Hugh Jackman used two unlikely inspirations for his highly praised farewell Wolverine film
HUGH Jackman had two unlikely inspirations for the highly praised film Logan, in his farewell to Wolverine — the character that made him a star.
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HUGH Jackman had a couple of unlikely inspirations for his farewell to Wolverine, the character that made him a star: Jerry Seinfeld and Sir John Gielgud.
The Oscar-nominated Aussie actor says that a chat with the comedy great at a party in New York convinced him he should go out while he was on top, just as Seinfeld had done with his revered sitcom.
And it was the recollection of something British theatrical great Gielgud had said in his autobiography that made Jackman want to be sure he’d wrung absolutely everything from the steel-clawed X-Man he had grown to love before he walked away.
“(Gielgud) said how he played Hamlet 10 times in his life because he never felt he quite got it,” says Jackman over the phone from Taiwan where he was promoting Logan, his ninth and final film as Wolverine. “And he said, ‘As I stand here now at the end, I realise that my first was the best’. That’s always stuck with me. I haven’t had quite 10 — I have done nine — but I was really determined, whether it was my best or not, to get everything out that I had ever felt I wanted to say about this character, what he represented.
“I had always felt there was something deeper, not just a genre movie or a superhero movie, but I thought that as a character, hopefully we could have the kind of emotional effect that (the Clint Eastwood western) Unforgiven had.”
That being the case, the possibilities opened up for Logan (Wolverine’s real name) to be something entirely different from all the X-Men movies and spin-offs that had come before it. Jackman plays an ageing and embittered Wolverine whose legendary healing powers are failing and who is looking after his ailing former mentor, Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, also farewelling his role) in a world where mutants are dying out.
Jackman only signed on once the stage was set for very adult, violent character piece that is as much influenced by the western and road movies as by the superhero genre. That meant a rating that would shut-out many of the teenage fanboys that have been so integral to the X-Men success.
Jackman and director James Mangold braced themselves for a fight with the studio, but were pleasantly surprised.
“I was a real pain in the neck for the filmmakers,” Jackman says. “I was just pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing because it was deeply personal to me. But when I saw it at the Berlin Film Festival I felt a huge exhale of breath and very satisfied and grateful and emotional. We’d had to stay pretty stubborn and steadfast.
“I thought we would have had more fights with the studio along the way, to be honest.”
The rave reviews that have greeted Logan so far — as well as the success of Ryan Reynolds’ similarly rated hit Deadpool (alas, Jackman has pretty well ruled out a crossover film between the two characters) — show there is scope in the superhero world for movies that venture beyond the CG heavy action extravaganzas of the Marvel and the DC universes.
Indeed, the boldness and inventiveness of the smaller budgeted, more character driven movies are the key to their success.
“You look at Deadpool and Logan — both from the same studio — and they are totally different movies that are authentic to the character,” Jackman says. “I think it’s a good time in Hollywood. I know people feel it’s all changing quickly — but average just doesn’t work anymore. An average film is dead by seven o’clock on a Friday night because of social media.”
Jackman won’t miss the 4am workouts or the 12 chicken breast meals a day he had to scoff to get into supremely buff Wolverine shape, but he loved the complexity and loyalty of the character and the chance to dig deeper that playing him for 17 years offered.
But the biggest gift Wolverine has given him?
“A career,” Jackman laughs. “It was my first movie in New York and it did give me many, many opportunities to play other things over the years that I may not have had.”
Jackman is selling himself short.
He has parlayed his initial exposure into a broad and respected career from rom-coms such as Kate and Leopold to gritty dramas such as Prisoners and his Oscar-nominated turn in Les Miserables.
But there’s no doubt that Wolverine has been good to Jackman, and vice versa. Jackman was treading the boards in Oklahoma on the West End when he got the last minute call up in place of Dougray Scott for the first X-Men film in 2000. And while Wolverine was a character beloved of comic book buffs, he was hardly a Batman or Superman.
Those diehard fans, and the new ones Jackman brought to Wolverine, have watched his every move for the past two decades.
“There is a world that I never knew existed. I understand what it’s like to be a fan ... the fans of X-Men and Wolverine come up to me in the street and tell me what I haven’t done or what I have done well. So this is a love letter to them.
“I feel like I am part of that family in a good way.”
He’s also comfortable with that fact that Wolverine will inevitably be recast at some point, with the moviegoing public’s voracious appetite for superhero films showing no sign of abating.
“What has amazed me is all the different versions of Logan; that has been a strength,” he says of Wolverine’s storeyed comic-book life. “Bond is the same — all the better for the different people who have played it. Same with Batman. Great parts outlive the actors who play them.
“How will I feel? I sort of joked the other day: ‘I think I will be totally fine — but if Daniel Day Lewis takes the part and wins three Oscars, I will be a little pissed off’.”
If he has one regret about leaving the part, it’s that he didn’t get the chance to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. X-Men and The Avengers are both part of the same comic book stable, but the movie rights are owned by rival studios.
Spider-Man was recently brought into the Marvel fold, but there’s no such deal on the horizon for Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto and Co.
“Back in the day, I would have loved Wolverine to go into that Avengers universe and be up against Hulk, which was a big thing in the comic books,” Jackman says. “But there are people with MBAs and way smarter businesspeople than me who can’t work that one out. So I am not sure if it will happen. But maybe one day.”
As for the 48-year-old Jackman, he is ageing much better than his on-screen counterpart. A dedicated father of two and devoted husband to fellow Aussie Deborra-lee Furness, and with longtime passion project The Greatest Showman nearing completion, he says he is getting happier as he gets older rather than the reverse.
“I feel a certain sense of freedom I suppose, putting a little less pressure on myself and enjoying it a little more,” he says. “But in terms of finding peace and living with your past — regrets and all — I am kinder to myself than I used to be. I used to be way more of a perfectionist ... I was a pain, I did constantly question.
“But now I just feel lighter, if that makes sense.”
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