Interview: Hugh Jackman, Liev Shrieber and Ryan Reynolds on X-Men Origins: Wolverine
By Jeff Otto on April 29, 2009
After years of discussion and countless rumors, everyone’s favorite X-Man is finally getting a movie of his very own. X-Men Origins: Wolverine hits screens this Friday, May 1st, and Latino Review had the chance to hang with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Sabretooth (Liev Shrieber) and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) during a press conference on the Fox lot this past weekend. The cast spoke in front of the large underwater chamber set piece from a crucial scene in the movie where Wolverine is injected with the indestructible metal, adamantium, by William Stryker (Danny Huston).

Directed by Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition), Origins attempts to explain the lengthy first portion of Wolverine’s life up until the point where he was rescued by Cyclops and Storm at the beginning of the first X-Men movie from 2000. “I’m exploring approximately 100 years of his life that had never been explored before and had been unknown to him,” says Jackman. “I wanted to see him evolve. You see him in the beginning as a little kid, very unlike how you would imagine Wolverine to be as a boy. To watch him evolve was fantastic.”

Jackman led the show during the interview, feeling an added level of responsibility as both producer and star. “This movie has a different dimension [for me] as producer,” Jackman told press. “I found myself asking everyone yesterday [at the screening] what they thought of it and I was nervous. I asked all these actors and the directors to come on board, so I feel its more personal to me... It’s my baby.”

Despite the action-centric trailers promoting the release, Jackman says that he and director Gavin Hood wanted to inject more than just mindless action. “The first priority of this movie is for it to be fun. But I think what we have an opportunity to deliver from the comic book itself is to also make [audiences] think a little bit and make them feel and take them on a journey through these characters. I think all the X-Men fans have loved Wolverine and all the X-Men characters for more than the action. I think that’s what set it apart from many of the other comic books. Wolverine was the first anti-hero. It wasn’t just good guys versus bad guys, but an internal battle of good and bad going on within the character. That’s why people relate to them.”

The third X-Men movie, The Last Stand, left fans underwhelmed, particularly in relation to Wolverine’s part in the movie. “It’s fair to say, probably by X-Men 3, Wolverine had gone a little soft,” admits Jackman. “I kind of agree with [the fans] there. What fans love about Wolverine is his more uncompromising approach to life. He’s not always a nice guy. And there’s also vulnerability there.”

“I wanted the tone to feel different,” adds Jackman. “A little darker, a little rawer and hopefully, maybe even a little more human. And no more black leather suits.”

Ryan Reynolds was thrilled to finally step into the shoes of the all-powerful Deadpool, a role he had long-campaigned for. “I’ve been wanting to play this guy forever, “I’ve actually really wanted to play Deadpool for a really long time, [so] it was a bit of a dream come true. I always thought he was a character that felt like a cross between Commando and Phantom of the Opera by way of Caddyshack.”

Liev Shrieber, best known as Cotton Weary in the Scream series, probably wasn’t the first choice that came to mind for fans as the man to portray Wolverine’s arch-enemy, Sabretooth. Schrieber was excited by the challenge, but even he had his doubts initially about pulling off the physicality of the part. “I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure that physically I was up for this role. I was a little concerned. I made the awful mistake of going online to see what the fans thought and, of course, they said, ‘You need to get bigger.’ So I started working out with Hugh and doing the high protein diet. Between the two of us, I think we wiped out a whole gene pool of chickens.”

Both Shrieber and Reynolds say keeping up with Jackman, who was portraying the character for the fourth time, was often the biggest struggle on set. “[Hugh] on our first day looked a lot like a guy who was going to make a necklace out of my teeth,” jokes Reynolds. “That was sort of the gold standard that was set from early on.”

Schrieber on his first fight with Hugh: “I remember the third night [of the fight], after shooting until six in the morning every night, looking over at Hugh and the two of us were just so smashed up. They said, ‘Would you guys like to do one more?’ and I remember looking across at Hugh and preying he’d say, ‘I’m tired. I want to go home and go to bed.’ And Hugh said, ‘No, I feel great.’ And I looked across and said, ‘No, yeah, I feel great.’ Then Hugh said, ‘I could probably do two more’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I could probably do three or four more.’”

While Jackman and Shrieber were mainlining protein and jacking up, Reynolds was sharpening his sword-wielding skills, or at least trying to. “Basically it was spending hours and hours with Katana sword training,” says Reynolds. “I had a couple of extremely close calls with these Katana swords. When you’re spinning these swords, you’re going to want to wear pants for that. I honestly just about lost my future legacy.”

Playing Deadpool also meant Reynolds had to give his trademark motormouth skills a lengthy break. “Having my mouth sewn shut, it’s a moment where you say, ‘Why am I method?’ But you go for it anyway. At lunch, snorting a steak was hard, but I got it down.”

Now it’s up to the fans to decide whether Gavin Hood, Jackman and crew have done the iconic character justice in the first X-Men Origins movie. Jackman, for one, is proud of the job and feels that fans will be satisfied, but he warns his co-stars that stepping into these beloved parts from the comic pages comes at a price. “As these guys are about to find out, about every third day for the rest of their lives they are going to hear a critique about how they played the part or how they should have done it differently and what they should do the next time.”

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE OPENS MAY 1ST


Source: Latino Review
Tags: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Text Interview
Comments
Saw it today
Commented By: Martyn on 2009-04-29 16:34:57
Was a lot better than I was expecting it to be after all the bad press I read about it. If you're expecting it to be totally faithfull to the comics then don't bother, but solid summer entertainment it was.

Commented By: chris on 2009-04-29 16:43:40
Three really talented actors stuck in a toxic dump of a film.....shame.
Wolverine is Beast
Commented By: Jordan KO on 2009-04-29 16:44:56
loved the movie, i want more!!
Seems Like Chis
Commented By: FOXhater on 2009-04-29 16:58:41
Is the only person using logic on these posts. FOX will make money off the scam marketing they did with the film. Not because its a good movie. Fun popcorn flick? No. I think Hugh Jackman and Jason Statham are two overrrated action stars who need better agents and better directors to use their true potential. People that praise this stuff is why FOX keeps pushing out these crapfest cheaply done films. Its like praising the kid that always fails in class on purpose.
Have you seen it
Commented By: Myclawismypenis on 2009-04-29 17:30:27
Foxhater, have you seen it in the theater. If not, then commenting about it is not appropriate. See it in theaters then make your case. If you just seen the workprint, then your not gettting the finished product. So, until you see it, and I mean really see it. I dont think that your comments hold water,
Fox searchlight
Commented By: Myclawismypenis on 2009-04-29 17:34:40
If Fox is just hellbent on puttting out terrible movies then explain THE WRESTLER AND SLUMDOG MILL. ? I think those two movies are more than enough of a counter example.
Myclawismypenis
Commented By: SuperFOXhater on 2009-04-29 19:04:30
I have seen the movie. And actually Slumdog was purchased by Searchlight and WB to distribute in North America. So its not like they made the film. The wrestler was purchased by searchlight as well. Not made by FOX. So your statement is irrelevant. Those are indie films pre-made and purchased at festivals to be distributed. Nothing else. ANd Taken was given to FOX as part of the BS lawsuit for suing Warners over Watchmen. Look up the article. What I was referring to anyways was that FOX doesnt make good action, comic book, or Fantasy movies. They use marketable names to make money. Its a no brainer. They constantly interfere over creative decisions, they make short films, purchase the cheapest screen plays for budget, and its well known that a lot of directors have had issues working with the studio. Only reason I care? Is because Im tired of them banking on people just going to the movies because of a name, make the (f*bomb) movie good for once. It seems like your offended by me not liking the film. It is a bad film compared to other superhero movies. Its a quick cash cow and thats the purpose and Im sure people were thinking the same thing when they noticed sixteen trailers of the same shit or 100 pictures of the same shit with just better quality each time. R.I.P X-men Daredevil Elektra FF4 Silver Surfer Babylon A.D. Dragonball Street Fighter Anything that requires this kind of creativity
Oh and
Commented By: SuperFOXhater on 2009-04-29 19:07:38
is it me, or does this movie feel and look like the same tone of the Terminator series on FOX?
evolve? WTF
Commented By: scoot on 2009-04-29 19:31:58
“I wanted to see him evolve. You see him in the beginning as a little kid, very unlike how you would imagine Wolverine to be as a boy. To watch him evolve was fantastic.” no mo respek sah
SAW IT
Commented By: 420band on 2009-04-29 19:36:48
Renolds is in like for 4 minutes and the Black eyed pea guy really annoyed me, Hugh was awesome though ,and so was Sabretooth good flick overall and to compare with other marvel fare: it's a little better than the increbile hulk and X-3 as well
Wolverine
Commented By: Brian Singer on 2009-04-29 20:51:23
You know what, I think the film had only one major flaw... its script. Everything else was acceptable, no Brian Singer though.
SuperFOXhater
Commented By: Myclawismypenis on 2009-04-30 01:23:06
Read my comment. I said putting them out, not making them. By the way, The fact that they distribute them meant that the actually had some faith in the movies. If your so sick and tired of Fox, then dont go to any of their movies and may we have some peace from you bitch ass. LOL. Im curious, what movie studio do you like?
SuperFOXhater part deux
Commented By: Myclawismypenis on 2009-04-30 01:29:33
You know what, to be fair about this. I will agree that Fox has turned out some horrible films. I am curious to why you hate fox so much. Every studio has failed. I cant blame them for wanting to make a profit( it is business after all). I think that you have some valid points, but im just wondering why you hate this studio more than others...you bitchass.j/k by the way,
hMMM...am I being converted by Foxhater.lol
Commented By: Myclawismypenis on 2009-04-30 05:51:28
You know what. Instead of the first 2 xmen movies, what has Fox done that is worth watching? I know that they have some decent taste when they buy a film, but what about when they make them. I may not hate FOX, but I think that I understand why some people may hate them. I have my eye on fox.
it was fine.
Commented By: xenu on 2009-04-30 10:40:19
i enjoyed it. i thought i would hate it. deadpool was barely in it. at least i felt he was. im glad they finally gave Wolvie his claws back. i finally got the taste of the crying pussy from X3 outta my system. i heard a lot of people complain about Gambit. i thought he was cool. could'a gone with a better accent though. i hope they do the Japan stuff in the sequel.
Saw It Last NIght
Commented By: The Guy on 2009-04-30 10:51:01
I have been reading everything Wolverine since I was a kid, I'm almost 30 now. I got my nephew into comics and now he works at the local theatre, the employee's got to watch it last night so he invited me. I didn't go into this movie expecting anything, I actually thought it would be much worse than it was. This movie isn't terrible but it's not awesome either. I'll say it was about as good as a HULK movie or Blade II, it had some really cool stuff but over all it was just so so. The movie hardly follows the true origins of Wolverine so go into this movie with out any expectations and you will probably like it. They tried to put too many characters in the movie and it made too much room for bad and corny lines. You won't even care about Deadpool one way or the other after the movie is over, he was minimal.
P.S.
Commented By: The Guy on 2009-04-30 10:53:11
I always thought Van Damme would make a perfect gambit. He has a great accent for it and a matching attitude. Not that anyone cares.
CRAP...
Commented By: Fontez on 2009-04-30 10:55:21
"stepping into these beloved parts from the comic pages comes at a price" There are no pages from the comic in this movie AT ALL or from the TV Series for that matter. Just a bunch of HORRIBLY in-accurate origins and plot lines... SUCH GARBAGE !!
The Guy
Commented By: Fontez on 2009-04-30 15:56:30
Naw man, Stuntman and Parkour master David Belle would make the PERFECT Gambit !! I've been saying that forever !! And plus he's french !! Check him out in District B-13, he's awesome !
Wolvie is Beast
Commented By: Jordan KO on 2009-04-30 18:35:30
i think fox iz alright.... i mean they did make Taken which equals Win
TAKEN was BADASS so I\'ll give you that...
Commented By: Fontez on 2009-04-30 23:13:36
physics
Commented By: GuyverV on 2009-05-02 21:55:02
anyone ever wonder why a guy with super dense metal grafted to his body would jump over a waterfall? hm