Hugh Jackman played Wolverine in nine movies, starting with 2000’s “X-Men.” So, when it came time to hang up his claws as the Marvel superhero, he knew that it would be an emotional farewell.
In an interview for Variety‘s Actors on Actors issue, Jackman talked to Anne Hathaway about shooting his final scene as Wolverine in 2017’s “Logan,” directed by James Mangold.
“There were so many crossovers by the end, because I’d played it for so long,” Jackman said. “I knew it was going to be my last one way before we wrote it. I made that decision. There was a weight of expectation that I’d been carrying. I was super invested.”
In the R-rated superhero drama, a departure from the other “X-Men” movies, Jackman’s last scene shows Wolverine sacrificing himself for his adopted daughter Laura (Dafne Keen).
“I felt so in it,” Jackman said. “I was working with a director that I worked with three times before, who I trust implicitly, Jim Mangold. I remember when we shot that scene, we were shooting very high altitude, and there were thunderstorms going off everywhere, and we had to shut down. He just said, ‘We can’t do this big stunt scene. But we’re just going to do the death scene.’ I’m like, ‘Like, now?’ He goes, ‘I’m just going to have you and Dafne, and if you could just do that.’ I’m like, ‘All right.’ He knew that’s best for me.”
The meaning of the scene wasn’t lost on Mangold — or Jackman. “We got there and we’re shooting the scene,” Jackman said. “Dafne was 11. She was fantastic. We shot Dafne, and she turned around in two takes and he goes, ‘Let’s just kick out. Let’s do another.’ I said, ‘You sure? I feel like –‘ and he goes, ‘Man, let’s just stop the clocks. Let’s not worry about everything. This is the end of 19 years. Sit it in for half an hour.’ ”
“He rolled the cameras,” Jackman recalled. “Him allowing me — not just as an actor, but as Hugh — to remember that moment. It was a luxury that I’ll never forget.”
Variety‘s Actors on Actors issue celebrates the best TV performances of the year. Jackman is receiving the best reviews of his career for playing a school superintendent in HBO’s “Bad Education,” while Anne Hathaway portrays a woman coming to terms with her bipolar disorder in the Amazon anthology series “Modern Love.”