With Deadpool & Wolverine on the horizon, Hugh Jackman is all the hype as he makes an epic comeback in superhero gear, yet again. But as much as X-Men may have helped the Australian actor reach the apogee of his career, the Adamantium-clawed savior is by no means his only remarkable role.
Jackman has quite the knack for versatility; he’s played a distraught father on-screen, depicted the famed monster hunter Van Helsing, and even tried his hand at becoming the greatest showman (pun very much intended). Contrary to popular belief, however, the quintessential good-guy roles are not the only ones within his range, copious as his repertoire may be with such characters.
Believe it or not, Hugh Jackman can be one heck of a bad guy too. Perhaps even better than he is as the good guy.
The Untapped Potential of Hugh Jackman As An Antagonist
Hugh Jackman may have swooped in and saved lives as a formidable mutant with a conscience, but let’s not forget he also maneuvered the biggest embezzlement scandal known in the history of American public schooling as Frank Tassone.
The Wolverine star portrayed the master manipulator of a protagonist in HBO’s Bad Education, a crime drama film based on a real-life embezzlement scheme that was orchestrated by Tassone circa 2004. For his part, Jackman delivers an enthralling rendition of Tassone, a beguiling superintendent whose greed for money ends up outweighing his passion for education.
But it’s not just his stellar performance that emphasizes his villainous potential for future roles. In a Collider interview, Jackman revealed how he enjoyed the challenge of bringing Tassone to life which is all the more proof that The Prestige star would nail it as a bad guy.
I think the biggest challenges were being able to watch him in real time, manipulate events in his favor. When everything seemingly is crashing, he used his charm and smarts to win […]
The things he’s hiding, as the film goes on, get bigger and bigger, and as an actor, you want nothing more than for something to be going on, on the surface, and something completely different underneath. That kind of conflict is really what you look for, as an actor, and Frank head it in spades.
Tassone’s role, quite vividly, stands testament to not only Jackman’s adaptability but also how his skill and craft can be used for more than just your run-of-the-mill good guys.
Why Hugh Jackman Would Make An Iconic Bad Guy
For the Cory Finley-helmed movie, Jackman, 55, studied the man extensively before stepping into his shoes, so much so that he even adopted his idiosyncrasies to give it a more realistic flair. “He had to feel that he had everything handled. So, I want to always have that calm exterior, even more so when things go down,” he said. “Because he needed to project to the board and to the school that he’s got everything covered.”
But his dedication and talent aside, the Logan star has that uncanny quality of transforming his roles should he wish to. It’s not too far-fetched to envisage him as Transylvania’s Dracula himself rather than the hero who hunts the Count.
Even Wolverine has shown fans darker days of evil as a ferocious villain in the comics. It was also the mainline version of the mutant that committed perhaps some of the most heinous crimes one could conjure. So, It’s safe to say that Jackman possesses the potential to turn Wolverine into a raging antagonist on-screen as well.
Although he’s far from the bad guy in the forthcoming Ryan Reynolds-led Deadpool 3, fans might just get a glimpse of his potential to be one in the first-ever R-rated MCU film.
Deadpool & Wolverine is out in cinemas on July 26, 2024.
Bad Education can be streamed on Max.
