.

3:00 I'll read the ending tomorrow.

3:03 And you play a really good-hearted shepherd, don't you?

3:06 Yeah.

3:07 Your your sheep ain't going to end up in the butcher's.

3:09 No, oh no.

3:10 He loves them.

3:11 He looks each one of them in the eyes and names them from looking in their eyes.

3:15 I mean it's really beautiful.

3:16 He's like very much a father figure and his his problem is humans.

3:22 Yeah.

3:22 He doesn't quite understand humans.

3:25 [laughter] Sheep he gets, you know?

3:26 I mean he lives on his own up on this hill

3:28 in this little trailer and he reads to the sheep at night,

3:31 which by the way is quite is true.

3:33 It is true.

3:35 research that I did, a lot of shepherds will either play music

3:38 at night or read to their sheep and sheep

3:40 will come up the paddock and have a little

3:43 moment before they then go off to sleep.

3:46 And yeah.

3:47 And in the movie you would read them murder mysteries.

3:50 Cuz that's what my character loved.

3:52 And so I read them one after the other every night

3:54 and so in the story the sheep are hearing these murder mysteries.

3:59 Now of course all the humans in this they just hear animal noises,

4:03 but the audience watching the movie you

4:05 can hear the sheep talking amongst themselves.

4:07 So they well one in particular considers

4:10 themselves an expert on solving murder mysteries.

4:13 So when one actually happens in the town who better to solve it?

4:18 Last night something terrible happened.

4:23 Our shepherd was murdered.

4:27 No!

4:26 George is dead?

4:28 Probably a heart attack.

4:30 Not much of a story for you, I'm afraid.

4:32 Unless there's anything out of [music] the ordinary.

4:33 Nope, I've looked everywhere.

4:35 Around the caravan, underneath the caravan.

4:37 inside the caravan?

4:40 Worth a shot.

4:41 Lilly, what will we do?

4:43 George loved his dads.

4:44 He read us dozens of these stories.

4:46 We shall solve the crime.

4:48 Not the policeman, the constable.

4:51 Constable you call it, right?

4:52 Yeah, yeah.

4:53 Not the constable.

4:53 [clears throat] It's a it's like a one constable town.

4:56 And uh by the way he is brilliant.

4:58 by the way he is brilliant.

4:59 Isn't he brilliant?

5:00 He is so funny.

5:01 He is so funny.

5:02 He's funny off screen, he's funny on screen.

5:05 I I love him.

5:05 I think he's so taller than you?

5:07 So much taller.

5:08 So much taller.

5:09 It's it's unusual for me.

5:10 I'm you know, I'm not short.

5:12 I'm not massive, yeah.

5:14 But Nick is like wow.

5:15 It's like [laughter]

5:17 I don't know what what the number is, but it's up there.

5:19 He could I don't know.

5:20 He could play basketball, I think.

5:22 I don't want to give any spoilers,

5:23 but you're not actually in the film for long, are you?

5:26 No.

5:27 Uh not as long as I would have liked.

5:29 I was like, oh, what do you mean I'm done?

5:32 Okay.

5:33 Um no.

5:34 Yeah, we don't want to give any spoilers away,

5:35 but uh I am I'm there at the beginning.

5:39 You very much see me with the sheep.

5:41 And then I do make an appearance little later on.

5:45 If you yeah, again, I don't want to give much away,

5:47 but I wish I was in it longer.

5:49 Were there real sheep on set?

5:51 There was a couple.

5:53 Like we had a couple of sheep for various things, maybe background.

5:56 Certainly when we were rehearsing, I did some held some lambs,

6:00 some spring lambs and feeding them.

6:02 At one point I had to feed a sheep, but that was CGI.

6:06 So we actually had a real little lamb and then

6:09 the lamb was taken and then I had to sort of pretend,

6:11 but what was incredible, Tom I'm so sorry, Tom.

6:16 I've forgotten your last name.

6:17 But Tom was the head puppeteer.

6:19 So I was working with puppeteers.

6:21 So Oh, so you'd have a a sheep puppet in front of you.

6:24 Yeah, that was unbelievable.

6:26 There was no acting required.

6:28 So yeah, he was like hand and So it would have been like a third of a sheep.

6:32 Yeah, yeah.

6:32 It had a looked incredibly real, but when he animated it,

6:35 it was almost exactly like you see in the movie.

6:38 They didn't clearly trust my acting ability.

6:42 [laughter] Where there was a couple of the other actors said,

6:44 oh yeah, no, I just got a tennis ball.

6:46 And I was like, oh no, I had a puppet.

6:50 [laughter]

6:50 Where do you think The Sheep Detectives

6:52 stands next to other talking animal films?

6:57 Have you seen any of these, Babe?

6:59 I would very much put it in the Babe world.

7:01 That's what I was going to say.

7:02 I love Babe.

7:03 Yeah.

7:04 And Bug's Life?

7:05 Bug's Life.

7:07 Seen Bug's Life.

7:08 I totally have seen Bug's Life about 50 times.

7:10 Charlotte's Web?

7:11 Absolutely.

7:12 Loved it.

7:13 And Stuart Little?

7:14 Stuart Little, loved it.

7:15 Okay.

7:16 Yeah, Stuart Little, you know, because there's that Oh yeah,

7:20 there's that whole sort of theme of sort of the outsider almost being adopted.

7:24 What I love about this I have a my friend's little kid

7:28 came and he sent me a message and the mom was saying,

7:31 "Well, who's your favorite character?" And he said,

7:32 "Oh, the winter lamb." It's a beautiful I don't want to give it away,

7:35 but there's a beautiful little sort of subplot here about the winter lamb.

7:39 I love the winter lamb.

7:41 You love the winter So cute.

7:42 So cute.

7:43 Why do you love the winter lamb, Gary?

7:44 I feel like I could use this as a way into therapy with you.

7:49 [laughter] Uh you just want to cuddle the winter lamb, don't you?

7:51 Uh but we have a little surprise for you in a minute

7:53 and we're going to talk more about the winter lamb.

7:56 Yeah.

7:56 Uh but I just want to talk about the cast in the movie because it's incredible.

8:00 Emma Thompson, Yeah.

8:01 Brian Cranston, Chris O'Dowd, Patrick Stewart and so many more.

8:05 Yeah.

8:05 Have you worked with any of them before?

8:07 Patrick Stewart, I don't think I've done a movie without him.

8:11 [laughter] Um Is that written into your contract now?

8:13 Please.

8:14 to come along with you.

8:15 Oh, I love Patrick so much.

8:16 I I've learned so much from him.

8:18 Um there was a bunch there was some

8:20 that I met literally at the press conference.

8:22 Because they were doing the voices.

8:24 Yeah, but huge fan like Chris O'Dowd I'm a massive fan of and Julia

8:27 Louis-Dreyfus who plays Lilly who is Seinfeld

8:31 wasn't as massive a thing here, was it?

8:33 As it was in Well, it was it had a sort of cult following here, yeah.

8:36 Anyway, she's she's incredible.

8:38 I worked with Emma Thompson was frustrating.

8:42 I actually didn't get to do a scene on camera with her.

8:45 No, you didn't.

8:47 in this and I didn't get to work with her, which

8:49 was so we know each other and I'm texting.

8:51 I'm like, I can't believe this.

8:53 This is so frustrating, but the whole cast was incredible.

8:56 Brian Cranston, Brett Goldstein Yeah.

8:58 who plays two.

9:00 Actually, I don't want to give it away.

9:01 Oh, does he really?

9:02 He's he's both rams.

9:03 Oh, Ronnie and Reggie.

9:05 I love Ronnie and Reggie.

9:06 I just want to smash it.

9:08 [laughter] I want to smash it.

9:09 I was almost crying at the end of this movie.

9:14 Yeah.

9:13 I don't do that with animated CGI films.

9:17 It's like it really is such a heartwarming story, isn't it?

9:21 That's why I when you mentioned Babe,

9:23 that's my when I saw Babe, it was the same thing.

9:26 You just so you really get to know all of these sheep.

9:30 They're all got different personalities and they're

9:32 all doing something that's really scary for them.

9:35 They've just been in this little paddock their whole

9:37 life and I love this thing in the movie.

9:40 Sheep have this ability to forget things.

9:42 So if there's something they really don't like,

9:44 they can on the count of three just close their eyes and forget it.

9:47 Wouldn't that be great if you could do that in your life?

9:53 [laughter] I mean I actually don't mean to forget things, but I do.

9:56 I think that's called getting older, isn't it?

9:58 Like this interview, Gary.

10:00 No, I'll never forget this you.

10:01 Thank you.

10:01 You don't want to forget.

10:02 I don't want my list.

10:03 Thanks.

10:03 Interview Hugh Jackman.

10:06 [laughter] Now, I get the feeling here that over the next few weeks

10:09 you're going to be spending a lot of time talking about sheep.

10:12 Yes.

10:12 Yeah.

10:13 So, I've got you a gift.

10:14 Oh.

10:15 Uh something or should I say someone who can

10:18 give you all the sheep expertise that you need.

10:22 Oh, okay.

10:23 Uh we're calling him the greatest shearman.

10:29 [laughter] This is awesome.

10:32 I think I might have needed this before I filmed but

10:34 Yeah, because if you're talking about sheep, you need to speak to an expert.

10:37 Yes.

10:37 Uh I want you to meet Joe.

10:39 He's 14 from Lincolnshire and he has his own flock of sheep.

10:45 Good morning, Farmer Joe.

10:47 Good morning.

10:47 You all right?

10:48 Yeah, good.

10:49 Hey, Joe.

10:51 Oh, yeah.

10:51 You all right?

10:52 You do you like being called the greatest shearman?

10:55 Yeah, it's quite nice, actually.

10:56 You like that?

10:58 Yeah, I do.

10:59 I actually ask you.

11:00 I'm doing good.

11:00 Thanks for asking.

11:03 [laughter] Hugh, you did work with sheep for a while, didn't you?

11:05 I did when I was uh like a kid.

11:07 I meant I I I was on a beach

11:09 holiday and there was a family there from the country,

11:12 place called Trundle.

11:13 They had a sheep farm, sheep and wheat.

11:16 And they invited me to go up there and so I went up and hung up

11:18 there with them and hung out with the sheep

11:20 but I wasn't really allowed to do anything.

11:22 But I did watch them shear them which seems really really challenging.

11:27 Mhm.

11:28 Can you do that?

11:29 Joe, can you shear sheep?

11:31 I don't do the electric ones cuz obviously they can nip the skin but I do do

11:35 a lot of love when I go showing I trim them up to make them look smart.

11:38 So, I make it nice and level across the back.

11:41 Nice.

11:41 hand shears.

11:42 And do they like that?

11:44 Do they like like I remember watching them and they were kicking around a lot.

11:47 The what is it?

11:48 The electric shears,

11:49 they're a lot closer to the skin so they don't really like that.

11:52 But my hand shears stay on the top of the wool so they don't really feel it.

11:55 Okay, nice.

11:56 Um Joe, you got so much sheep knowledge.

12:00 Uh firstly, tell us are sheep really as clever as they seem in this film?

12:05 Sheep are not as dumb as we think.

12:06 They can learn to navigate mazes and really good at responding to training.

12:11 Sheep can also recognize faces, human and sheep,

12:14 and they generally do be enjoyed read to so like in the film.

12:20 You see?

12:20 Joe, this is awesome.

12:22 Now, I did do a bit of research.

12:24 I read some books and I spoke to a a shepherd and said the same thing.

12:28 They got great personality or got different personalities, right, Joe?

12:31 Yeah, they do.

12:31 Yeah.

12:32 Oh.

12:33 Do you have a favorite Do you name your sheep,

12:35 Joe, like uh George does in the movie?

12:37 Uh yeah, I do name my sheep cuz when I brought my sheep,

12:40 they was with my vegetable money that I

12:42 earned off my little trolley by selling veg.

12:44 So, I've named them after vegetables.

12:45 So, I've got Parsnip, Parsley, and Carrots, and all that.

12:49 Do you have a favorite sheep, I mean, not not vegetable.

12:53 I don't have really a favorite cuz they're all special in a different way.

12:56 They've all got a different personality and that.

13:00 Joe, I I'm going to go out on a limb.

13:02 I think you're going to love this movie.

13:04 Yeah, I can't wait to see it.

13:05 Well, yeah.

13:06 You're going to I think you're going to be like, "Yeah,

13:08 someone someone gets me." I think this hopefully will change and so

13:12 you won't people's view about sheep because they really are beautiful.

13:15 Yeah, they are.

13:16 They're lovely sheep to be around.

13:18 They don't bother you.

13:19 They just carry on with their own life and you can they're really tame as well.

13:22 They're lovely and kind.

13:24 Aw.

13:24 How many do you got?

13:26 I've got 90 of my own.

13:28 I've got three different [clears throat] breeds of them.

13:29 90?

13:30 What are the breeds?

13:32 Yeah.

13:32 I've got four-horned Jacob.

13:33 They're a very rare breed.

13:35 They're in a biblical.

13:36 And I've got colored and white Ryelands for in the show ring with the Jacobs.

13:40 Fantastic.

13:41 And do you know um apparently sheep

13:43 have contributed some big things to the world.

13:46 Is that is that right, Joe?

13:47 Yes, sheep were involved in the first blood transfusion to humans in 1667.

13:53 Wow.

13:54 I want to Hang on, there was a blood transfusion to humans from sheep?

13:58 Yes.

13:58 Which I assume did not go very well.

14:02 [laughter] No.

14:04 I want to clear something Not the sheep's fault.

14:06 I want to clear something up if we can, Hugh.

14:08 Yeah.

14:08 Um because in the movie um the winter lamb in the movie is an outcast.

14:15 Is that true in real life, Joe, that cuz most lambs are born in the spring.

14:20 For lambs that are born in the winter,

14:22 are they alienated by the rest of the flock?

14:25 They won't grow on as good cuz they haven't got the best grass cuz

14:28 the like the frost would have killed

14:30 the grass so they won't have the best grass.

14:32 You'd probably have to feed them quite with expensive food and a lot of grass

14:35 and hay and that's try get them to grow as well as the others.

14:39 But would the other sheep accept them as part of the flock?

14:42 Yes, I would say so once they've got to a big enough size that they can stand

14:46 up for themselves and like go on their own

14:48 and live on their own independently, they'll be fine.

14:51 Okay.

14:52 Well, maybe we've taken a little bit of license there with the truth.

14:56 Cuz we we have a little story that the winter lamb is not accepted by the flock.

15:00 All right.

15:00 Yeah, sometimes they can't cuz they're a lot smaller.

15:02 They can get knocked out the way from the go.

15:05 There you go.

15:05 I'm taking a Joe No, because the winter lamb in the movie is very small.

15:09 That's right.

15:10 Okay, good.

15:10 Uh one more question for you, Joe.

15:13 Uh in the movie, these sheep can talk.

15:16 Um tell us basically how sheep talk to each other in real life.

15:22 So, sheep have a scent of a like the glands underneath their eyes

15:27 and in between their feet that releases a weird scent to speak to each other.

15:33 Really?

15:34 Yeah.

15:35 S- as a what do you think that is?

15:36 Like to warn each other or just what do you think that is?

15:39 Like I'm guessing to like communicate to each other like if there's

15:44 like a threat or if there's food and they're struggling, I'm guessing.

15:48 Cuz they'll be like a ram of like the pack to protect all

15:51 these ewes and he will like be at the back or at the front

15:54 making sure there's nothing like creeping up behind them cuz sheep have eyes

15:57 on the side of their face and that means they are getting hunted.

16:00 The ones animals with eyes on the front of the head mean they are hunters.

16:05 Joe, I wish I'd spoken to you before the Farmer Joe.

16:08 Amazing.

16:09 Farmer Joe, I'm going to ask you when did you first fall in love with sheep?

16:12 How old were you?

16:14 When I was seven, my granddad built me like

16:17 a little blue raised bed and I started planting

16:19 potatoes and I found this picture of a Jacob sheep on my iPad and I said to mom,

16:25 "I want one of these and she said, "I'm sorry but I can't serve it on a plate.

16:28 You're going to have to work for it." So,

16:30 I sold my animal like the veg to buy my animals.

16:34 I brought two chickens and I started selling eggs and vegetables

16:38 to buy my first three sheep and that's where it all started.

16:40 Now I'm at 90.

16:42 Come on.

16:43 This is a great story and I'm so happy I got to meet you.

16:46 He is the greatest shearman.

16:48 You are the greatest shearman.

16:49 Well, thank you.

16:50 Yeah.

16:51 Joe, thank you so much.

16:54 Nice to meet you too.

16:55 Thank you again.

16:56 Nice to meet you, Joe.

16:57 Good luck with your sheep.

16:58 Say hi to all the sheep for me, all right?

17:01 Yeah, thank you.

17:02 Good luck with your film.

17:03 Thanks, mate.

17:03 I hope you enjoy it.

17:04 There you go.

17:05 How how amazing is that?

17:07 amazing.

17:07 I kind of love that whole story.

17:09 Yeah.

17:09 That they he somehow worked for it and bought them.

17:12 Good on your mom.

17:13 Good job.

17:13 Yeah.

17:14 Right?

17:15 So, um thank you, Joe.

17:18 Hugh, obviously one of the hardest working actors in uh show business.

17:22 Uh thank you so much for coming in today.

17:25 pleasure.

17:25 Thanks for seeing the movie.

17:26 Thanks for having a little almost here.

17:28 Almost should we call it an almost here?

17:30 No, do you know, the thing is let me say tell you this.

17:33 You go and see these movies, right, in in preview theaters.

17:39 Mhm.

17:38 And you're sat next to fierce, hard-nosed critics who are not real moviegoers.

17:45 Right.

17:46 And they sit they sit there.

17:48 They like refuse to laugh.

17:49 They refuse to do anything.

17:51 You know what I mean?

17:51 Me, I'm the only one that goes, "Ha [laughter]

17:55 And I was probably the only one with a tear in my eye at the end of the movie.

17:58 But I absolutely loved it.

18:00 Good on you, Gary.

18:01 Thanks.

18:01 You can see Hugh Jackman's new film, The Sheep Detective,

18:03 first on bank holiday weekend and it's in cinemas on Friday the 8th of May.

18:09 Thanks so much.

18:10 Thanks, Gary.

18:10 Thanks, Joe.