Hugh Jackman is one of the few actors who seem to have been born to play the role that they are known globally for. It is impossible to imagine who else could have pulled off what Jackman did with the character of Wolverine in the X-Men franchise. The actor portrayed the character in almost all of the X-Men films and even received a trilogy focused on the character.
While Jackman seemingly said goodbye to the character with 2017’s Logan, the actor was threatened to be fired much earlier in his career. The actor recalled how he was very close to being let go before his wife’s encouraging words helped him regain his confidence.
Hugh Jackman Was Almost Fired As Wolverine
While it is impossible to imagine someone else playing the role, Hugh Jackman was actually not the first choice for the role. During its development, X-Men director Bryan Singer and the producers were considering Russell Crowe for the role. While Crowe turned it down, they cast Dougray Scott as Logan. However, Scott had scheduling conflicts with Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible II.
The crew cast Hugh Jackman upon Crowe’s recommendation. X-Men was Jackman’s first American role and was one of his earliest film roles as he had appeared mostly in television and on stage before this. Hence, he was not at the best of his acting abilities that audiences have now come to adore.
While promoting his stage show in the UK, Hugh Jackman recalled how he was very close to getting fired during the initial stages of filming for the X-Men. He then vented about the situation to his wife Deborra-Lee Furness, who motivated him with some encouraging words. Talking about the incident with We Got This Covered, he said,
“I was told that things weren’t really working out as they hoped. I was about to get fired from my first Hollywood movie – the biggest of my career. I was angry, I went home to my wife and I complained. I was whining an Olympic level of whining to Deb, my wife, and moaning about this person and that person. She listened to me very patiently for about an hour and finally, she just said, ‘Listen, I think you have just got to trust yourself. You are worrying way too much about what everything else is thinking. Just go back to the character, focus on that, trust your instinct… you’ve got this.’”
His wife’s encouraging words seemed to have worked for the Australian actor as he delivered a phenomenon performance as Wolverine which he would play for seventeen more years. He is all set to reprise his role and star opposite Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming film Deadpool 3.
Hugh Jackman As Wolverine
Hugh Jackman is one of the most beloved Marvel heroes appearing on the big screen. He has headlined the X-Men franchise, appearing in over nine films as Wolverine or Logan. He also earned the Guinness World Record for longest career as a live-action Marvel character as he played the role for seventeen years.
He first appeared as Logan in Bryan Singer’s X-Men, which also featured Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, and James Marsden. The film kickstarted the X-Men franchise and was responsible for a renewed interest in superhero films. It earned over $296 million at the global box office against a $75 million budget and was lauded for its exploration of layered themes and wonderful performances.
Hugh Jackman then appeared in the franchise’s ‘original trilogy’, consisting of X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. After the third film, Jackman received a trilogy of films centered around his character Logan. The first of them was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was an origin story for the character.
He then starred in James Mangold’s The Wolverine, which received more positive reviews, with critics praising Mangold’s direction. The actor also appeared in other X-Men films such as X-Men First Class, X-Men Apocalypse, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. The actor revealed that he would be hanging up his metallic claws with James Mangold’s Logan. The film was unanimously appreciated and was considered to be the perfect send-off for the character.
Source: We Got This Covered
