Hugh Jackman Unleashes His Grittiest Performance as a Battle-Scarred Veteran Singer in Song Sung Blue
Hugh Jackman tackles an alcoholic war-veteran singer in Craig Brewer’s musical docudrama Song Sung Blue, arriving December 25. In a candid Actors on Actors sit-down with Cynthia Erivo, he opens up about the role, his career highs, and what’s next.
Hugh Jackman is back in music mode, and he sounds genuinely fired up about it. He stopped by Variety's Actors on Actors to chat with Cynthia Erivo about Song Sung Blue, a musical docudrama from director Craig Brewer that puts him in grittier territory than you might expect. The film premiered at AFI Fest in late October and hits theaters December 25.
So, what is Song Sung Blue and who is Jackman playing?
Jackman plays Mike Sardina, a former Vietnam tunnel rat who came home addicted and has been sober for two decades. He is not a shiny, mythic version of a performer; he is the guy who grinds through life, hanging onto a dream because that dream is the thing keeping the lights on inside. It is the kind of character that forces you to strip away polish, and Jackman leaned into that.
"Trust your gut, and refuse to say no."
That was Jackman's big takeaway from living with Mike. He says the role let him just entertain again, without obsessing over sounding perfect or mimicking anyone in particular. He even points out that Mike is not trying to pass as Neil Diamond, despite the title's obvious nod. The goal, for Mike, is to connect with people in the room, not deliver a soundalike act. Jackman admits that impulse is in his DNA too, even if he sometimes forgets it when the machinery of big productions takes over.
What is interesting here is how Jackman talks about learning from the character rather than the other way around. He has had the rare career where the dream took off early, and he knows it. With Mike, he wanted to listen more than control, to let the guy show him what matters when everything else gets stripped away.
- Title: Song Sung Blue
- Type: Musical docudrama
- Director: Craig Brewer
- Distributor: Focus Features
- Star: Hugh Jackman as Mike Sardina
- Festival premiere: AFI Film Festival, October 26, 2025
- Theatrical release: December 25, 2025
- Context: Jackman discussed the role with Cynthia Erivo on Variety's Actors on Actors, where she praised seeing him return to music through this character
If you like Jackman in showman mode but want something rougher around the edges, this sounds like that sweet spot: a crowd-pleaser vibe, anchored to a guy who refuses to quit and is done apologizing for the way he sings his truth.