Hugh Jackman has decorated his resume with several astounding movie roles. His film debut role as anti-hero Wolverine in Bryan Singer’s 2000 movie X-Men has established the actor and forged him to be one of the greatest stars in Hollywood.
The Australian star’s most brutal role in his career, however, was not in any of the movies in the X-Men franchise, not even in the highly anticipated MCU project Deadpool 3 which brings Wolverine from death.
Hugh Jackman’s Most Brutal Role
For Hugh Jackman, bloodshed and violence are not unfamiliar as he has played Wolverine for over 20 years. However, Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners had something different altogether to paint a dark and harrowing picture while making Jackman’s Keller Dover, the most brutal character he has ever played.
The movie also stars Marvel star, Jake Gyllenhaal who played Mysterio in 2019’s Spiderman: Far From Home, played Detective Loki in Villeneuve’s 2013 crime thriller. The movie is crafted with perfect casting and brilliant performances from the characters as the actors are immersed in the roles they play.
Keller’s daughter is missing and he hires Detective Loki to investigate the case which leads to Alex brilliantly played by Paul Dano. Alex was soon released due to lack of evidence but Keller was far from accepting his innocence. The wounded father then raises hell upon Alex after capturing and torturing him to reveal the truth. The very process of his own method of interrogation was brutal and by the end of it, Alex is almost unrecognizable. Villeneuve not only crafted the characters but the landscape and nature of the film inherently uttered the brutal and harrowing atmosphere.
Hugh Jackman Was Even Closer With His Kids After Doing Prisoners
Prisoners is certainly a harrowing experience for any moviegoer. Villeneuve makes it more terrifying as he establishes the beginning of the brutal suspense during Thanksgiving. But after doing the movie, Jackman said, he was more conscious of his kids. “I watch my kids a little closer than I did before how all the research I did makes me realize hey you know we do need to keep an eye on a kid,” Jackman said in an interview (via, Jake’s Takes).
“It’s cathartic because almost like in a way we don’t want to talk about death but that’s something we all have to deal with not that this is going to happen for every parent. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen for most but it’s certainly the issue of protection and how closely we hold our kids and certainly what would happen if we lose that control and on smaller levels that always happens for the moment they leave for college. You’ve got to give up a whole lot of control over season, it’s not traumatic and it’s natural but you know the film is cathartic. The film takes you to some really dark places but it really kind of gets to essential elemental human conditions and emotions and that’s what dramas are about that’s what films are for that we can kind of hopefully live it out without having to actually experience it.”
Also, the role was very different from the roles he had played before. “I know you’d like to think that you can pull it out in the matter what as an actor,” Jackman said. “You my ego would like to say hey I can play murderer and just so you know I’m not a murderer,” he continued. But the thing is there’s “something visceral about being a parent that just the idea of your kids going missing gives you a pit in your stomach,” he added.
Prisoners can be rented on Apple TV Plus.
