Hugh Jackman Real Steel image released online

Real Steel

Hugh Jackman’s futuristic flick Real Steel has had its first image released via USA Today .

In a sign of the times, Touchstone Pictures released the pic even though the flick – directed by Shawn Levy – only started principal photography today. Talk about clamping down on set leaks.

Not that we’re complaining, this still unveiling one mean-looking boxer robot alongside coach Hugh Jackman.

Set in 2020, Jackman plays a jobless former fighter who renews his relationship with his estranged son when they hit a junkyard and discover Atom, a potential World Robot Boxing champion.

It’s great to see Levy going the old school route and using animatronic ‘bots instead of CGI – the production apparently have 19 of the robots for use in the scenes with actors.

Jackman’s a fan: “The moment of walking in and seeing these robots, my jaw was on the floor.”

Meanwhile, Levy added: “There are some things only visual effects can pull off. But when you give an actor a real thing, in this case a real 8-foot-tall machine, to interact with and do dialogue opposite, you get a more grounded reality to the performance.”

Filming on Real Steel is currently taking place in Michigan, with the film set for release on 18 November, 2011.

Source: [ USA Today ]

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.