Fans of the Marvel movies, and particularly of Hugh Jackman‘s tenure as Wolverine, would know that the actor wasn’t the first choice for the part. In fact, he wasn’t even the second choice, and scored the gig only after a fortunate turn of events. But did you know that while he was in the audition process, his wife Debora-Lee Furness tried to dissuade him from pursuing the job?
In a 2014 interview with Vulture magazine, Jackman revealed that his wife thought that the superhero character was ‘ridiculous’. He said, “She read three pages and was like, ‘You got claws coming out of your hands? This is ridiculous. Don’t do it’.”
Jackman first played the role in 2000’s X-Men, and was thought to have retired from the role 17 years later, with Logan. However, it was recently announced that he’d be making a comeback as Wolverine in 2024’s Deadpool 3. The role has made him one of the biggest (and most successful) stars of his generation, and his wife eventually admitted that her instincts about the character were off.
In 2018, the couple was featured as guests on the Aussies In Hollywood podcast, where the story came up again. “We’d never heard of it,” she said. “Both of us had no clue.” She added, “I’m thankful that I was wrong because my children get to go to college and have their tuition paid for.” Jackman, on his part, has said in the past that he respects his wife’s advice and credited her for his success. “I would not be a quarter of the man I am without her,” he told The Sun in 2013.
In fact, she was the voice of reason when Jackman was convinced that he was about to be fired from the role five weeks in. “She listened to me very patiently for about an hour, and finally she put her hand on my shoulder and she said, ‘Babe, I think you’ve gotta just trust yourself, you’re worrying way too much about what everybody else is thinking, just go back to the beginning, focus on the character, trust your instincts, you’ve got this’,” he said during a live show in London.
Of course, Jackman nearly didn’t land the role of a lifetime at all. He was only cast as Wolverine after actor Dougray Scott’s schedule became clogged up thanks to a delay in Mission: Impossible 2. Scott had already landed the Wolverine gig, and the first X-Men film was shooting when he learned that he’d have to continue working on M: I 2, in which he was playing the villain.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Scott blamed Tom Cruise for not being able to work on both projects. “Tom Cruise didn’t let me do it,” he said. “We were doing Mission: Impossible and he was like, ‘You’ve got to stay and finish the film’ and I said I will, but I’ll go and do that as well. For whatever reason he said I couldn’t. He was a very powerful guy. Other people were doing everything to make it work.” Scott didn’t hold any grudges against Jackman, however. He said that he loves what Jackman did with the character.
Jackman recognised his good luck, and said wryly on the Aussies in Hollywood podcast, “I send Tom Cruise a present every year.”
