Was/Is Hugh Jackman the right "Wolverine"?

[jo]

www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/marvel-most-stylish-characters


GQ votes LOGAN as the most stylish MCU character!

He’s old! He’s tired! He’s in the desert! It’s Wolverine, but gritty. On the run and not having that much fun really, Logan sees our taciturn and sharp-knuckled mutant fave in his hirsute salt and pepper fox era. There he goes in a high collar and a black suit and doesn’t it suit him! Graduating from the mutton chops and string vests of early X movies, this is Logan in a sort of Western frontier tragedy. His knees hurt, but his tailoring is spot on.

[jo]

Such a contrast to previous Wolverine incarnations!

[jo]

One of Hugh's stunt doubles, Dan Stevens, shares details on his work (especially with Hugh)!


tunenews.xyz/i-was-hugh-jackmans-stuntman-in-wolverine-we-have-a-crucial-rule-about-violent-scenes-that-you-can-never-break/

[jo]

News from the NYTimes on Taron Egerton.

At the end, there is mention that he has had some discussions about the Wolverine role --

After ‘Rocketman’, Taron Egerton Transforms Again for ‘Black Bird’
The 32-year-old plays an imprisoned drug dealer facing an unusual choice in the Apple TV+ series, written by Dennis Lehane.’




“People tend to think of you as the last thing you did,” said Taron Egerton, who drew praise for playing Elton John in “Rocketman.” For the series “Black Bird,” he skewed darker.Credit...Ana Cuba for The New York Times

Sarah Bahr
By Sarah Bahr
July 1, 2022, 9:19 a.m. ET
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Taron Egerton channeled a pop god in the Elton John biopic “Rocketman,” winning raves — and a Golden Globe — for his portrayal of how a shy piano prodigy blossomed into an international superstar.

But in his latest role, as a convicted drug dealer in the new Apple TV+ drama “Black Bird,” he had no outlandish sunglasses or feather boas to cast off when shooting wrapped each day. For “Black Bird,” which is based on a true story, he had to cast off something darker: the confessions of Larry Hall, a man convicted in connection with one girl’s death who was suspected to have kidnapped, raped and killed many more.

“As much as it was a great experience creatively, there were days where I went home feeling like, I don’t really want to listen to this stuff anymore,” Egerton, whose character’s task is to elicit those confessions, said in a recent video call from his London kitchen



Egerton, 32, who has lent his soulful tenor voice to characters both flamboyant (John) and furry (the mountain gorilla Johnny in the animated musical “Sing”), could have taken his pick of just about any musical role after “Rocketman.” And then there are those chiseled good looks and piercing green eyes, which seem to beg for a cape and spandex.

Instead, he wanted his next major on-camera role to be one that showed the world he was more than a song-and-dance man.

“I wanted to do something that felt really different from ‘Rocketman,’” he said. “People tend to think of you as the last thing you did. They don’t want to take that risk on giving an actor a role that they’ve not seen them do a version of before.”

He found it in the psychological thriller “Black Bird,” a six-episode mini-series that the author and screenwriter Dennis Lehane (“Mystic River”) adapted from the prison memoir “In With the Devil,” written by James Keene with Hillel Levin.



Egerton in “Black Bird” as Jimmy Keene, a convicted drug dealer who is offered a deal to leave prison early if he can elicit a confession from another inmate.Credit...Alfonso Bresciani/Apple TV+

The series, which debuts July 8, centers on Egerton as Jimmy Keene, who is offered a chance to commute his 10-year prison sentence with just one condition: He must convince Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) to tell him where he buried the body of at least one missing girl, and perhaps a dozen more.




“A part like Jimmy — or, indeed, a part like Elton — they are absolutely the roles I want from my career,” Egerton said. “That’s not to say everything I want to do needs to be heavy and dark — I’m definitely drawn to that stuff — but it’s really, really creatively nourishing to have writing like that because it makes you want to bring your absolute best.”

EGERTON WASN’T ALWAYS SO ENTHUSIASTIC about acting. He was born into a British working-class family, with a father who ran a bed-and-breakfast in Liverpool and a mother who worked in social services. They divorced when he was 2, and he moved with his mother to Wales.

When he was 12, he moved to a different part of Wales, Aberystwyth, which left him feeling desperately lonely. “I lost all my friends I’d had as a child when I moved,” he said. “I was quite cocky and quite confident, but that was to mask the insecurity I was feeling.” He didn’t dabble in acting until he was 15. “It was as much about trying to be social and make friends as it was an interest in acting,” he said.

The acting stuck. After he graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2012, he landed some smaller roles, performing in a stage production of “The Last of the Haussmans” at the National Theater in London and appearing in the British TV dramas “Lewis” and “The Smoke.”

Then came his big break: The director Matthew Vaughn (“Kick-Ass,” “X-Men: First Class”) cast him as the street-rat-turned-spy Eggsy in the 2014 British action-comedy film “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” The role made him a colead, alongside Colin Firth, despite Egerton’s having never been on a film set.




“He came in and did a perfect audition,” Vaughn said by phone. “He was Eggsy. I liked that side of him in the role because Eggsy was also about being around a world you’ve never been in and growing.”

Image
“I feel like I should be kinder to myself,” Egerton said about a couple of roles he chose for money early in his career.


On the heels of the success of the first “Kingsman” film, which grossed more than $414 million worldwide, he landed roles in “Eddie the Eagle,” the Disney animated film “Sing” and a sequel, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle.”

Then he hit a rough patch, first in the title role in Otto Bathurst’s 2018 “Robin Hood” adaptation, and then as the antagonist of the 2018 biographical crime drama “Billionaire Boys Club.” Both were critically lampooned box-office flops.

“I ignored my instincts on those two jobs because I was offered quite a lot of money to do them,” he said. “And that’s just fatal. You can’t pick roles that way.”

“But I feel like I should be kinder to myself,” he continued. “I was a 25-year-old kid who was raised by a single mother with very little money. I wanted to make money, not just for me, but for people who are important to me. And as much as I was not pleased with how those two movies turned out, I can see very clearly, in retrospect, why I did them.”



Things turned around with “Rocketman,” for which he learned to play the piano and sang many of his numbers live.

“He has an incredible singing voice,” said Dexter Fletcher, who directed “Rocketman.” “But he was also an actor who was willing to go to a place where he wasn’t afraid to make a fool of himself. He wasn’t wrapped up in being this supercool, emotionless, good-looking dude.”

Vaughn, who was a producer of “Rocketman,” said he believed the role had helped prove that Egerton could “literally play any role.”

“He’s in a rare, rare club,” Vaughn added. “Hugh Jackman is the only other guy who’s genuinely an action star and a musical star.”


Egerton won a Golden Globe for his role in “Rocketman,” for which he learned to play the piano and sang many of his numbers live.Credit...David Appleby/Paramount Pictures

It was that versatility that caught the eye of Lehane, who developed, wrote and executive produced “Black Bird,” when he was looking for a leading man.



“I’d just seen ‘Rocketman,’” he said, “and I was like, ‘My God, the range on this kid.’”

Egerton needed more than range to shoot “Black Bird”; the series was also incredibly heavy. Lehane said that crafting a scene in Episode 5 had made him cry — the first time he had experienced that while writing a script. Hauser said he was so affected by his role as Hall that his life began spinning out of control. He eventually had to get sober.

“Being Larry Hall 12 hours a day, you want to go home and eat junk food, drink booze, have an edible,” he said in a recent phone call. “It was like living in a haunted house.”

But Egerton, whose character serves as a sounding board for Hall’s disturbing revelations, managed to remain largely above it, Hauser and Lehane said, despite a taxing six-month shoot in New Orleans.

“It’s a hard thing to do,” said Egerton, who bulked up to play Keene, a burly former high school football star. “Especially with long days, working nights, it can be hard to switch off. But you find a way.”

Egerton, who also earned his first executive producer credit with “Black Bird,” said he was immensely proud of the result, particularly his scenes with Ray Liotta (“Goodfellas,” “Field of Dreams”), who played Keene’s father. Liotta died in May, and the role appears to be Liotta’s last for TV.

“I loved that relationship,” Egerton said of his and Liotta’s characters. “These two complicated, very, very flawed, imperfect men, but with this real love for each other.”





“He had such an edge and such a toughness to him,” he added about Liotta, “but also this incredible capacity to be very open and quite childlike and vulnerable.”

IN THE THREE YEARS SINCE THE RELEASE OF “ROCKETMAN,” Egerton has done a lot of voice work and also returned to the stage. In March, he made his West End debut in a revival of the Mike Bartlett comedy “Cock” opposite the “Bridgerton” star Jonathan Bailey.

