credit: X-Men
Hugh Jackman almost wasn’t cast as Wolverine for one reason. He’s a foot too tall. That sounds like a ridiculous reason not to cast someone in a role. But then again, if the character is supposed to stand shorter or taller, it makes less sense not to pay attention to this.
The fact is that in the comics, Wolverine stands a few inches above five feet. Jackman is easily over six feet tall. That’s a big discrepancy that a lot of fans noticed immediately. Thankfully, most of the fans didn’t care when Jackman started rolling.
His acting took in the surly nature and other aspects of the Canadian mutant with near perfection. This helped fans to ignore or tolerate the overall issue of how tall Jackman is. Not only that, but the ferocity he put into this role was amazing.
The way Jackman tells it, however, this was almost a big problem. His acting wasn’t the issue, which is a plus. But physical characteristics are kind of important at times and are hard to get around. On the other hand, there are a lot of fans who are thankful that things turned out this way.
credit: X-Men 2
Wolverine is a hard character to cast
There are a lot of male actors who could take on this role. Unfortunately, the average man is taller than the comic book character. The idea that Jackman was given a second look is interesting. This means that he did something right while auditioning.
It took seven tries until the people in charge selected Jackman. Plenty of fans likely could have seen many actors taking this role. But the issue with this is that finding the right actor is often like trapping lightning in a bottle. It’s not easy, and it can’t always happen more than once.
The casting of this character already sounds like a headache in regard to the MCU. That was easy to predict, given that Hugh raised the bar on the expectations for this character. Anyone who is cast after Jackman is going to have a lot of pressure set on their shoulders.
Of course, taking on this role is an interesting challenge that many actors are likely to think is worth the risk.
Thinking about who will replace Jackman is tough
There are several names that come to mind when thinking of who can portray Wolverine. But fans do shoot many ideas down without hesitation or explaining why it should not happen. Jon Bernthal, Taron Egerton, and a few others are worthwhile mentions.
But then the idea that the Punisher could return to the MCU comes up. The discussion that certain actors might not have what it takes arises. There are a lot of excuses made to explain why Wolverine is not a role to take lightly.
Trying to figure out who is the perfect actor for this role is tough. But the upside of casting Egerton is that he’s 5’9″, which is much closer to the character. Whether he can take on the role and crush it is hard to say.
credit: X-Men: Origins: Wolverine
Initially, many people didn’t think this could work
There were a lot of fans that didn’t have a lot of faith in Jackman from the start. It’s fair to say that many people were all but silenced after the first X-Men movie. The work that he put in for this role was amazing. The first scene in the cage fight was great without question.
How someone is going to top that or match it is hard to figure. Now that Jackman is returning in Deadpool 3, the challenge might increase. The MCU is likely searching high and low for an actor that can fill this role. If they find that person, it’s easy to think that they won’t reveal it right away.
Not a lot of people knew about Jackman before watching him on the big screen. He was a welcome surprise that got better with each movie. Eventually, the height issue was no longer a major talking point. At some point, it was only mentioned in passing.
One thing is certain, the next actor to play Wolverine won’t exceed six feet in height. The MCU is bound to find someone that’s within a few inches of the comic book character.
Jackman made this role iconic
There are certain roles in Hollywood that are hard to cast. These roles are those that the fans watch carefully. It was easy to guess that Wolverine was going to present a huge challenge. But the fact that Jackman took it and nailed it is amazing.
The kind of pressure this places on the net actor is incredible. But there’s faith that someone out there can take on this role and make it work. The only question is who.
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