Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman portrayed Wolverine in X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class and The Wolverine. Jackman is also is the executive producer of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Significant roles

 * Leopold in Kate & Leopold (2001)
 * Gabriel van Helsing in Van Helsing (2004)
 * Robert Angier in The Prestige (2006)
 * The Drover in Australia (2008)

Quotes

 * "As the movie starts, I think it's fair to say that he's part of the team of some kind. I wouldn't say he's a card-carrying X-Man or that he has a permanent suite at the mansion, but really, in this movie, his journey is about more what role he will take. He has to take on more responsibility, and as you guys know, it goes against his grain. So at the start of the movie he's obviously hurting from the whole thing with Jean, and in this movie, it goes to another level. It's really how far would he go for the woman he loved, even though, in his case, it's unrequited love."
 * "I wouldn't call it pressure, but I suppose as the movie has gone on, I had a little more say in how the movie and script pans out. I have to share a little more of the responsibility ultimately, and I quite like being in that position as an actor. I'm probably more comfortable being in that position than say someone coming in and doing a great character role. I've always felt more comfortable being in the middle of it from the beginning to the end. I like working every day and being there. In this movie there's a whole subplot with Ian McKellen's character that I wasn't in and there was about three weeks where I didn't shoot and it felt really weird. I would visit on set ocassionally and just sort of pop in and I came back to work and felt like, "Alright, I gotta get my legs back here.""
 * "I was upset when I heard of Bryan not returning. It was so long before we were shooting the movie, and at that point, I hadn't committed to the movie. I committed to looking at the script. Instinctually, I felt that regardless of who's directing, we have to have a great script. I thought what we came up with and by the way, Matthew Vaughn needs to be credited because he helped to develop that script and he did a great job--in terms of a starting script was the best. Brett did a great job and smartly, didn't try to recreate the wheel. I don't think people who are not very au fait with film will really be able to tell the difference stylistically. Yet, Brett's a really emotional guy, a real passionate guy. In some ways, Bryan's more cerebral where Brett was a little bit more suited to this script, which was more emotional and by the end, more melodramatic. I think it worked but it should be that big because it's the end of the trilogy."
 * "Well, I feel very close to Halle, because this is my fourth movie with her. I really think she's an amazing person and actress and I'm really proud of what she's achieved. Yes, we are closer, but we were already close. When you're friends, you're friends. It was great for me to have more to do with Halle, and I had been asking for that on the first two. It's a good dynamic as well cause they're both strong characters."
 * "Of course I'm getting into it at the moment because David Benioff is writing a movie version of Wolverine, which is gonna be a prequel. It's gonna deal with the origins of him so I'm into it a lot. In this movie actually we were lucky to have [Second Unit Director] Simon Crane who did Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and he's amazing. I think a lot of the action pieces are well done and he's phenomenal with what he brought to it. Simon came to me and said, "I've got an idea," and showed me some comic books that had some things we could do stylistically that was a bit different. I always saw Wolverine as a street fighter--like watching old Mike Tyson. Nothing pretty, just going for it. Simon said, "If you look in the comic book he has some really cool moves," so we did put a couple of those things into this. That's something that some fans might recognize."
 * "Well, my character gives them a hard time, but am I a mentor? I don't think so. I was very happy for that young guy Kelsey Grammer... He's really good. (laughter) I actually became really good friends with Kelsey. The truth of the matter is that he makes me laugh, so there's more footage on the cutting room floor of me laughing, 'cause Kelsey just has a look in his eye that is so wicked. I really loved working with Kelsey. But Ellen Page? I think she's an extraordinary actress. Brilliantly cast. The little boy that plays Leech? Cameron Bright. I didn't actually work with him, but one day, I saw him on set and he's just perfect for that role. He's so brilliant. I saw him in Birth and he was great in that. You can't get him out of your head; it's quite haunting. By the way, Brett is brilliant at casting. I thought Ben Foster was terrific as Angel. It's a tough role to pull off and I really believed his dilemma. I would've liked for him to have more to do, but Ellen did a good job. And Vinnie...(laughs). Vinnie is so much fun to have around. He really popped in the film too; he has a few great lines. Dania was terrific."
 * "As we were filming it, we were all very aware that it was pretty heavy. I saw it, and I thought it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. It was a fun moviegoing experience. I think it's satisfying emotionally, as well. There's many scenes and character plots I had seen on the page that I hadn't been on set for filming, but I thought the whole thing with Kitty, Rogue and Bobby worked so well. I loved all the stuff with Patrick Stewart's character and you really got to see the ambiguity of his character early on. His world was a little gray, and he was unsure of some of the things he was doing and some people were questioning him. When I think about it, there were many things that I saw on film where I said, "This is great!" I really enjoyed the complexity and it was great fun. Visually, it's always a shock and a great thrill. It's one of the great joys of doing a film like this. It's a blast. It's one type of filmmaking that you can watch a film as though you haven't been in it, because so many elements aren't there as you're filming."
 * "This is, hopefully for me, going to be out of the box. It’s going to be the best one, I hope. Well, I would say that, but I really do feel that, and I feel this is going to be very different."
 * "This is Wolverine. This is not Popeye. He's kind of dark. But, you know, this is a change of pace. Chris McQuarrie, who wrote The Usual Suspects, has written the script, so that'll give you a good clue. Aronofsky's going to make it fantastic. There's going to be some meat on the bones. There will be something to think about as you leave the theater, for sure."
 * "I did a film with Darren in the past, and his vision with this movie, he's just gonna knock it out of the park with this one."
 * "We need to find another director and once we've found that, we'll be able to know. It's too early to call on Japan, I'm not sure where they're at, so now we're finding another director, but Fox is very anxious to make the movie and we're moving ahead full steam to find another director."
 * "This one didn't work out but hopefully there'll be another one."