Hugh Jackman Wants To Hold On To Wolverine...Until He Dies?

[Mitch Henessey]

Yep.

Hugh Jackman has said that the recasting of Wolverine is "inevitable," but the actor has decided that he would like to keep playing the Marvel superhero until he dies.

The actor told Cigar Aficionado (via E! Online) that he was inspired after watching Michael Keaton in Birdman, saying, “I said to my wife, ‘The moral is that I should never stop playing Wolverine. I’ve got to find a way to keep playing him until I die.’ I know that someday they’ll recast the role with another actor…I’d be happy if the role was eventually recast. It would mean that it had become iconic.”

Jackman also went on to discuss what he hopes to bring to the character each time he plays him. He confirmed back in December that he is still moving forward with the next Wolverine film.

“I always want to be in better shape than I was for the last one," Jackman explained. "I don’t believe in stagnation. People say they try to maintain the status quo. But I believe the natural cycle means you’re either advancing and getting closer to something or you’re receding…Every time I play Wolverine I want to go further, physically and emotionally.”

X-Men: Apocalypse, starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Oscar Isaac, will hit theaters May 27, 2016. Meanwhile, you can read up on what Jackman had to say about Wolverine joining the MCU.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/22/hugh-jackman-wants-to-keep-playing-wolverine-until-he-dies

Over the years, we've seen different actors portray Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Batman/Bruce Wayne, Superman/Clark Kent, and other popular comic book characters, but Jackman has consistently portrayed Wolverine for over a decade now.

The "until I die" stuff might sound outrageous at first, but if I'm looking at this from Jackman's point of view, I can understand, where he's coming from. Look up and read the stories about his strict diets and workout routines to prepare for X-Men or Wolverine films. Hugh Jackman is passionately dedicated to the Wolverine character, and there's no denying it.

Jackman is 46, and the until I die stuff sounds unrealistic, but it's safe to say he's not stepping away from the character anytime soon. Usually, when it comes to comic book characters, you can think of a few replacement names, but Jackman has set the bar high for Wolverine/Logan.

I'm not saying it's impossible for someone else to take control of the character. But we've reached a point, where Jackman's name, his face, his physical presence, and his performances are synonymous with the Wolverine (similar to Robert Englund and Freddu Krueger) character.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Why not? I just can't think of anyone else playing that role, with that hair. It's like he was born to be Wolverine.

Also, with storylines like Old Man Logan & Death of Wolverine, he could totally continue to be Wolverine, even after his hair turn grey.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

He's just being optimistic. Of course it's an unrealistic goal. He's trying to play a character who doesn't age "until he dies." Unless he plans on dying in the next few years, it's just not going to look right unless they do the computer generated Hugh Jackman like they did with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Salvation.

I'm more curious as to who will take over when he's finished with the role. He really has set the bar damn high.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Jackman's devotion to the character is pretty remarkable as he's become a huge fan of the character upon reading numerous comics over the years and Jackman's physical condition, especially over the last several X-Men films, is damn near legendary. I remember reading in an interview a few years back that he said his body was naturally more slender & lanky and that it took a lot of effort to build the type of muscle mass and level of development he's reached.

As for his comments, it's led some to speculate that they might kill Wolverine in the third solo film somehow. He's dead in the comics, though there's almost zero chance of him remaining dead, due to losing his healing factor and being covered in molten adamantium that hardened around him suffocating him. Killing off Jackman's portrayal of the character and then rebooting the X-Men franchise MIGHT be something they wind up doing. They're rebooting Spider-Man, again, so that this time he'll be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his first appearance set to be in Captain America: Civil War. The rights to the Spider-Man films are held by Columbia Pictures, I believe, so obviously some sort of deal has been reached between Disney & Columbia to make Spider-Man part of the shared cinematic universe. At some point, I fully expect the same thing to happen with the X-Men franchise.

Personally, I think it should happen after the next few films have come out. I'm not a fan of how some of the X-Men stories have been tweaked, such as Cyclops & Jean Grey being killed off, the lack of character development in characters like Colossus, the tinkering of characters like Juggernaut and Beast, etc. What bugs me the most is that there are numerous plot holes scattered throughout the continuity of the films. For instance, Xavier & Mystique are foster brother & sister, as introduced in X-Men: First Class. There's no mention of it in the first X-Men film obviously because it's an idea that was later added with no explanation given in the prequel as to why it wasn't mentioned. I think some of the overall depth of the X-Men franchise has been sort of tinkered with to have that slick, Hollywood appeal.

 

[Dave]

I think this comes down to what came first, the chicken or the egg? Is Jackman saying that he won't leave Wolverine alone because he doesn't have any other decent acting priorities on the table? Or is it because he's so good at it that there is simply no one else that could do it as well as he can? Probably, it's a bit of both really.

Jackman has been a great Wolverine, there is no doubt about it. Mitch said it best, his name and look are synonymous with the character. And when you try to replace him with someone, they are always going to be compared with Jackman. And that, unfortunately, is not going to bode well for whoever that new guy is because Jackman has did a fabulous job in making that character his own.

It reminds a lot of when Daniel Craig replaced Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. People thought he could never replace such a suave Bond and be successful. And it has taken a while but now Daniel Craig is definitely growing into the role. It's a hard task to shake off the legacy of the man who went before you but it can be done a lot of the time. It would remain to be seen whether someone else could break the Wolverine mould given what a good legacy Jackman has left.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

No he's saying "Marvel have Spidey now...." and he sure as shit knew Tom Rothman was gonna be named Sony CEO... so basically the guy who was the stumbling block to Marvel working with Fox is gone, to Sony who have already "signed the deal"...

Jackman is basically saying Fox and Marvel will end up working together too and if not, he'll wait till he can do "Old Man Logan" for Marvel, which I think is the only Wolvie story any of us truly want to see Marvel tackle rather than Fox...

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I have little issue with this, as he seemed born to play the role.

The only issue I could see them running into is obviously as he ages, regarding which stories they decide to tell on the big screen, or which stories they re-tell, and the timeline involved in them. A 56-year old Jackman, for example, re-telling the Wolverine Origins storyline is gonna be really difficult to pull off successfully without millions spent on CG effects.

 

[Alex]

I have little issue with this, as he seemed born to play the role.

The only issue I could see them running into is obviously as he ages, regarding which stories they decide to tell on the big screen, or which stories they re-tell, and the timeline involved in them. A 56-year old Jackman, for example, re-telling the Wolverine Origins storyline is gonna be really difficult to pull off successfully without millions spent on CG effects.

They could always go the classic route of just getting a younger actor to do the young parts.

As to Jackman saying this it's not surprising. We have a 67 year old Arnold Shwarzenegger playing the Terminator, it's not really out of the realm of possibility.

But it does make you wonder has he actually got any other career prospects. I mean know he's done other films but the only ones I can think of are Van Helsing (I liked it) and Les Miserables. I know he probably loves the role but at the same time it's a guaranteed money blanket as well.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

He's got a leading role in the upcoming Neill Blomkamp sci-fi thriller Chappie, is cast to play P.T. Barnum in Michael Gracey's The Greatest Showman on Earth (2016) and just played a tremendous co-lead role in Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners beside Jake Gyllenhaal.

I doubt his career prospects are dwindling just yet.