Hugh Jackman on uncovering new sides of his famous character in Deadpool & Wolverine

Hugh Jackman closed a very important chapter in his career when he farewelled Wolverine in the excellent and brooding 2017 film, Logan. The Hollywood superstar, who honed his craft right here at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, had been baring his Adamantium claws in the role since the first X-Men movie in 2000. The amount of effort it takes to bring Wolverine’s imposing physique to the screen is immense, and Jackman did it across 10 films in 17 years. So, to reprise the character now, at 55 years old, is no small thing, not least because Wolverine was given the kind of poignant send-off typically reserved for the most beloved superheroes. It was only the chance to star alongside his good mate Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool & Wolverine that convinced Jackman a comeback was on the cards. Sitting next to Reynolds as he speaks to STM, the Aussie actor laughs at the suggestion such a comeback puts him in the same league as John Farnham, who seemed to have more than his share of farewell tours. “100 per cent,” Jackman laughs, “Give me all the s…, I totally deserve it. “No one’s gonna believe anything I say about anything I’m ever gonna do again in terms of roles, because I said for five years that I’m never playing Logan again.” Ultimately, though, the project Reynolds and director Shawn Levy (Free Guy) presented him with was too good to refuse. Not only was it a chance to work with two of his best friends — the trio live around the corner from each other in New York and hang out all the time — this was an opportunity to bring Wolverine into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a way the character had never been seen before. STM was given exclusive access to 40 minutes of footage of Deadpool & Wolverine, which reveals details of how Reynolds’ character travels to alternate realities in the Multiverse, to find a version of Wolverine that will help save Earth. This has hilarious consequences, but also paves the way for a side of Logan that will be as new to fans as it was to the actor who plays him. “Mate, I was given runway that I’d never been given before,” Jackman says. “I actually have one monologue in this, which probably has got more lines than I’ve spoken in an entire movie. “Ryan and Shawn and the other writers had so much care for the character, and because of this dynamic between (Deadpool and Wolverine) there were parts I got to play with that I’ve never really been able to play before. “And also, I think, maybe just me as an actor, I found I could scratch an itch that I wasn’t able to scratch before.” Reynolds took the responsibility to honour the character very seriously. “Logan is one of the greatest comic movies I’ve ever seen in my life,” the Canadian admits. The new film also represents a change of roles behind the camera, with Reynolds serving as producer, unlike the first big-screen appearance of Deadpool and Wolverine, in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in which Jackman served as a producer. Even though it was an inauspicious debut for Deadpool, much to the chagrin of fans, Jackman vividly recalls the impression Reynolds left on him. “How hard he worked, how brilliant he was,” Jackman says. “After one scene, I saw him sitting on the steps of his trailer, and I said, ‘Are you OK?’, and he said, ‘I’m realising now what I could have done with that scene’, so I said, ‘OK, let’s get back in there’. And we jump straight back in, and literally the next shot is the one that’s in the movie.” “He’s downplaying the hell out of that,” Reynolds interrupts. “I learned more in my short stint working with this man on that movie, than anything else in my entire career. “Watching him as a leader, watching the respect and kindness he showed to everyone … and I remember thinking, ‘if I’m ever lucky enough to be in the shoes of a guy like that, you want to model your behaviour and work ethic in every way, shape, or form’, but, of course, I went the exact the opposite way, and became a bit of a monster.” After the fun of making the movie, Jackman just can’t wait for fans to finally see it. “As someone who’s played this character for 25 years, (Reynolds and Levy) have so much of their heart and soul poured into making sure that this was a version of Wolverine that was the best yet,” he says. “When I read the script, and what I felt on set, was that I’d never felt someone cared as much about my character as I did before, and they have given me, and hopefully you will agree, a version of Wolverine that is so exciting and different and I think satisfying.” Deadpool & Wolverine is in theatres on July 24.