Hugh Jackman on Playing Wolverine and Recalls His Final Moments Playing The Character in LOGAN
Hugh Jackman played Wolverine over the course of eighteen years and he did a hell of a job! It’s pretty amazing to see what he’s accomplished as the character and how he evolved that character over the years. When it finally came to an end with Logan, Jackman ended up giving one of the best performances of his career.
During a recent conversation with his former Les Misérables co-star Anne Hathaway on an episode of Variety's Actors on Actors, Jackman talked about what it was like for him when he was first cast in the role and how at first they could only shoot him from the shoulder up with his shirt off because he had yet to bulk up for the role. He also discussed the memorable final day of shooting his final moments as Wolverine in Logan.
“There were so many crossovers by the end, because I’d played it for so long... I knew it was going to be my last one way before we wrote it. I made that decision. There was a weight of expectation that I’d been carrying. I was super invested.”
Jackman went on to explain how the shooting of his death scene was moved up unexpectedly due to bad weather, and because of that, it didn't allow him to think about it much before shooting. But, director James Mangold allowed him to fully embrace the moment during filming. He explained:
“I was so invested. I felt so in it. I was working with a director that I worked with three times before, who I trust implicitly, Jim Mangold. I remember when we shot that scene, we were shooting very high altitude, and there were thunderstorms going off everywhere, and we had to shut down. He just said, ‘We can’t do this big stunt scene. But we’re just going to do the death scene.’ I’m like, ‘Like, now?’ He goes, ‘I’m just going to have you and Dafne, and if you could just do that.’ I’m like, ‘All right.’ He knew that’s best for me.
“We got there and we’re shooting the scene. Dafne was 11. She was fantastic. We shot Dafne, and she turned around in two takes and he goes, ‘Let’s just kick out. Let’s do another.’ I said, ‘You sure? I feel like–‘ and he goes, ‘Man, let’s just stop the clocks. Let’s not worry about everything. This is the end of 19 years. Sit it in for half an hour'.
“He rolled the cameras. Him allowing me — not just as an actor, but as Hugh — to remember that moment. It was a luxury that I’ll never forget.”
In the end, Jackman ended up nailing the scene and delivering an incredible performance! One of the best superhero movie performances of all time. You can watch Jackman talk about it below in the video. I included the clip of just the Wolverine conversation as well as the entire video for those of you who are interested.