Hugh Jackman Was Offered the Role of James Bond After Playing Wolverine

Hugh Jackman took a huge leap into stardom when he first appeared as Wolverine in Bryan Singer’s 2000 X-Men movie. He’s had an incredible acting career since then, and 22 years later he’s still playing Wolverine! It’s pretty incredible.

It turns out that after Jackman played Wolverine the producers of the James Bond franchise came knocking at his door offering him the role of James Bond after Pierce Brosnan. But, he ended up turning it down and in a recent interview with IndieWire, he explained why, saying:

"I didn't want to do the same things. You know, the role of the hero action star. I mean, it was the meat-and-potatoes of a lot of American films, that archetype. It was all various forms of heroic guys in tough situations. I was like, 'Uh, no. This is a problem.'“

Jackman then shared that the team at EON Productions reached out to him about taking on the role of 007, presumably for Casino Royale, adding:

"I had a look at it. I was like, 'If I'm doing that and Wolverine, I'll have no time to do anything else.' I clearly find it more interesting to play people who color outside the lines."

I think that Jackman made the right decision. While it would have been interesting to see him in the role of Bond, and I think he could’ve pulled it off, the decision to not pursue gave him the opportunity to do a lot of different other films and play a lot of different and interesting characters.

What do you all think? Would you have liked to see Jackman play Jame Bond?