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Howlett At The Moon: Hugh Jackman Had No Idea That Wolverines Were Real During 'X-Men'

Keen to impress the crew prior to shooting, Jackman still put in weeks of intensive research — it is just a shame it was about the wrong animal!

By Tom ChapmanPublished 6 years ago 1 min read
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[Credit: Detroit Zoo/20th Century Fox

After playing the same character for 17 years, you'd think that any actor would know pretty much everything about the role; however, it sounds like even #HughJackman struggled in his early days as #Wolverine. With a decidedly scrawnier physique and sporting that bouffant hairdo, the original #XMen movie was just a glimpse at the berserker babe we would come to know and love.

In a case of foot in mouth, it appears that the rugged Aussie might have needed a trip to the zoo before he picked up his first copy of the script. Prior to taking on the role of James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine, Jackman didn't have a clue that wolverines actually exist. Keen to impress the crew prior to shooting, Jackman still put in weeks of intensive research — it is just a shame it was about the wrong animal! Hungry Like The Wolverine

Hungry Like The Wolverine

After nine movies of playing the clawed Canadian, arguably, no one knows Wolverine better than Jackman. Speaking to Page Six, the 48-year-old actor revealed that he had embarrassingly denied the existence of wolverines and thought he would be playing some sort of werewolf hybrid for his first time in the role:

“I didn’t even know there was a wolverine. I literally, embarrassingly did about two weeks of research on wolves. I was rehearsing for three weeks and I was shooting, so I was kind of on my own. I remember going past an IMAX in Toronto, and there was an IMAX documentary about wolves, and so I thought, ‘I’ll go and see that.’”

Presumably, it involved some method acting and spending his days howling at the moon or rolling around nude in the wolf enclosure, but Jackman fully embodied the wolf persona. Great, some thorough research and a keen interest in the role, that is sure to help you on the first day of shooting day, right? Jackman went on to say that director Bryan Singer was the one who broke the news of the slight blunder:

“He said, ‘Are you sort of walking funny, what’s going on?’ And I said, ‘I’ve been doing this thing with wolves,’ and he goes, ‘You know you’re not a wolf, right?’ I said, ‘Well, there’s no such thing as a wolverine,’ [Singer said] ‘Go to the zoo, dude.’ I literally didn’t know it existed.”

You can't blame Hugh really, there are no wolverines in Australia (bar himself obviously), and the reclusive Northern Hemisphere animal is up there on the weird scale alongside the likes of the honey badger. However, as the largest member of the weasel family, wolverines really do exist, just not ones with adamantium claws and a penchant for cigars. Poor Hugh, maybe he thought he was signing up to play the part of Wolfsbane from Josh Boone's New Mutants, but you know, just 17 years ahead of the curve!

(Source: Page Six)

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About the Creator

Tom Chapman

Tom is a Manchester-based writer with square eyes and the love of a good pun. Raised on a diet of Jurassic Park, this ’90s boy has VHS flowing in his blood. No topic is too big for this freelancer by day, crime-fighting vigilante by night.

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