Hugh Jackman has opened up about his terrible audition for movie-musical Les Miserables – admitting his voice cracked on the final note of the song Stars and he wanted to run out because he felt so “humiliated”.
Hugh Jackman wanted to run out of his audition for Les Miserables because he felt so “humiliated”.
The actor has revealed he read for the part of Jean Valjean in the 2012 film and then sang the track Stars for a panel of movie bosses, but his voice cracked on the final note and he was overcome with feelings of shame.
During a performance of An Evening With Hugh Jackman at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Saturday night (07.06.25), he told the audience: “I read first and I could tell it was going well.
“Then I sang and I cracked on the final note so spectacularly. Like it was the worst crack you could have ever imagined. Whatever excitement was on the panel, it just deflated immediately. I was about to run out, just humiliated.”
According to Variety, Jackman went on to add: “But then the guy goes: ‘Whoa, hold on a second. Why did you sing that song?’ I said, ‘It’s the only thing I had music for. I’m sorry.’
“And he said: ‘Well, you can throw that away. You’ll never sing that again.’ I think what he meant to say was: ‘Why don’t you put that to the side for like 30 years when you might sing it at the Hollywood Bowl?’”
Jackman won the role and he went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. The film scored three wins at the Academy Awards picking up Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway as well as Best Sound Mixing and Best Make-up and Hairstyling.
The actor is set to show off his singing skills on screen again soon playing a Neil Diamond impersonator in new movie ‘Song Sung Blue’.
Jackman stars opposite Kate Hudson – who released her debut album Glorious last year – as real life couple Mike and Claire Sardina, who were Neil Diamond and Patsy Cline impersonators who formed a successful tribute act named Lightning and Thunder.
The film is based on the 2008 documentary Song Sung Blue which told the couple’s story.
Kate recently shared a picture of the actors singing together on screen on Instagram and wrote: “Loved every second making this beautiful film, working with the most lovely work husband you could ask for @thehughjackman, singing the iconic songs of Neil Diamond …
“More love notes for everyone involved to come … but right now I am just so excited to share with you that we have a release date. Song Sung Blue – only in theaters this Christmas.”
Hugh Jackman wanted to run out of ‘humiliating’ audition
