Wolverine: Jackman spills beans on alleged troubles, Gambit and Deadpool
By
David Bentley on Mar 11, 09 11:07 AM
HUGH JACKMAN, star of the upcoming prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine, has spoken about the film in an extensive interview.
He addresses rumours of clashes between director Gavin Hood and the studio, talks about Gambit (played by Taylor Kitsch, see picture above), about creative liberties with Deadpool, and his thoughts on more Wolverine movies.
Asked about the reported production troubles, he said: "Let me make this clear. You say clashes between Gavin and the studio, but sometimes there were clashes between Gavin and I, sometimes between me and the studio. I'm not trying to spin this or cover up or anything.
"There is also, wrongly, a belief out there that tonally the studio wanted a different movie from Gavin or from me, but that is not the truth.
"They hired David Benioff. He's an A-list writer. Top writer. Character, character, character, and then the script that came to me was badass, gritty and dark in tone. It was grittier than any of the X-Men movies and fitting for the character.
"I spoke to David [Benioff]. We've always been on the same page with tone. There's never going to be 100 per cent agreement but with tone we've always been on the same page."
He said: "I've seen a cut of the film and it's really strong. I'm really happy with it. And I think whatever people think they should see it. The film is what we live and die for. The proof is in the pudding."
He went on: "I was very adamant this didn't feel like X-Men 4 in any way. People say spin-off, but I've always felt the character is strong enough to deserve a film.
"The movie's really big and we shot it partly in New Zealand, partly in Australia, as I wanted to have something decidedly different. Also we got a different director - Gavin Hood - who's an incredible dramatic storyteller with such enthusiasm."
"I had a really good go in X-Men 1, 2 and 3 - I mean Wolverine got a lot of screen time but I still felt there was a hell of a lot of mystery to him. I'd read so many of the comics' amazing sagas and I thought each one could make an amazing movie.
"There's so much inherent in that character that makes him the perfect antihero, that's the Dirty Harry, Mad Max or Indiana Jones classic screen archetype. As good a go as we'd had, I still didn't think we'd defined him.
"The job of this movie is people need to understand everything about him. A central part of storytelling is knowing where people come from and who they are. Until you know you're always going to feel unsatisfied."
He said: "It's definitely the movie seen through his eyes and the battles that he goes through. I hope the movie does it justice.
"First, we have to exceed expectations, we have to reinvent, we have to do what Daniel Craig did with Bond. Secondly we have to be badass, badass, badass! It's got to be badass. Because by the function of the story of X-Men, his evolution was becoming softer."
He said Wolverine was set in the 'not-too-distant past' and in a time where mutants are not openly talked about, where they're more an urban myth. He didn't want to 'lock down' the dates too much because he wanted an 'element of timelessness'.
"I need to 100 per cent believe that at the end, he could walk out of shot and into that bar in X-Men."
He said
sequels were possible: "Well, I've always been obsessed by the Japanese story of Wolverine. It gave me a lot of inspiration. I can see the comedy of him training with samurai, I can just see it working."
But he added: "The last thing I'm going to do is flog a dead horse. If it becomes clear that we're barking up a tree that everyone's seen too often, if we're doing something people have had enough of, I'm not the kind of person to doggedly hold on."
On
Gambit: "He's a little more showy than Wolverine but there's a similarity. They're outsiders, they're wisecrackers, anti-authority. In this movie, Gambit plays the role a little bit like Wolverine did in the first. He's not on anybody's side. They have a dynamic where they love giving each other s**t."
On
Deadpool: "I have to be very careful how I talk about Deadpool because it's something I'm really excited about. I just can't think right now how I can tell you about it without giving away some really cool ideas. Some of Benioff's best stuff in the draft was how smartly he brought that character in.
"The things I'm thinking about now, I don't want to tell you because fans will go "Aw, that's cool". Actually some fans might be p***ed off but that's okay, I think they'll understand. We took some creative licences with him."
Deadpool, a mercenary implanted with Wolverine's healing powers, is played by Ryan Reynolds.
Jackman added that he felt the Wolverine/Sabretooth relationship had a similar competitive edge to the relationship between tennis players Jon McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.
He says he had read the McEnroe book You Cannot Be Serious in which the player had sunk into a depression when Borg retired, because he had fed on the rivalry - and Jackman feels a similar dynamic applies to the animalistic feud between Wolverine and Sabretooth.
The film is released on April 29 in the UK and on May 1 elsewhere.
![[A]](https://superherohype-data.community.forum/avatars/l/70/70800.jpg?1270390582){kind=avatar}
t:
