Hugh Jackman recalls awkwardly auditioning for Wolverine when another actor was already cast
Australian actor was brought into the ‘X-Men’ franchise at last minute after another star had to drop out
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.It’s hard to imagine anyone but Hugh Jackman in the part of Wolverine in the X-Men franchise.
The Australian actor, 55, has played the mutant superhero in nine movies, starting with X-Men in 2000, and is now set to reprise the role in Deadpool & Wolverine alongside Ryan Reynolds.
However, the actor Dougray Scott was originally lined up to star as Wolverine in the first movie, but eventually had to pull out of the project due to scheduling conflicts, as he was already cast in Mission: Impossible 2.
The producers then had to recast the role at the last minute, and ended up calling upon Jackman.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Greatest Showman star recalled how he was asked to read lines in director Bryan Singer’s trailer, while the seemingly unimpressed screenwriter Tom DeSanto was sitting in the corner.
“He’s just going, ‘Quiet… Quieter… Quieter,’” Jackman said. “By the end, I couldn’t even hear myself,” Jackman says of DeSanto. “I could tell he was like, ‘Why on my lunch hour am I auditioning some guy for a part that I’ve already cast?’ He was p**sed off.”
Jackson was left feeling deflated after the experience and didn’t feel optimistic about his chances of landing the part.
However Kevin Feige, now the CEO of Marvel Studios, was working as a producer’s assistant on the movie, and offered to take him out for dinner along with the screenwriter.
“I said, ‘Kevin, we all know I’m not getting the part. You don’t have to do dinner,’” Jackman said. “But no, he sat in there and had a steak dinner with me and then drove me to the airport. I’ll never forget it. That was the nicest thing. I thought, ‘I’ll never see him again.’”
Jackman would, of course, go on to get the part, despite some of the filmmakers apparently being concerned that he was “too tall”, according to Feige (in the original X-Men comic books, Wolverine is described as being short).
Disney, which owns Marvel Studios, would go on to purchase Fox, including the studio’s rights to the X-Men characters, in 2019.
Feige serves as a producer on Deadpool & Wolverine, which is directed by Shaun Levy and will arrive in UK cinemas on 25 July.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments