Sexiest Man: Hugh Jackman, of course

By Sharon Eberson / Wednesday, Nov. 19 

When people associate you with something, you can be stuck with it forever. I'm forever going to be either "Josh's mom" or "the Hugh Jackman fan" to most people who know me. And I can live with that.

When People named Hugh Jackman the Sexiest Man Alive yesterday - well, duh! - the e-mails started. "Hey, Sharon, did you see . . .?" and a link to the People site.

Well, of course I saw. I'm certifiable. I also saw "The Boy From Oz" on Broadway four times and "Kate & Leopold" a gazillion times and, well, I read a lot about arts and entertainment anyway. That's my job.

When Jackman was on "Oprah" promoting the movie "Australia" - you know, the one opening Nov. 26 and with all the commercials that show him shirtless ("It's porn for Hugh Jackman fans," movie editor Barbara Vancheri told me after she saw the preview today!) - and the great O declared this would be his breakout role, I got miffed. I mean, come on, what's Wolverine? Chopped liver? (When I mentioned this to TV editor Rob Owen, he said that nothing is really great in Oprah's world until she says it is - like an Oprah Book Club selection.)

One nice thing for fans: When Hugh Jackman has a movie coming out, he's not shy about doing interviews, so he's everywhere right now. He admits liking the spotlight, asking of paparrazzi only that they be considerate of his children, and no one has yet cracked his "nice guy" image.

I've said before he's incomparable on stage, and that's where I'd most like to see him again. So I nearly swooned when I read in Jackman's recent Playboy interview (yes, I sometimes read Playboy for the articles; in the same issue, the vignettes about comic-book heroes were fascinating) that he's going forward with a Houdini musical, and Danny Elfman's writing the music.

I'm there.

But as for the Sexiest Man Alive . . .

After the "Twilight" premiere at AMC Loews last night, with fans of another sort, my son and his friends were discussing the casting of Robert Pattinson as sexy vampire Edward Cullen. The conversation went to who might be better in the role, which actor we would see no matter what he was in . . . somehow, it came back to the fact that I would see anything with Hugh Jackman in it.

"Oh, my mother loves him. She's seen ‘Kate & Leopold' a million times," said my son's friend, making me feel, like, a gazillion years old.

Oh well, I can't deny it. I tend to wear my fandom on my sleeve. And on my hutch, where there's a new still from "Australia" hanging over my desk.

Why fight it?

Best Hugh Jackman Web site: http://www.jackmanslanding.com/news/