Deadpool and Wolverine director teases Hugh Jackman's new "less silent, less distant" Logan: "He's a haunted man"

2024-07-22

EntertainmentMoviesSuperhero MoviesDeadpool 3Deadpool and Wolverine director teases Hugh Jackman’s new “less silent, less distant” Logan: “He’s a haunted man"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Hugh Jackman as Logan in Deadpool and Wolverine

Deadpool and Wolverinedirector Shawn Levy says Hugh Jackman’s performance as Logan in the threequel is “unlike anything he’s seen” in the actor’s previous superhero movies.

The X-Men star is set to make his MCU debut in the upcoming flick, which sees his adamantium-clawed mutant form an unlikely alliance with the Merc with a Mouth, in an attempt to save the latter’s friends and family from a TVA-related disaster. Along the way, though, it becomes clear that the blue-and-yellow-suited hero is holding onto some serious guilt, which threatens to get in the way of the mission.

“I think it was reciprocal. Hugh brought something, we brought something as writers,” Levy tellsGamesRadar+andInside Total Filmwhen we ask him what Jackman brought anew to the film, having played Wolverine for almost a quarter of a century.

“Hugh brought his 55 years… Hugh brought his soul and gravitas and wisdom and heart from having lived this many years, and having been Wolverine this long,” he continues. “He’s a haunted man [in this movie], who’s wrestling something, and Hugh brought a depth of feeling and experience that is unlike anything I’ve seen in the other movies.

(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Shawn Levy on the set of Deadpool and Wolverine

“Our job was to give him some meat to chew on,” Levy continues, noting how he and fellow writers Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and Ryan Reynolds purposefully wrote certain scenes where Jackman could “tear it up and explore a Logan who’s still very much the character we love but maybe less silent, less laconic, a little less distant.” The result? Well, a more verbal Logan, for one. “The challenge was writing Logan scenes with words that Hugh can say that don’t betray the character that we all adore.”

So far, the trailers for Deadpool and Wolverine have been refreshingly vague, but they seem to hint at a tragic backstory for Jackman’s character, as Wade Wilson asks him in one: “Is that what you said whenyour worldwent to shit?”

“Trust me, kid, I’m no hero,” a solemn Wolverine says in another scene, while a further moment shows him falling to his knees in some sort of barren land.

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Given Wolverine’s death in James Mangold’s Logan, and the inclusion of the Time Variance Authority, we can assume that the new version is a variant from an alternate universe. With that, some viewersreckon he’s a Wolverine who’s witnessed the near-extinction of his kindas part of the canon comic book event, the Genosha massacre.

(Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova in Deadpool and Wolverine

Also starring Rob Delaney, Matthew Macfadyen, and Emma Corrin, Deadpool and Wolverine lands in UK cinemas on July 25, and a day later in the US. For more, check out all theupcoming Marvel movies and showson the way, as well as our guide to how to watch theMarvel movies in order.

Listen out for our chat with Levy on the upcoming episode of the Inside Total Film podcast, which is available onApple,Audioboom,Spotify, and more.

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