just because it feels uncomfortable doesn't mean it's not good
i think so often not only on film but in life we so want to feel comfortable but that doesn't
always bring the best results if i look back i think some of my more successful
things and my point of view have been the things i've been most nervous about
and probably most unsure when i began uh there's something about jumping off that cliff which means
you end up going for broke and probably end up taking a few more risks if you know what i mean
you what is god simple question what is god take about a lifetime or lifetimes to work it out
i suppose for me is my idea of consciousness god is not a thing
something you can necessarily see it is within everything and outside of it
i believe that god the absolute whatever you want to call it the self is unchanging
therefore pretty much everything i'm seeing as an element of god but you couldn't call a guy
because everything changes you me uh where we're sitting this river this planet has a life cycle
birth death but my feeling about god is that it exists beyond that beyond those laws of nature
it is somehow separate to the laws of time matter space
and that's about as close as i've come to any realisation of what god is
where you want to get to in life is never as important as the way you want to live your life
you suffer from a bit of anxiety when you're in front of the camera but that you name your your
confident personality frank yeah oh my god and your and your and your anxious personality child
what happened to me in film was it was random it would appear sometimes and that was something i'd
never encounter i understand if you're scared of heights you're always scared of heights but
some days i'll be fine and then some days i would just get nervous and get in my head so
uh i don't know if you guys know uh anthony robbins you know the motivational motivational
dude yeah yeah i mean he does motivate her he's not really a motivational guy actually he's really
quite brilliant in breaking down how we think the patterns of behavior we have and so i met
him we were mates i never went to him to i never went to one of his workshops we were just friends
and i rang i said mate i want to come to you professionally i need to ask you a question
he said to me what the biggest mistake people make with fear is saying oh i'm scared i hate
this get it out i don't want you near my life this is not helping me and you get
obviously really wound up so he said you've got to remember the times where you feel confident
name that character so that feels scared and as you're walking on a set realize that the fear
is good that it got you where you are that it makes you work the fear sometimes actually goes oh
i better work really hard on this film so he said that fear embrace it work really hard and then
on that day when you walk on set charles thanks but i don't need you right now and then be frank
god is unexplainable it's it is a concept that you can't put into words god is an experience
i was introduced to meditation about 15 years ago and i meditate twice a day and if i ever
feel close to knowing what god is it's somewhere in the boundary of those that half hour period
i think the basic idea of the meditation i do is to quiet mind just let all that
instrument calm down and i sometimes have experiences where i feel a little out of body
ideas of hugh jackman as a father as an actor all those roles we play just seem to melt away and
somewhere in there is where i have some glimmer some glimpse at what god is and it's a feeling
and it's blissful and it can go like that and every minute you try and grab onto it it's gone
when the things most matter you so desperately don't want to destroy it from being scared
that you can really destroy it sure when i hosted the oscars i was i was like wow man this is a
billion people and i just thought okay whatever you do just remember you're a kid from moronga
in sydney you're hosting the oscars have some fun you know and luckily for me those turning points
i've somehow always stuck to that idea of just having fun
it's the different experience every time but i get glimpses of something that energizes me
on such a deep level uh that i now i'm not sure exactly what i do without that form of prayer it's
a way to be in touch with who i really am much of our life our our experience of this body of
being in this creation is of duality that in fact there is a an interviewer an interviewee there is
a man and a man or a man woman there's night and day there's life debt pain pleasure uh
the world exists in this duality i'm sitting here talking through this body to you
and the camera is seeing a form talking and
there is god within this whole entity and outside of it that exists beyond the words
i'm saying beyond the actions i'm using beyond the space there is something linking all of us
that's got i genuinely like to be friendly with everyone in the australian film industry everyone
talks to everyone and if they're not making fun of you then they really don't like you so
there's a problem and i also when i first went to america i noticed there was an unspoken it's not
people tell stories of don't look this actor in the eye and all that i've never heard that before
but there is a slightly unwritten rule of leave the actor alone let them do their thing it could
be a process it could be because their style i'm not sure and i always try literally on the first
day to break that down because i feel self-conscious in that environment
i'd much prefer a grip you know making fun of me than calling me mr jackman then i say nothing
until they say thank you it's been great working with you know i much prefer to feel we're in it
together the most potent examples i've had of that being connected beyond my physical form or beyond
to someone i love or know or hate is uh in the theater and i've probably had three or four times
where i've heard many actors describe it it's almost a slightly out of body experience but
you can stand on stage with 2 000 strangers and feel like you know them intimately and they know
you intimately and feel completely safe you can open up your heart and they're opening your their
heart and you're completely connected it's in that instant a feeling of absolute privilege
that you can experience it and so powerful
that it raises the hairs on the back of your neck and uh here's the frustrating thing about it
you can't make it happen you can try your heart out you can be the most dedicated
actor of all time and you can always do good shows but it's of all the shows i've ever done
for years of being on stage probably only three or four times have i really felt it
and it's a pure blessing you're there in it it's this complete knowledge of unity of community
if you're really listening it's the space it's a space between words if you listen to great music
the great greatest composers i think understood the space between the notes and
when you feel that it it's so uplifting it's amazing and we can get so focused on
listening really hard and listen to the music that you forget experience of god is restful
you've believed in me when i couldn't you've loved me with a passion and a depth that i didn't even
know existed and i don't think i even felt that i deserved you have pushed and encouraged me
when i was scared to venture out you have smiled me into smiling you have sung me into singing you
have loved me into loving and like everything i do in my life i share this with you i love you
you