Hugh Jackman recalls Kevin Feige's kind gesture after his disastrous first Wolverine audition

News
By published

"I thought, 'I'll never see him again'"

Deadpool 3
(Image credit: Disney/Marvel)

As Hugh Jackman returns, against the narrative odds, to play Wolverine on the big screen once again, the actor reflects on his first audition 25 years ago – and a kind gesture extended by Marvel boss Kevin Feige. 

When he auditioned to play Wolverine in X-Men back in 1999, the character had already been cast – Dougray Scott was meant to play him, but the actor had to drop out of the movie due to scheduling conflicts with Mission: Impossible 2. A last-minute recast was needed, which led to Jackman reading lines to director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Tom DeSanto in a trailer on set in Toronto. 

"He's just going, 'Quiet… Quieter… Quieter.' By the end, I couldn't even hear myself," Jackman told EW. "I could tell he was like, 'Why on my lunch hour am I auditioning some guy for a part that I've already cast?' He was pissed off."

Leaving the audition feeling "deflated," Jackman's plans to travel home were disrupted by Feige, who was working on the movie as producer Lauren Shuler Donner's assistant – and insisted on taking him out for a steak dinner with DeSanto. "I said, 'Kevin, we all know I'm not getting the part. You don't have to do dinner,'" Jackman continued. "But no, he sat in there and had a steak dinner with me and then drove me to the airport. I'll never forget it. That was the nicest thing. I thought, 'I'll never see him again.'"

Jackman's latest reunion with Feige is Deadpool 3, officially titled Deadpool and Wolverine. The movie sees Wolverine team up with Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool to carry out a TVA mission with the power to change the history of the MCU, alongside Succession's Matthew Macfadyen as TVA agent Paradox and The Crown's Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier's twin sister. 

Deadpool and Wolverine arrives in UK cinemas on July 25 and US theaters on July 26. In the meantime, get up to speed with the MCU with our guide to the story so far in Marvel Phase 5 and what's still to come in Marvel Phase 6.

Emily Garbutt
Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related. I help bring you all the latest news, features, and reviews, as well as helming our Big Screen Spotlight column. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.