On opening night, however, he collapsed onstage at the first performance and, after a successful but brief return, tested positive for Covid-19. Ultimately, he left the production, citing what producers at the time said were “personal reasons.”

Image
Egerton, 32, showed no interest in acting until he was 15. “It was as much about trying to be social and make friends as it was an interest in acting,” he said.
Egerton, 32, showed no interest in acting until he was 15. “It was as much about trying to be social and make friends as it was an interest in acting,” he said.Credit...Ana Cuba for The New York Times

“Toward the end of last year, a close family member was diagnosed with cancer, and I dropped out of a film to come home and be with that person,” he explained. “I thought that, with the play, I was ready to go back to work, but I wasn’t. I had to leave, and it was sad, and absolutely one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make.”

Things appear to be back on track, and looking ahead, he has no shortage of acting work. He has a starring turn as the Tetris Company founder Henk Rogers in the Apple TV+ film “Tetris,” which is scheduled for later this year, and a return to the “Kingsman” franchise.

He also hopes to succeed Jackman as the next Wolverine and has met with Marvel Studio executives, including the company’s president, Kevin Feige.

“I don’t think it would be wrong to say that,” he said, laughing. “I’d be excited but I’d be apprehensive as well, because Hugh is so associated with the role that I’d wonder if it’d be very difficult for someone else to do it.”

He paused, then flashed a grin. “But hopefully if it does come around, they’ll give me a shot.”

[jo]

Doesn't have the incredible masculinity associated with the Jackman Wolverine ( the feral quality that made him a fan favorite). Taron is a good actor with range... but Wolverine is not just a character...he is also a symbol!

Just my little opinion


Jo

[njr]

I agree about Taron. No way! Now Scott Eastwood? Yes!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Eastwood

Nancy

[ruby]

I can picture Taron as Wolverine. He’s a good actor.

[mamaleh]

I had read that Chris Evans was also rumored to be in the running. Between him and Taron, I would prefer Evans. There's something about Taron that leaves me cold. It's hard to put my finger on it but it's a quality he projects--maybe a bit of arrogance--that somehow rubs me the wrong way. If he does get the role, congratulations to him. But I won't be seeing those movies.

Ellen

[jo]

A new toy!

[jo]

Any excuse to celebrate and to do wishful thinking on Wolverine and Hugh Jackman in the role!

movieweb.com/hugh-jackman-and-wolverine-trend-as-fans-celebrate-x-men-release-anniversary/

[jo]

[jo]

Many fooled by the Roosevelt supposed old photo.

[jo]

Backtracking!!

[jo]

Translattion :

I'm watching the x-men movies and by God Hugh Jackman was at the height of his beauty

Click on "View replies" to see his full face.

[jo]

Finally someone said it

I wonder if it embarrasses Hugh when he is called a pinup boy


Although in AUSTRALIA, he played up to the image.


Jo

[jo]

Incredible masculinity - as James Mangold describes a Jackman trait.

[jo]

Even when he is made up to look old --

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

www.thethings.com/hugh-jackman-says-he-doesnt-feel-like-wolverine/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


Excerpts --

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But he turned that down to study drama. That turned out to be a good move as it led to Jackman booking a role in the West End revival of Oklahoma!.

It was his onstage performance that got Jackman noticed for the part of Wolverine who was first introduced in Marvel Comics as a bad-tempered mutant who fights the Incredible Hulk. Even back then, however, there were doubts if the actor truly had what it took to play him.



Even after spending years with a character, Jackman still doesn’t see any resemblance between him and the famous X-Men.

“Spend five minutes with me and you’ll know that couldn’t be further from who I am,” the actor even said. Interestingly, this was also the reason that Jackman didn’t get the part initially when he auditioned for the 2000 film X-Men.




As X-Men screenwriter David Hayter once explained, Wolverine is quite a complex character.

He is supposed to be the “ultimate badass, but, thematically, he’s also the fulcrum between Magneto and Charles Xavier. Xavier fights to do the right thing and so does Wolverine, yet Magneto wants to protect mutants by any means necessary, and Wolverine is a by-any-means-necessary kind of guy.”

And upon seeing Jackman for the first time, they weren’t convinced that he could play someone this rough onscreen.


