Celebrate ‘Logan’ With Hugh Jackman’s Baby-Faced ‘X-Men’ Audition
By Jacob Hall/March 3, 2017 2:00 pm EST
But with Logan signaling the end of this chapter of Jackman’s career, it’s time to get nostalgic. It’s tome to travel back to 1999, before superhero movies were big business, back when Hugh Jackman was just fit and not hand-chisled out of marble. Let’s watch his original X-Men audition.
This video has been around for some time, but it’s making the rounds again today for obvious reasons. A tip of the hat to The Hollywood Reporter for reminding us to revisit this one.
Like with most film auditions, you can’t quite see a fully-formed character here. What you can see is a young man who looks the second coming of Clint Eastwood showing something, even if that exact something has yet to be fully defined. Going with an unknown actor with only a handful of film credits to his name turned out to be a canny move – Wolverine was allowed to blossom without the baggage of a big name.
It’s no secret that Jackman was not the first choice. Dougray Scott was initially cast in the role and in new interview, X-Men screenwriter David Hayter revealed exactly what went down:
It’s easy to feel bad for Scott, who missed out on the role of a lifetime, but it’s easier to appreciate the twist of fate that dropped Jackman into this role. Superhero movies would never be the same.
Logan is in theaters today. The reviews have been raves.
