LOGAN WAS A RISK THAT I EMBRACED
Hugh Jackman opens up about the experience of playing the clawed mutant for the last time in Logan
“Iknow Aussies are not known for leaving the party at the right time, but (after) 17 years, it’s time to leave the party,” Hugh Jackman quipped as he discussed his last time playing X-Men superhero Wolverine in this year’s gritty action hit Logan.
The Australian actor made his breakthrough as the gruff, clawed mutant Wolverine in X-Men (2000), and has since played the character eight times on screen. With this year’s Logan, however, Jackman said he and the filmmakers took the biggest risk for his final performance as the mutant hero.
“This was not a given moneymaker,” Jackman said in an interview.
“People considered this to be the biggest risk, the most foolish risk ever taken, and I think people assume you’re just doing a sequel because it’s a moneymaker, but my experience from being within it is that it’s always felt like a risk and I think that’s to be embraced.”
Logan was the first time Jackman, 49, played his character in an R-rated film, where he was allowed to embrace the darker, more tormented side of Wolverine.
In the film, an older, wearier Logan struggles with alcoholism as he rescues a young mutant girl and unwillingly aids her in her journey to get to safety, the two forging an unlikely friendship despite their explosive tempers.
“This is a man whose life is centered on violence,” Jackman said about the character.
“It seemed very difficult thematically, not just in terms of graphic violence but the consequences of violence. It seemed impossible to make that as a PG 13 movie and really get into it at a serious level.”
The film received strong praise from critics when it was released in March, grossing more than $600 million worldwide. Jackman’s new take on the character may give Logan a competitive edge in the upcoming awards season.
The movie seemed very difficult thematically, not just in terms of graphic violence but also its consequences HUGH JACKMAN, ACTOR