Was/Is Hugh Jackman the right "Wolverine"?

[jo]

There's so much attachment to the childhood idol!

It is going to be impossible to recast Wolverine because in the mind of a child-growing-to-adulthood, there is only one Wolverine!

Not with someone like Daniel Radcliffe or Taron Egerton.


Jo

[jo]

SNARC BACK FROM THE DEAD!
@gamergeekstodd
·
24m
To think when Hugh Jackman was announced to be Wolverine, everyone hated the idea.

How they were so wrong. Same with my initial impression of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman (I still regret that mistake to this very day.)




JoAB
@joab46466753
Wolverine's casting was controversial, although the issue of height was a given in Fox's initial decision to cast Dougray Scott (another tall actor w/ looks). But Hugh Jackman proved to be inspired casting because he proved to be a strong actor as well!

[jo]

x.com/JoAB46466753/status/1722433065929277904?s=20

Rejemyx
@jayest99
·
3m
Hugh Jackman is tall and most people dont mind him playing wolverine so I think the performance/charisma matters more



JoAB
@joab46466753
And he is a very strong actor!
He can convey emotions to the best required detail - angry, sarcastic, concerned, rueful, happy - a real badass Wolverine 🎭😊👏

[jo]

x.com/JoAB46466753/status/1722546799335166002?s=20

El ojo de la calabaza
@makakko3
·
20h
Pon un actor que fuera absolutamente perfecto para su papel🖤

[jo]

Hugh Jackman is once again getting a lot of press as the story of the filming of the DEADPOOL&WOLVERINE movie is front page on entertainment media news. The movie will be the only film release of Marvel for 2024, as it was given priority when they sorted out which movie will be prioritized as the movie industry gets back on its feet again after the strike.

So, the story of the origins of how Hugh Jackman won the role oF WOLVERINE is retold again--

From Cinemablend --

Superheroes X-men

The Full Story Behind Hugh Jackman (Almost Not) Landing The Role Of Wolverine


By Mike Reyes published about 3 hours ago


Buckle up for some pre-MCU history, Bub.



Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
(Image credit: 20th Century Fox)
Some Hollywood castings are just too iconic to imagine happening any other way. Just as we’ve seen with those persistent rumors of Ronald Reagan being offered Casablanca and that time Viggo Mortensen replaced Stuart Townsend in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, thinking of what could have been is severely intriguing.

The world of Marvel movies in order is a place that has tons of those "what ifs" stored up. That leads us to the story of how Hugh Jackman almost wasn’t cast as X-Men’s Wolverine in 2000, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Height, “intensity” and two different Hollywood Toms all played a part in connecting the man with his destiny, making for a wild story that’s still kind of hard to believe.


Wolverine cameo in X-Men First Class

(Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

The Two Stumbling Blocks That Hugh Jackman Experienced When Auditioning For Wolverine

When director Bryan Singer’s X-Men was gearing up to get into production, it was after quite a bit of development history. Part of those events saw series comic writer Chris Claremont pointing Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s Bob Hoskins as his first choice for the part of James Howlett, more commonly known as “Logan” or “Wolverine.”


There was good reason too, as the character was known as being of a shorter and stockier build than the dreamy Hugh Jackman. When he appeared as a guest on Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace, the height difference was one of the concerns that the Australian actor mentioned as a going concern. Here’s how he recalled that very issue being addressed by then-Fox president Tom Rothman:


I did about seven auditions … I remember finally, I did audition, audition, audition, and then I went to see the head of production. We were talking, and he said, ‘It’s just one problem. I hope the fans are not gonna have a problem, because the character’s meant to be 5 foot 5.’ And I said, ‘Tom, really, it’s gonna be absolutely fine. Don’t worry about a thing.’

Jackman even accentuated that story by walking away crouched as he concluded his remarks to Rothman, something that would come back to haunt him to a certain extent in the future. But at the moment, Hugh’s 6’3” stature seemed to be problem #1.

Problem #2 came from the killer edge needed to play the role of Wolverine. That concern was addressed by one of X-Men’s credited screenwriters, David Hayter, during an interview with Inverse. The Watchmen screenwriter shared the perceived pros and cons of hiring Hugh Jackman as follows:

He was great, but he was the nicest guy in the world and he was very tall and super handsome, so we didn’t think he was Wolverine. … I think one thing Hugh captured with Wolverine is his heart. Hugh is such a lovely, caring guy and that really came through in the character. Hugh’s real strength came from the humanity of Wolverine. All that was left was to find the viciousness.


Though he made quite the impression, Hugh Jackman wasn’t meant to be cast in X-Men the first time around. Which, at the time, was good news for his competition; even if one major name turned the role down for some interesting reasons, and the eventual winner would see fate turn fickle.





