Hugh Jackman Reveals How He Overcame His Initial Fears in Playing Wolverine

Hugh Jackman has played the adamantium-clawed mutant Wolverine almost a dozen times, but he almost didn't make it through the very first X-Men movie in 2000. In the recent Producer Guilds Award, the Australian actor confessed that he had felt very insecure about what was to become his breakthrough role. A producer's advice set him straight, and the rest is history.

Flashback to 2000. Back then, director Bryan Singer's take on the mutant superhero team was just seen as a promising venture into superhero-land. Nobody really expected its phenomenal success. And while fans and critics hailed some of the casting, like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as mutant leaders Professor X and Magneto respectively, the other members of the cast were subjected to scrutiny.

The role of Wolverine and its devoted fan base in comicdom thrust Jackman into the spotlight. There were some grumblings that he was too tall and even too handsome for the smaller, rougher Logan. He was an actor from Down Under who was relatively unknown in America. He wasn't even Singer's first choice for the part.

Dougray Scott had already been cast for the role but gave it up because the shooting schedule of X-Men conflicted with Mission Impossible 2 to which he had already committed. After Scott left, the producers allegedly approached Russell Crowe who was still standing tall after his triumphs in Gladiator. Crowe instead recommended his fellow Australian colleague, Jackman.

Jackman auditioned and got the part, and the heat was on.

In E Online's coverage of the Producers Guild Award, Jackman made this confession about his experience during his freshman year as a mutant:

"I was kind of struggling, to be honest. t was the first movie I had ever done in America. I was pretty tight. I was nervous. I was average, to be honest, at best. No one was saying anything and I sort of thought I was getting away with it, but I wasn't."

Fortunately, studio executive Tom Rothman gave the then newbie the encouraging words he needed to hear. Jackman continued::

"He told me that he believed in me, that from the moment he'd seen my tape he had a gut feeling I was the guy, but watching my dailies was like watching someone put a lampshade over a light,"

But it was the boost that Jackman needed to get over his fears, and he gave the performance that launched his career and helped redefine superhero movies for the next two decades. Thanks to initial clips and previews, his final Wolverine film, Logan, has been touted as one of the best in the X-Men cinematic saga.