Hugh Jackman is a man of many talents, with fingers in many different pies. Right now, for example, he’s appearing in the hit Broadway musical The Music Man. But he is likely to always be best-known for playing the hirsute hero with metal claws – Wolverine – a character that he played for 17 years.
Jackman almost got into dodgy waters with Canadian immigration when first auditioning and then being cast as Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men, however. Talking to Jimmy Kimmel, Jackman said that he’d auditioned in Toronto, had to go to back to LA to get his stuff, and then had to fly straight back to play the role. The film’s producers told him to tell customs that he was only in Canada for an audition, as they hadn’t arranged his work visa yet. In case you need reminding, Jackman is in fact Australian.
So, Jackman was in the line saying “it’s just an audition” over and over again to himself while sweating. When asked by the immigration officer why he was there, Jackman immediately broke and confessed; “it was pathetic.” He was sent to a room where he was shouted at and told he had no rights and no phone calls.
Jackman was in the room thinking; “I’ve just lost the biggest break of my life and I’m going to go to jail.” Jackman started telling the officer that the job was in a live-action version of X-Men, and that he’d be playing Wolverine. The officer responded; “what?!” a few times before shouting at his mates and saying “it’s Wolverine!” Turned out he was a mad X-Men fan, and Jackman was let go.
The X-Men are currently in an interesting limbo, after Dark Phoenix was finally released after much delay in 2019. While they have made cameos in the Deadpool movies, they may finally be becoming part of the MCU proper. Patrick Stewart’s Professor X is in the Doctor Strange 2 trailer, but we don’t yet know what kind of role he will play, or if it will be merely a cameo.
If you’re more a Greatest Showman fan than an X-Men fan, check out our guide to the best musicals.