On May 7, the always watchable Hugh Jackman returns to the multiplexes in Van Helsing. No, it’s not a musical -- even though Jackman can sing up a storm. If you don’t believe me, catch him as Curly in the next PBS showing of Oklahoma. Van Helsing is inspired by a character of the same name who tries to stop vampires in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. “Basically, I play a monster killer,” explains the versatile Aussie actor. Jackman told Entertainment Weekly that the movie is set in the nineteenth century and described  his character as “sort of a black-ops priest, a mercenary for the Catholic Church; he’s an assassin sent to murder monsters, even though he’s not always sure how he feels about it.”              

In the film’s press notes, Jackman points out, “Van Helsing is a reluctant hero. He’s very much the outsider, carrying out solitary missions for a secret worldwide organization. When it comes to battling monsters, this is what he was born to do. He’s got a great gift for it. When he’s in a battle situation, everything just becomes calm and still -- fear doesn’t enter into the equation. In his quest to find Dracula, he’s hoping to find a key to his past -- hopefully put the jigsaw of his life together. Then he comes in contact with a woman (played by Kate Beckinsale) who gets under his skin.”

Filmmaker Stephen Sommers (The Mummy) claims that even before the script was written, he had only one actor in mind for the title role. “We were adamant about getting Hugh Jackman from the start,” he says. Sommers wanted his Van Helsing to be someone women would love and guys would trust.  “And it doesn’t hurt that Hugh’s also six-foot-two and 210 pounds of solid steel,” he adds.  

“I always wanted to do a big action movie like Errol Flynn and this project had that huge, epic, action-adventure quality to it. It’s a boyhood dream of mine to be in a movie like this with such scope,” Jackman says.

Although winning acclaim as Wolverine in X-Men and as a dashing time-traveling Duke in Kate and Leopold, this is Jackman’s first opportunity to prove he can carry a film on his own. With a budget close to 150 million dollars, Van Helsing is probably loaded with impressive special effects. According to Sommers, his film is a hard one to classify. “It’s got action, adventure and an epic drama, along with tons of special effects,” he states. “It’s very much an ‘all hands on deck’ kind of movie.”

After viewing the Van Helsing previews, I can personally vouch for how mind-boggling this film looks. And, like all Hugh Jackman fans, I can hardly wait to see the entire movie.

(Photo: 2004 Copyright Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.)