Hugh Jackman credited as playing...
P.T. Barnum
- P.T. Barnum: Hyperbole isn't the worst crime. Men suffer more from imagining too little than too much.
- Phillip Carlyle: They come to see you... *Your* crazy ideas, *your* new acts. The unusual...
- P.T. Barnum: Well then how about you show them a smile? That'd be unusual.
- P.T. Barnum: P. T. Barnum, at your service.
- [shakes Tom's hand, then gets down on his knee to his height]
- P.T. Barnum: I am putting together a show, and I need a star.
- Tom Thumb: You want people to laugh at me.
- P.T. Barnum: [smiling] Well they're laughing anyway, kid, so you might as well get paid.
- P.T. Barnum: Hey sweetie, who's that young man over there?
- Charity Barnum: Oh that's Phillip Carlyle. A bit of a scandal, they say. His last play was a hit in London.
- P.T. Barnum: Play? Pay good money to watch people stand around and talk for two hours and they call *me* a conman.
- P.T. Barnum: [singing] Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for/Been searching in the dark, your sweat soakin' through the floor/And buried in your bones there's an ache that you can't ignore/Taking your breath, stealing your mind/And all that was real is left behind...
- P.T. Barnum: [hands Phillip his top hat] This is for you.
- Phillip Carlyle: What will *you* be doing?
- P.T. Barnum: Watch my girls grow up. The show must go on.
- Phillip Carlyle: I can't just run off and join the circus.
- P.T. Barnum: Why not? You clearly have a flair for show business.
- P.T. Barnum: Where is that singing coming from?
- [Barnum spots Lettie behind a curtain. She stops singing]
- P.T. Barnum: Ma'am, you are...
- [he pulls the curtain back, revealing Lettie's bearded face. Barnum pauses]
- Lettie Lutz: You need to leave, sir.
- P.T. Barnum: You are beautiful. You are unique.
- Jenny Lind: You are the American. I believe I might have heard of you.
- P.T. Barnum: Oh well, If you've heard of me all the way over here, I must have been doing something right.
- Jenny Lind: That, or something very wrong.
- P.T. Barnum: In the world of publicity there is hardly any difference.
- Jenny Lind: I believe those are the words of a scoundrel, Mr Barnum.
- P.T. Barnum: A showman, Miss Lind, just a showman. The best on my side of the Atlantic.
- James Gordon Bennett: Tell me, Mr. Barnum, does it bother you that everything you're selling is fake?
- P.T. Barnum: Do these smiles seem fake? It doesn't matter where they come from. The joy is real.
- James Gordon Bennett: So you are a philanthropist?
- P.T. Barnum: Well, hyperbole isn't the worst crime. Men suffer more from imagining too little than too much.
- James Gordon Bennett: The creed of a true fraud.
- P.T. Barnum: Mr Bennett, when was the last time you smiled? Or had a good laugh? A real laugh. A theater critic who can't find joy in the theater. Now who is the fraud?
- James Gordon Bennett: I never liked your show, but I always thought the people did
- P.T. Barnum: They did. They do!
- James Gordon Bennett: Putting people of all Shapes, Sizes, Colours. Putting them on stage together and presenting them as equals, another critic might have even called it a celebration of humanity.
- P.T. Barnum: I would've liked that.
- [after Barnum becomes 50/50 partners with Phillip Calyle]
- Phillip Carlyle: The only thing is I don't know how we are ever going to afford a building.
- P.T. Barnum: Right.
- [Long and deep sigh]
- P.T. Barnum: We don't need a building. Real estate in Manhattan is a terrible investment. Why, I can get land down by the docks for almost nothing. All we need is a tent!
- P.T. Barnum: I can't fool the bank into loaning me more money, so... I'm really sorry to disappoint you all.
- Tom Thumb: Don't worry, Barnum. We've gotten used to it by now.
- Mr. O'Malley: [showing Phineas one of Bennett's reviews] This is bad.
- P.T. Barnum: "Criminal". "Degrading". "A circus". I like "circus".
- P.T. Barnum: [seeing Jenny for the first time] Who's that?
- Phillip Carlyle: The opera singer?
- P.T. Barnum: Singer, huh?
- Phillip Carlyle: She's the most famous performer in all of Europe. She sold out La Scala a dozen times. Not to mention the French Opera.
- P.T. Barnum: Ah.
- [he grabs Phillip's arm and leads him forward]
- Phillip Carlyle: What are you doing?
- P.T. Barnum: Following you, so you can introduce me to Ms. Lynd.
- Phillip Carlyle: Introduce you?
- P.T. Barnum: Yeah.
- Phillip Carlyle: I don't know her.
- P.T. Barnum: Everybody knows her. You just said so yourself.
- Phillip Carlyle: Yeah, exactly. You don't just march up to someone like this.
- P.T. Barnum: Why not? We're personable. She's a person.