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Topics: Hugh Jackman, Film and TV, Celebrity
Tom Sanders
Topics: Hugh Jackman, Film and TV, Celebrity
Hugh Jackman doesn’t have many regrets about his acting career - and with a filmography like his you can’t really blame him.
From his award-winning work in musical theatre to his 17-year stint as Wolverine in the X-men films he’s had an enviable career, and at the time of writing is missing only an Oscar to complete a full sweep of Hollywood accolades.
However, like all of us, Hugh Jackman admits that even he has racked up a few regrets throughout his career - which still keep him up at night.
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First and most majorly, the Australian actor’s biggest regret is turning down a role in the 2002 musical Chicago, after revealing he was initially offered the role of Billy Flynn - a part which ended up being played by Richard Gere instead.
Speaking to Ok! Magazine (via TheThings), Jackman said: "I'd always wanted to do a movie musical and this one came along relatively early in my career."
"I thought I was too young as there was one line when he said 'I've seen it all, kid'. A year later it went on to win all the Oscars and I remember thinking that perhaps a little bit of make-up could have worked."
While Gere put in a fantastic performance as the smooth-talking lawyer, and ended up winning a Golden Globe for his turn, it’s a part which Jackman will always consider to be the 'one that got away'.
The rest of the star-studded cast involved in the adaptation of the 1975 musical of the same name includes Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, and Lucy Liu.
The movie also ended up winning big at many of that year's award ceremonies too, collecting six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (for Zeta-Jones) in 2003.
Given that level of success, it’s easy to see how one could end up feeling a bit miffed for turning it down.
Jackman’s second regret is more personal in nature, and involves his longtime portrayal of James ‘Logan’ Howlett, aka Wolverine.
The actor said goodbye to the character in 2017 after playing him in nine movies over the span of 17 years, with the movie Logan acting as a farewell to an iconic, record-breaking run.
Having spent so long with the character Jackman’s portrayal of him naturally became much more nuanced as time went by, and following the film’s release, the actor told Vanity Fair he regretted not being able to bring his more-refined takes on Logan to some of the character’s earlier outings.
The actor said of his performance in the film: "I wish I’d started playing him like that 17 years ago."
"So there’s some sense of missed opportunity, but when I saw ‘Logan,’ I sat there and I did have tears in my eyes. The main feeling I had was: There, that’s the character. I feel like I’ve done it now. And I was calm and at peace, but I’m going to miss that guy."