Russell Crowe as Maximus in Gladiator

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Competition
Out of the candidates that were present during the X-Men Games, two need to be discussed in our story. And as luck would have it, Hugh Jackman’s interview with The Daily Beast laid out those key players as follows:

I did a casting call that thousands of people did around the world, and believe I was put in the mix early on. Dougray Scott got the part, Russell turned it down—that’s the second role I’ve gotten that Russell’s turned down. He’s been very good to me, Russ. The other one was Australia.

So as you can see, Dougray Scott was originally crowned as X-Men’s Wolverine. But let’s go back a minute, because a Gladiator-era Russell Crowe was offered that same role and passed on it. What in the world would have possessed Maximus Decimus Meridius, “commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor,” to pass up on popping these Marvel Comics claws?

Well, according to a radio interview via news.com.au, it all came down a simple decision. In the context of what Crowe's caveat happened to be, you can be sure the following moment still hounds him to this very day:

If you remember, Maximus has a wolf at the centre of his cuirass, and he has a wolf as his companion ... which I thought was going to be a bigger deal [at the time]. So I said no, because I didn’t want to be ‘wolfy’, like ‘Mr Wolf’.

Russell Crowe was out, and despite his recommendation of Hugh Jackman, Dougray Scott was in! Things were looking up, and X-Men had its snarling madman, who undoubtedly had the same “problems” as Hugh Jackman. The Scottish actor standing an even 6’ may have inspired similar anxieties, but that didn’t stop Fox president Tom Rothman from announcing Scott’s casting in a press release (via Flickering Myth), which read as follows:

Bryan [Singer] was incredibly demanding over who could play [Wolverine], and we needed to find somebody who was dynamic. Dougray has the charisma, the physicality and the intensity.

Normally, this is the point in a story such as this where the movie’s made, leaving the world to debate whether Dougray Scott’s return for Deadpool 3 is a wise move. But that story exists in a parallel universe, one where our second Hollywood Tom didn’t enter the picture.





Dougray Scott stands looking annoyed in Mission Impossible II.

(Image credit: Paramount)
The Accident That Ultimately Landed Hugh Jackman As X-Men’s Wolverine
So Dougray Scott’s X-Men casting happened while he was making another movie: the espionage thriller Mission: Impossible 2. That’s right, folks, Tom Cruise is a big part of why the once-and-never Wolverine didn’t get to fulfill his potential destiny in the pre-MCU firmament. Once again, David Hayter’s interview with Inverse yielded the details as to why this fell apart, which played out as follows:

We kept getting calls from Tom Cruise saying, ‘We just need him a little longer.’When we were about to start shooting the movie, we hadn’t seen Wolverine or fit him for costumes so we sent costumer Louise Mingenbach down to Australia to fit him, and it turned out he had been in a motorcycle accident shooting Mission: Impossible 2 and he’s dropped down to like 150 pounds. It just wasn’t going to work.

Between production delays on the second of the Mission: Impossible movies and those unfortunate injuries, Dougray Scott was off the table as Wolverine. It was Hugh Jackman’s time to shine, which led to one more crucial audition. Hayter, through his talk with Inverse, admitted to one specific factor that convinced the lot once and for all that Hugh was their man:





[Producer] Lauren Shuler Donner said, “Let’s bring back Hugh Jackman.” So she had him flown out and they did coaching sessions with him to really get him to that sort of Clint Eastwood hardass edge. Then he came in and did his audition and there was this one moment where he turned to the camera and he looked like young Clint Eastwood. That was the moment.

While poor Dougray Scott had damaged ribs to mend, Hugh Jackman had some claws to get fitted for. And in the case of a crucial figure in X-Men history we mentioned at the top of the story, those adamantium appendages were exactly what sealed the deal for Jackman and his casting.

Hugh Jackman's Wolverine with adamantium claws out

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)
How X-Men Solved Hugh Jackman’s Height Problem, And Why It Was All Worth It
Once Hugh Jackman stepped into the role of Wolverine for 2000’s X-Men, there was no turning back. There apparently wasn’t a lot of standing up straight, at least for a time, while the Australian actor landed his landmark performance. Throwing it back to the Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace interview mentioned previously, Hugh detailed this solution to his taller than required stature while filming:

I never had my shoes on. … The rule was, unless they were a kid, they had to be taller than me. I was literally crouching like that, shoes off, people were on planks and boxes all around me. So they went to a great effort, and I think after a while they just gave up on that.

So Mr. Jackman charmed his way into decades of inspirational cold showers and delicious-looking Deadpool 3 cheat meals all thanks to timing and ability. But who did he have left to impress? Try X-Men comic writer Chris Claremont, a party who was very protective of the mutant.







