Besides playing a magician in "The Prestige," Hugh Jackman appears to have nothing up his sleeve. Finding dirt on the "X-Men" star is as hard as making the paparazzi disappear.

Jackman became famous in his 30s, and we're all the better for it, he says. But he wonders what he would have been like had celebrity struck when he was a lad. In his opinion, too many young actors believe deep down they don't deserve the attention, and that begins the acting out.

"This is a crazy business," he says. "When you get older, you see it for what it is."

Maybe Jackman, who turned 38 last Thursday, doesn't have time to be a jerk. He has a handful of movies in development. In Hollywood math, he figures, that means maybe one will see the light of day. He also has enough completed projects to keep him busy on the promotional front.

"The Prestige," which opened yesterday, features him and Christian Bale ("Batman Begins") as 1890s magicians battling for supremacy in London. Their hocus-pocus devolves into hanky-panky as they try to subvert each other's tricks. And worse.

Jackman's urgency to amaze percolated as a boy watching the theater. "That was a place of magic for me," he says. As a grown-up, it is peers such as Kevin Kline and fellow Aussie Hugo Weaving who inspire the "how do they do that?" in him.

The "Swordfish" and "Van Helsing" actor also awaits the release of "The Fountain" this fall after a rocky festival run. Darren Aronofsky's centuriesspanning epic about the search for the fountain of youth was booed at Venice. Jackman was told by co-star Rachel Weisz and Aronofsky, however, that a standing ovation dueled with the catcalls at its premiere.

"I thought, 'what a movie,' " Jackman says. "At least people are talking about it."

The showman in Jackman can stay dormant for only so long. All it usually takes is one visit to a stage performance. He needs to perform that badly.

"It is without a doubt the most fulfilling part of the business," he says.

Jackman is one of the few examples where the stage has boosted screen visibility. His Curly in a London version of "Oklahoma!" segued into an American movie career, and his Tony-winning wow-a-thon as Peter Allen in "The Boy From Oz" gilded his resume in a way that slaying monsters as "Van Helsing" couldn't.

"I have found going back to theater that I'm being a lot sharper on film as an actor," he says. "I realized I shouldn't go too long without going back to the boards."

He is trying to remount the musical chestnut "Carousel" as a movie, though he has plenty of other ventures competing for his attention. He's so booked that Mel Brooks reportedly withdrew him from top consideration as his new Dr. Frankenstein in a theatrical version of "Young Frankenstein."

Jackman needs no introduction to monsters. "X-Men: The Last Stand," the third installment about mutant anti-heroes, neared a half-billion dollars at the box office. He credits the franchise's appeal to snaring an audience far beyond male teens who play video games. His character, the clawed Wolverine, remains as popular as ever. Jackman is leading the push for a spin-off film, and the script is ready.

"Wolverine is just one of the great screen archetypes," he says.