Hugh Jackman is one of my favorite performers. I loved his work opposite Christian Bale and Michael Caine in The Prestige, and of course he’s awesome as Wolverine.

What I really like about the guy is that he’s dedicated to his audience and thankful for the role that made him a star. Jackman gave some fans in his Australian motherland a real show on Wednesday when he zip-lined FROM A HELICOPTER to his press conference at a local radio station.

How awesome is that? Possibly the most. Story and photo here, with even more photos here.

(For more news about another promotional visit to Korea, click here.)

The purpose of Jackman’s world tour is promoting Wolverine, which opens May 1.

Unfortunately, an early and very much unfinished version of the film — missing special effects and lots of footage that hadn’t even been shot yet when this particular version was cobbled together — was leaked online last week.

This really breaks my heart, because the tiny-minded, entitled jerks and twits who are stealing the movie are openly trashing it online when it’s not even a finished version of the film. At least the people who shuffle into a theater 25 minutes after the movie started actually paid for the movie. But just like those people, the folks who are stealing Wolverine will gripe about it to their friends when they didn’t even see the whole movie. It’s hurting the work of the people who’ve been pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into this project for years.

Hugh Jackman is heartbroken, too, and shares a few of his thoughts about the matter here.

(If there’s any silver lining to this, it’s that longtime Fox News entertainment “reporter” Roger Friedman got fired. Friedman, whose gossip-peddling garbage gives a bad name to every real writer out there who actually loves movies, had the nerve to review the leaked version in his online column — on Fox News, no less! — and bragged about being able to illegally download lots of other current movies online for free. He even discussed his plans to illegally download the current Paul Rudd comedy I Love You, Man. Fox finally did the right thing and showed Mr. Friedman the door.)

I’ll be paying to see Wolverine at a theater near me on May 1, because I want Mr. Jackman to get working on that sequel he keeps talking about where Wolverine takes the action to Japan!

I’ve never been a fan of Venom in the comic books; deranged alien goop that becomes a living suit of danger and rage for its wearer was always just a little too high-concept for me.

And it really didn’t work when it was forced into (and dumbed down for) the non-sensical slop that Sony Pictures had the nerve to call Spider-Man 3.

But the folks at Sony think it’s good idea to give Venom his own movie, and you can read comments from the guys who are writing it right here.

(At least it sounds like Spider-Man 4 will be back on the right track.)