When you think about it, Hugh Jackman would be a perfect choice for James Bond. He is tall, handsome and looks really good in a suit. He isn’t British, but being Australian is close enough. As it turns out, Jackman as a Bond was close to being a reality at the early stage of the actor’s career. Speaking with Variety, he revealed that James Bond producers were interested in him after Pierce Brosnan left the franchise.
“I was about to do X-Men 2 and a call came from my agent asking if I’d be interested in Bond,” said Jackman. “I just felt at the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and crazy, and I felt like they needed to become grittier and real. And the response was: ‘Oh, you don’t get a say. You just have to sign on.’ I was also worried that between Bond and X-Men, I’d never have time to do different things.”
Jackman went on to say that people wanted him to play “hero part exclusively” at the time, which felt claustrophobic to him.
“I always tried to do different things,” he said. “But there was a time between X-Men 3 and the first Wolverine movie when I could see the roles getting smaller. People wanted me to play that kind of hero part exclusively. It felt a little bit claustrophobic.”
Although he had some other great roles in his career, Jackman will probably be always remembered as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. He first starred as the character in 2000 in the first X-Men movie, with his last portrayal of Wolverine being in 2017’s Logan. After filming Logan, Jackman said he won’t be portraying Wolverine anymore. His most recent acting effort is upcoming musical drama The Greatest Showman in which he plays the lead role of P. T. Barnum.