“I was there for pretty much all of the casting and the first time Hugh Jackman read, he didn’t get cast,” Hayter recalled. “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.”

They initially went with actor Dougray Scott but then, he got tied up doing Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise (Scott also suffered an accident and lost too much weight so “it just wasn’t going to work”).

That’s when they turned to Jackman again. This time, they gave the actor coaching sessions “to really get him to that sort of Clint Eastwood hardass edge.”


When Jackman auditioned once more, it came together. “There was this one moment where he turned to the camera and he looked like young Clint Eastwood,” Hayter recalled. “That was the moment.”

And while Jackman grounded the character (and made viewers root for him), there was still some work to do.

“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,” Hayter continued. “All that was left was to find the viciousness.”


But They Do Have Something In Common Now
While Jackman’s personality is nothing like Logan’s, the actor has also said that they have found some common ground as he got older and more experienced. “Wolverine’s a tortured character — more tortured than me,” the actor explained.

“But I always get the feeling of him being comfortable in his own skin. And I feel more comfortable in my own skin now, even though it’s messier.”



And when it comes to becoming Wolverine again, Jackman is also a bit more confident now. “A little part of me now thinks I’d be better at it,” he remarked. “Is that arrogance of age or something?”

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

The one casting decision that changed the direction of Hugh Jackman's career hopes at the start... but eventually led to his being able to move effortlessly from genre to genre.

Jo

[jo]

In that Hollywood Reporter article re David Hayter's shared views and stories of the first XMen movie --

People have noted Hugh’s Wolverine is nicer than in the comics. Is that how you envisioned him?

I wrote him with elements of my personality, which there are certainly elements that are a lot nastier than Hugh’s, and there are elements of Bryan’s personality, which can be rough around the edges as well. And actually I said to Bryan one day, “We’re going to have the nicest Wolverine in film history.” And it was a bit of a concern. Hugh is just a love. He is so sweet. Bryan, he yelled at Hugh one day and was like, “You need to be edgier. You need to be meaner, you need to be tougher. You need to go home and get into a fight with your wife. Have a screaming match with your wife!” And Hugh said, “Bryan, if I went home and got in a fight like that with Deb, I’d come in crying!” We were like, “Oh no, we’re all dead.”

We wrote him very tough. Very edgy, and then Hugh brought his humanity to it. In the end, there’s a core of steel there he brought to it that made it into a full person. Wolverine could be a caricature. He could be a growling asshole, really. I think it was the balance.

It's those qualities of Hugh Jackman that elevated the status of the comicbook Wolverine into a true superhero!

The secret of why after 24 years after he was originally cast as Wolverine, fans are still very excited to see him back as Wolverine in 2024!

Jo

[jo]

Mar 2, 2023 21:05:29 GMT -5 jo said:

In that Hollywood Reporter article re David Hayter's shared views and stories of the first XMen movie --

People have noted Hugh’s Wolverine is nicer than in the comics. Is that how you envisioned him?

I wrote him with elements of my personality, which there are certainly elements that are a lot nastier than Hugh’s, and there are elements of Bryan’s personality, which can be rough around the edges as well. And actually I said to Bryan one day, “We’re going to have the nicest Wolverine in film history.” And it was a bit of a concern. Hugh is just a love. He is so sweet. Bryan, he yelled at Hugh one day and was like, “You need to be edgier. You need to be meaner, you need to be tougher. You need to go home and get into a fight with your wife. Have a screaming match with your wife!” And Hugh said, “Bryan, if I went home and got in a fight like that with Deb, I’d come in crying!” We were like, “Oh no, we’re all dead.”

We wrote him very tough. Very edgy, and then Hugh brought his humanity to it. In the end, there’s a core of steel there he brought to it that made it into a full person. Wolverine could be a caricature. He could be a growling asshole, really. I think it was the balance.

It's those qualities of Hugh Jackman that elevated the status of the comicbook Wolverine into a true superhero!

The secret of why after 24 years after he was originally cast as Wolverine, fans are still very excited to see him back as Wolverine in 2024!

Jo

It isn't just his charisma, it is the real qualities of Hugh Jackman which pervade his career choices and his real persona that has drawn people to him! Even at the stagedoor, he sheds the celebrity cloak and becomes a real person to those lucky enough to deal with him in brief moments.

Jo