Hugh Jackman changes his approach as a parent with new film The Son

Hugh Jackman says he has changed his approach as a parent after starring in Florian Zeller's new film The Son, which debuts on Wednesday in Venice.

Jackman said at a press conference : "I think for many years, the job was to appear strong and dependable and never worried, and I don't want to burden my child, but certainly since this movie I have changed my approach."

I share my vulnerabilities more with my 17 and 22 year-olds, and I see their relief when I do. The movie will encourage conversations and reminds us not to worry alone that we are all in the same boat. Mental health is a problem everywhere in the world. The Son, a prequel to Zeller's Oscar-winning drama The Father, adapted from his own play of the same name, is a prequel to Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath and Anthony Hopkins.

It centres on Peter, whose hectic life with his infant and new partner Beth is upended when his ex-wife Kate appears with their teenage son Nicholas. The young man has been missing from school for months and is troubled, distant and angry.

Peter tries to take care of Nicholas as he would like his own father to have taken care of him while juggling work, his and Beth's new son, and the offer of his dream position in Washington. By reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold on to Nicholas in the present.

There is a line in the script, love is not always enough Jackman said. Everyone in the movie loves so much, but it feels like there is a powerlessness at some point. We need a village because we need a village to raise a child. We need more than just a mother and father. We need friends, we need support, we need community, we need teachers. This movie really shows how isolated people are around mental health issues. There is a shame, there is a guilt, there is an intense desire to fix things, and that it is somehow my job as a father or as a friend to fix it. But admitting and leading with that vulnerability leads to the possibility of actually being able to understand and empathise with those around you to walk in their shoes. Dern said that she was grateful for the timing of the film, which comes on the heels of the Pandemic. She said that the epidemic of mental health in adolescents and young adults in the world is the greatest crisis that has come through this time.

The numbers are so shocking and for me, one of the most painful parts of the journey is the discovery that even when you feel powerless, even when you feel alone in your shame, guilt, blame, lack of answers, you can turn to so many who may have been there before and they can help you with your lack of answers. We all long to feel community in this larger conversation we need to be having about mental health. Zeller spent the Covid 19 lockdown in 2020 writing the script and said The Son is part of a trilogy of plays that also includes The Mother. It is so hard to make the right decisions as a parent. He said that it is part of the journey and that it is not easy.

The French playwright added that while he loves theatre deeply, the dreams and the world I want to explore are really cinematic now.