Hugh Jackman's Oscar hopes

By April MacIntyre Feb 20, 2009, 12:16 GMT

The 40 year-old star of "Wolverine" and "Australia" is not a comic nor a satirist like his predecessors, but he plans on pulling out all the stops for the Sunday broadcast. Jackman was named People magazine\'s "Sexiest Man Alive" last year, will next be seen onscreen in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" this summer. © Solarpix / PR Photos

Hugh Jackman will be hosting the Academy Awards for the first time on Sunday.

The 40 year-old star of "Wolverine" and "Australia" is not a comic nor a satirist like his predecessors, but he plans on pulling out all the stops for the Sunday broadcast. Jackman was named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" last year, will next be seen onscreen in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" this summer.

Jackman tells Barbara Walters that he is "excited" about the honor, not nervous. and that he watches all the Oscar-nominated films each year.

The awards air Sunday, Feb. 22nd, and Jackman has already taped his Barbara Walters interview for her annual Oscar night special.

"My acting teacher always said, 'No, don't say nervous, you're excited,'" Jackman told Barbara Walters in an interview to air on her annual Oscar night special. "And actually, that's the truth."

The Oscar edition of "The Barbara Walters Special," airs Sunday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. ET and after the Oscar broadcast on the West Coast.

"I love the Oscars. I've loved it since I was a kid," he said, ebullient he was hosting in a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.

Jackman hopes to catch a glimpse of Jack Nicholson and maybe Angelina Jolie too.

"I don't know if he's going to be there, [but] I visualize Jack Nicholson ... hopefully smiling, but you never know," he said, laughing.  "I'm pretty sure I'll be getting to meet [Brad Pitt]," he said. "I've never met Angelina [Jolie], either. But I'm not allowed to say that or my wife will kill me, but I'd love to meet her."

Jackman's wife Deborah-Lee Furness is an actor too.

He tells Walters how they met on set in Australia, and that the two have a smooth non-competitive relationship.

"I want to make it really clear, there is not an ounce of jealousy," he said. "There is not an ounce of competitiveness between us. Deb has only ever had incredibly supportive, excited, sort of, feelings, for anything that's happened in my career."

"I'm madly in love with her ... more and more each day," he said of Furness.