Hollywood is full of sliding doors moments.
While it’s impossible to picture anyone but Ian McKellen playing Gandalf, that almost didn’t happen.
The job of the legendary Lord of the Rings wizard was offered to Sir Sean Connery, but the James Bond actor turned it down because he didn’t ‘get’ the script.
There is almost certainly another world where Connery took the role, and ended up portraying two of the most iconic characters in all of fiction in Gandalf and James Bond.
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Similarly, Hugh Jackman’s illustrious career started with a role he wasn’t the first choice for.
Hell, more than just not being the first choice, someone else was fully cast in the role, with a press release announcing they had found their Wolverine.
The initial choice for the role was actually Russell Crowe, with X-Men director Bryan Singer reaching out.
Crowe turned the role down but pointed the director to fellow Australian actor Hugh Jackman.
The production turned to an actor by the name of Dougray Scott, who was fully signed on to take the role.
That is, until Tom Cruise stopped things in its tracks.
Dougray Scott was all set to star as Wolverine, however his role in Cruise’s Mission Impossible II was overrunning due to a tumultuous production.
When speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Scott said: “Tom Cruise didn’t let me do it.
“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.”
With production scrounging, they turned to their recommendation from Crowe – and the rest is history.
Jackman would go on to play the role of Wolverine on a further nine occasions, and is now circling back around for his tenth bite at the cherry for the upcoming Deadpool and Wolverine.
Whilst the character ‘died’ in Logan, the version of Wolverine in Deadpool and Wolverine will likely be from an alternate reality – an important part of Jackman taking the job.
He told SiriusXM: “It’s all because of this device they have in the Marvel world of moving around timelines.
“Now we can go back because, you know, it’s science. So, I don’t have to screw with the Logan timeline, which was important to me. And I think probably to the fans too.”
While they may be moving around different timelines and different versions of the character, no offence to Dougray Scott – we’re glad we’re in the timeline where Jackman got the now iconic role.
Topics: Hugh Jackman, Lord Of The Rings, Marvel, Mission Impossible, Wolverine, Film, TV and Film, Deadpool
Michael Slavin