MCU’s R-rated movies have marveled at the box office but it is not a cakewalk for the filmmakers to restrict a project to a certain audience. Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine for 17 years, stepped in to make the end of the Logan saga R-rated, sacrificing a chunk of his salary.
It is a notion widely conceived that R-rated projects tend to earn less as they narrow down the wide audience. Of course, MCU’s R-rated movies have continuously proved that notion wrong every time, but in this regard, convincing the studios can be a huge pain before making a movie.
Hugh Jackman Took A Massive Pay Cut For Logan
Hugh Jackman’s 2017 movie, Logan, was a huge success being the critical darling. as the movie left everyone emotional following Logan’s death. It is hard to imagine the movie as PG-13, given the required violence and gore to complement the narrative. Jackman has made a fortune playing Wolverine which earned him an estimated $100 million, per ScreenRant.
Back to Logan, the actor has reportedly sacrificed a massive salary cut to keep the movie R-rated paying the ultimate respect to the comic book, per SctreenRant. Stepping up for the movie saves the essence of what the director James Mangold intended to present to the audience. It was a nicely penned tribute to the fan-favorite character’s end, written by Mangold alongside Scott Frank, and Michael Green. Thankfully, Jackman secured the glory of the movie with his hard training for 3 hours and while dehydrating himself for 48 hours before filming shirtless scenes to lose water weight, and of course, the massive pay cut.
Logan was grounded, realistic, and inherently following the classic traits of the character while conflicting him with duality. Made with a production budget of $97 million (per, Box Office Mojo), Logan smashed the box office earning over $619 million (per, The Numbers) at the box office.
Logan Was Hugh Jackman’s Most Personal Film
Jackman was aware of the fact that Logan was going to be his last film as Wolverine after the character cemented his career making him a star in Hollywood. The Australian star previously revealed that Logan has been very close to him. “This is the most personal film I’ve ever made in terms of my involvement,” Jackman told 20th Century Studios Singapore. Further, the final chapter of the saga was fresh and unique as Jackman claimed the movie touched new grounds.
“I think the whole film feels different in tone character-wise than any of the others and that was sort of our goal I didn’t want it to feel like the final chapter of a saga but a whole fresh new thing stake some new ground and Logan in this film is more human hence the title. He’s sick he’s healing his powers are dwindling he’s vulnerable he’s also looking after an aging Father Figure in Charles Xavier and hiding him out he’s under stress he doesn’t have money he’s a limo driver trying to earn enough bucks to buy the to get by to buy the meds that Charles needs and there’s some very sort of mundane very normal everyday kind of stuff going on,” the Logan actor said (via, FilmIsNow Movie Bloopers & Extras).
But clearly, Jackman added saying, “he’s checked out he’s at the bottom.” While Logan is afraid of love and relationships forced upon him, it has created the relationship dynamics and acutely progressed the narrative. “It’s a great Dynamic it was great fun to play it,” Jackman said.
Despite his apparent death, Wolverine is set to appear in the upcoming Ryan Reynolds and Jackman movie Deadpool & Wolverine, set to hit the theaters on 26 July 2024.
Logan is available to stream on Disney+, Fubo TV, and Fox Now.
