Australian actor and performer Hugh Jackman performs a song during the announcement of the Australian leg of his The Man. [Source: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts]

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson are to star in the musical movie Song Sung Blue.

The Australian actor and Almost Famous star will lead the Focus Features film, where they play a married couple who form a Neil Diamond tribute band.

Song Sung Blue, which is being directed and written by Craig Brewer, is based on Greg Koh’s 2008 documentary of the same name, which followed the true story of Milwaukee couple Mike and Claire Sardina, two luckless musicians who went on to become local legends by performing hits from the Sweet Caroline singer under the name Lightning and Thunder.

Jackman and Hudson will be joined in the cast by Michael Imperioli, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, Ella Anderson, King Princess, as well as Mustafa Shakir, and Hudson Hilbert Hensley.

Jackman was recently seen in the Marvel blockbuster Deadpool and Wolverine, where he reprised his role as the iconic mutant superhero opposite Ryan Reynolds’ ‘Merc with a Mouth’ after taking a seven-year hiatus from the part.

Even though he loved playing Wolverine again, Jackman admitted he didn’t miss portraying the character “for a long time”.

Speaking with Variety, The Greatest Showman star said: “I didn’t miss it for a long time. And then, literally, it came to me one day as I was driving down to the beach. I knew I wanted to do this. I literally stopped the car, got out and called Ryan. He said, ‘Are you serious?’, I said, ‘I’m serious.’ And I hung up the phone.”

While he had “zero reservations” about reprising the character in the flick, Jackman insisted the team had to give him and fans a “good reason for it to exist” after Wolverine’s heroic sacrifice in Logan.

“I thought I should probably call my agent. I had zero reservations about returning, but I was really happy with Logan I said to these guys, ‘We’ve got to make a good reason for it to exist’.”