Bonus! How Wolverine became Hugh Jackman (or the other way around)
It's hard to imagine anyone other than Hugh Jackman in the role of Wolverine, and yet ... it very nearly wasn't. And it's even harder to imagine anyone other than Ian McKellen playing Magneto (successfully) ... and yet it nearly wasn't him, either. Who do we have to thank for these two actors landing their iconic roles? Oddly enough, it was a little bit thanks to Tom Cruise, and a little bit thanks to a young low-level executive named Kevin Feige.
For this week's bonus video, we'll dive into some of the very weird casting quirks around the first X-Men film, including a few actors who were considered and would surely have had very different interpretations of the characters. Michael Jackson as Professor X???
Backup link in case the video doesn't play: https://youtu.be/irvBGl8qllY
Comments (13)
Great video as always. One thing, when you said that Michael Jackson said: “That’s why I should play Professor Xavier, head of the school of youngsters…” I heard it in a bad way. Michael Jackson wanting to be around more “youngsters”. 😬
Back in the mid-80s when I collected the X-Men comics and would hang around the comics shop shooting the breeze, the favored actor for Wolverine was Clint Eastwood. It was also generally agreed that it would only work if the movie was made very soon because he’d age out of it. I’ve talked to other Wolverine fans when the first film came out who remembered the same take. I think Jackman did a great job, but I can’t help but wonder what a younger Eastman would have been like.
Ha! Eastwood's two inches taller than Jackman! I don't honestly care how tall the actor is if they do the role well but it does crack me up given so few superheroes are iconically short, so the notion of Bob Hoskins in the part -- who at 5'6" would be only 3" taller than Wolverine is in the comics -- is indeed fascinating. That said, Hoskins more resembles Alpha's Flight's Puck, imho, but that guy's only 3 and half feet tall!
Hey, I just started reading Evelina by Fanny Burney, and I found a bit that I thought you might like; the young heroine is describing her first trip to a milliner’s shop. “What most diverted me was, that we were more frequently served by women than by men; and such men! So finical, so affected! They seemed to understand every part of a woman’s dress better than we do ourselves; and they recommended caps and ribands with an air of so much importance, that I wished to ask them how long they had left off wearing them!” Caps, by the way, were little mini-hats made of cloth that women wore on their heads, and were exclusively feminine clothes at this time, I think.
This is something I've read a few times over the years: During preproduction of Cameron's unmade "Spider-Man" movie is when it was decided that Peter Parker would be able to produce web naturally, not using the web shooters of the comics. Not sure if it was Kathryn Bigelow's idea, or Cameron's, but it is one of the few plot points that eventually made it to the Sam Rami movie.
That's fascinating, and I wonder what made them decide to switch it up in later films!
It was OKLAHOMA and in London.
Ah of course, thank you! I'm watching clips from the proshot now.
This may be an unpopular opinion but, I don't think that Hugh Jackman gave a singular performance in his time playing Wolverine (with the notable exception of his performance in Logan (2017). That's not a knock against Hugh, it's just that up until Logan, Wolverine didn't strike me as a hugely complex character. So, pretty much any actor with a good build and an ability to convincingly play a standoffish prick who tosses out an occasionally decent 1-liner probably would have faired ok. For proof, just look at Henry Cavill who stepped into the role for 10 seconds in Deadpool & Wolverine, and was just a believable as the character as Hugh was. All of this to say that I am very glad that Hugh got both huge exposure from Wolverine while avoiding being typecast, because he did get to show that he is an excellent actor when given the chance in films like Prisoners, The Prestige and Bad Education, as well as being a truly peerless song & dance man (best exemplified on screen in The Greatest Showman.. I mean, the bar scene with him and Zac Efron alone was well worth the price of admission). Michael Jackson as professor X would have been an interesting choice to say the least. It seems that he was always trying to make a splash as an actor though. I read that he wanted to be Spider Man as well, and to also be in Star Wars. Another role that I know he was pushing hard for was as Willy Wonka in the Charlie and the Chocolate factory remake, going even as far to producing a whole soundtrack for it. Somehow though, he was never able to convince Warner Brothers to cast him in the role as a super rich, world renowned, eccentric weirdo who invites children to his huge reclusive property for decidedly shady reasons. Imagine that. As I just finished going over what I wrote above looking for typos, I heard on the radio that Terrence Stamp has died. I know that most will know him as General Zod especially with our current superman resurgence, but he will always be Bernadette to me.
I agree about Jackman.
another fun fact : james cameron's spider-man was supposed to be leo. when the deal fell apart he on to make his next movie, 'Titanic' with his 'peter parker' lol
Honestly Kate Winslet would've been a great Mary Jane
Great video, Matt! I had no idea about any of the behind-the-scenes elements.