However that didn’t take much apparently; it was just one scene that Claremont mentioned in Inverse’s oral history of Wolverine. Sometimes the claws do make the mutant, and with the decision to make Wolverine’s claws sprout painfully from his hands, that much was true for Chris. Which led to this overjoyed reaction from his premiere screening of the finished film:

It was epitomized onscreen in the first X-Men movie when Anna Paquin looks up at Hugh Jackman and asks, “Does it hurt?” Then he takes this marvelous five or ten-second beat and says, “Every time.” I remember jumping up at the premiere and saying “Yes!” at the top of my lungs. Not only because it was my line from the comics, but it also epitomizes the character.

Call it fate, destiny or just a series of events that led to where we are today, but Hugh Jackman feels like he was meant to be Wolverine. All that’s really left at this point is to honor the story that led to that fate, and to prepare ourselves for his return in Deadpool 3, which is scheduled to hit theaters in Summer 2024.

Which means it’s also time to relive all of Mr. Jackman’s past adventures in the X-Men saga, through the usage of a Disney+ subscription. After all of this storytelling, we’ve earned that right; especially when it comes to the joyful cameo he made in X-Men: First Class.

Not mentioned but worth noting --

*XMen Producer LSDonner initially bought the rights for the XMen comicbook property for film adaptation ( hence she was a continuing producer for the franchise. She happened to have seen Hugh in OKLAHOMA! in London and met him... and this eventually led t to Hugh being considered as replacement for the injured DScott.

*During the first XMen filming, LSDonner's Associate Producer was someone named Kevin Feige. He took Hugh around when he first came to Canada for his audition. Also helped in creating the character and even oversaw the styling of Wolverine's hair. Thus his reaction that it will be full circle for him when he was told by Levy/Reynolds that Hugh Jackman was interested to come back as Wolverine!


Jo

[jo]

[jo]

Wikipedia notes --

Athletics
Main article: Michigan Wolverines

Burgee of University of Michigan
The University of Michigan's sports teams are called the Wolverines. They participate in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which is a member of the Collegiate Water Polo Association. U-M boasts 27 varsity sports, including 13 men's teams and 14 women's teams.[222] In 10 of the past 14 years concluding in 2009, U-M has finished in the top five of the NACDA Director's Cup, a ranking compiled by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to tabulate the success of universities in competitive sports. U-M has finished in the top 10 of the Directors' Cup standings in 21 of the award's 29 seasons between 1993-2021 and has placed in the top six in nine of the last 10 seasons.[223]

More than 250 Michigan athletes or coaches have participated in Olympic events,[224] and as of 2021 its students and alumni have won 155 Olympic medals.[225]

Michigan Stadium is the largest college football stadium in the nation and one of the largest football-only stadiums in the world, with an official capacity of 107,601[226] (the extra seat is said to be "reserved" for Fritz Crisler[227]) though attendance—frequently over 111,000 spectators—regularly exceeds the official capacity.[228] The NCAA's record-breaking attendance has become commonplace at Michigan Stadium.

Fight songs and chants
The University of Michigan's fight song, "The Victors", was written by student Louis Elbel in 1898 following the last-minute football victory over the University of Chicago that won a league championship. The song was declared by John Philip Sousa to be "the greatest college fight song ever written."[237] The song refers to the university as being "the Champions of the West." At the time, U-M was part of the Western Conference, which would later become the Big Ten Conference. Michigan was considered to be on the Western Frontier when it was founded in the old Northwest Territory.

Jo

[jo]

A taste of the U of Michigan marching band!

[jo]

JoAB
@joab46466753
Amazing how the official colors ( Maize & Blue) fit the comicbook (and now film) Wolverine costume 😂
💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛

cm.engin.umich.edu/our-brand/colors/

Historical background --

History
Looking for the origins of the U-M colors? According to ‘The Michigan Book‘, a history of U-M published in 1898:

Our college colors were chosen at a meeting of the literary department held in the chapel on February 12, 1867, when Milton Jackson, ’67, Albert H. Pattengill, ’68, and J. Eugene Jackson, ’69, the committee appointed for the purpose, reported a resolution in favor of “azure-blue and maize”, which was adopted. In about ten years the colors came to be styled, as they are now styled, yellow and blue. The original blue was neither light nor very dark, and the yellow was decidedly golden. Never has there been any warrant for the sickly yellow and the faded blue furnished by some of the tradesmen of Detroit and Ann Arbor.

[jo]

Everything to know about the comicbook character named WOLVERINE!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine_(character)#:~:text=He%20was%20created%20by%20Marvel%20editor-in-chief%20Roy%20Thomas%2C,was%20first%20drawn%20for%20publication%20by%20Herb%20Trimpe.

[jo]

Some interesting coincidences --

While filming REAL STEEL ( Hugh Jackman in the lead/ Shawn Levy directing)

in the state of Michigan ( whose athletes are called "Wolverines" and whose official colors are mize/yellow & blue). Hugh Jackman visited a local zoo and saw a real Wolverine animal for the first time.

Now filming Deadpool&Wolverine, where he will don the Wolverine costume for the first time!

[njr]

Nov 25, 2023 22:20:31 GMT -5 jo said:

JoAB
@joab46466753
Amazing how the official colors ( Maize & Blue) fit the comicbook (and now film) Wolverine costume 😂
💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛

cm.engin.umich.edu/our-brand/colors/

Historical background --

History
Looking for the origins of the U-M colors? According to ‘The Michigan Book‘, a history of U-M published in 1898:

Our college colors were chosen at a meeting of the literary department held in the chapel on February 12, 1867, when Milton Jackson, ’67, Albert H. Pattengill, ’68, and J. Eugene Jackson, ’69, the committee appointed for the purpose, reported a resolution in favor of “azure-blue and maize”, which was adopted. In about ten years the colors came to be styled, as they are now styled, yellow and blue. The original blue was neither light nor very dark, and the yellow was decidedly golden. Never has there been any warrant for the sickly yellow and the faded blue furnished by some of the tradesmen of Detroit and Ann Arbor.

Maybe Wolverine’s costume colors were purposefully made the same colors! 😂

Nancy

[jo]

ROGUE
@screenrogue
·
10h
Nobody’s ever topping this I’m afraid





Jason
@sickjay84
That's why they got Hugh Jackman to return instead of trying to replace him and or recast Wolverine.
5:30 PM · Nov 28, 2023


·

Replying to @sickjay84 and @screenrogue

JoAB
@joab46466753
·
1s
James Mangold (Logan/TheWolverine) described it best : Hugh Jackman has an incredible masculinity & strength. That photo proves it!

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/C0L8lo4OBbG

LOLOL!

If your bathroom were similarly designed, would you want a tile of him in any movie or Broadway show be included




Jo

[jo]

Pick the tile of your choice


*The Drover




*The Boy from Oz





*Curly McLaine





*Mystical Man ( Tom, the Astronaut - The Fountain)





*Magic Hugh (The Prestige)





*Van Helsing (Hugh with the long hair!)





*PT Barnum (the greatest show on the silver screen)





*Wolverine in Leather





*The MAN, in search of The Woman....by the riverside!





*Days of Future Past

Photo (in front of the mirror) not allowed for publication - rated RRR!



Jo

.

[ruby]

Nov 28, 2023 5:53:01 GMT -5 jo said:

http://instagram.com/p/C0L8lo4OBbG

LOLOL!

If your bathroom were similarly designed, would you want a tile of him in any movie or Broadway show be included




Jo

I spent time at Hugh’s office at Seed on the Fox lot. The huge poster for The Great Danton from The Prestige was in the restroom there. It was a small single bathroom and loomed large😳
Hugh’s clearly amused by entertaining bathroom decor.

[mamaleh]

For me, I’d call it a tie between the TBFO photo and one that’s not present here: the serene, contemplative Leopold, riding in the carriage with Kate after rescuing her briefcase.

Ellen

[jo]

Lol - the secret photo from Days of Future Past was censored from my post


Exercising freedom of speech -- here you are!



*Days of Future Past

Photo (in front of the mirror) not allowed for publication - rated RRR!

SPOILER: Click to show

Jo

[njr]

It wasn’t “censored” from the others thread you posted it in. I voted for it there, plus the Drover & Wolverine.

Nancy

[jo]

It seems that the animal protection advocacy by the Canadian government has put the wolverine on a protection basis as an endangered species.

Michelle Milliken
@michelleym
·
3h
I'm writing something for work about wolverines being protected under the Endangered Species Act. Each Google search for background info is "weasel... weasel... Hugh Jackman... weasel... weasel... Hugh Jackman."

Hugh does need ESA protections. His population has dwindled to one.

as part of the Honor Guard!

[jo]

x.com/CrisAlves0812/status/1748031157587890188?s=20

Wolverine meets Hugh Jackman

🇧🇷 de bacon a vida!!! 🇧🇷
@crisalves0812
Wolverine encontra Hugh Jackman na arte de
migartist101

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/C2Umu6fO9A1

His dedication is remarkable & one that deserves full appreciation. He has redefined how an actor prepares!

[jo]

[njr]

^ LOVE THIS!! ❤️

[jo]

Mav
@funspeculation
·
3h
Who is the best casted super hero/ comic character ever? My vote goes to

FlyguyGbG
@realflyguygbg
·
2h
To be honest Hugh jackman was too tall for the role. As far as being the role, I think there’s a few people that could do it better




JoAB
@joab46466753
Not the physicality vs the comic book version that Hugh Jackman brought into the role. It's the remarkable authenticity in defining Wolverine's essential character that he brought into it. You need an excellent actor to bring Wolverine's character alive, including his charisma.