Hugh Jackman To Spend 6 Months Getting Fit For Deadpool 3: “I’ve Learned You Can’t Rush It"
Hugh Jackman requires six months to get in shape to play Wolverine again.
The 54-year-old actor has said he needs half a year of preparation he reprises the iconic Marvel character for the third Deadpool movie. Jackman has played Wolverine in nine movies — beginning with 2000's X-Men — spanning nearly 20 years.
Speaking on CNN Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace, Jackman spilled: “I’ve learned you can’t rush it. I’ve learned that it takes time.
“So, we have six months from when I finish [Broadway’s The Music Man] to when I started filming. And I’m not doing any other work. I’m going to be with my family and train. That’s going to be my job for six months.”
The Greatest Showman star says his stint as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man has kept him fit.
He added: “And I’m really fit right now. There’s one thing that about eight shows a week being on Broadway singing and dancing, is I’m fit. So, I’m healthy. I have a good place to start. And apologies, chickens. Run a mile. Start running now because I’m coming for you.”
Jackman recently admitted he "fully intended" 2017's Logan to be his final outing as Wolverine.
The Australian actor insisted he always meant it when he told fans he was finished playing the character — though he confessed the idea of returning for Ryan Reynolds' franchise has always been "lurking and brewing" in his subconscious.
He said: "Well, I was 20 minutes into watching Deadpool and I had just announced, literally, a few weeks before that Logan was going to be my last, which I fully intended. And then I was like, 'Uh-oh'...
"I’m a terrible poker player. All this time I was saying I was done, I really meant it. But anyway, somewhere deep down, this idea was obviously lurking and brewing."
But over the summer, Jackman realised he "really wanted" to be a part of the Deadpool saga and his role came together quickly once he'd called Reynolds to reveal he was finally giving in to his begging, much to his friend's surprise.
He told Deadline in November: "I was just driving out to the beach. It was mid-August, I had a week off from the show [The Music Man on Broadway], my first week off in eight, nine months, 10 months. And it came to me like, 'I really want to do that.' And that was it.
"As soon as I arrived at the beach, I rang Ryan just to see what the hell was going on. And then here we are. It was so quick.
"And trust me, there’s not a morning I don’t wake up where Ryan Reynolds is outside my house with posters saying, 'Please.' He’s constantly asking me about it.
"And I was like, 'Dude, I’m done. I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done, I’m done.' So then when he rang me [back], he was like, ‘Are you serious?' So yeah."
Jackman also recently revealed on The Empire Film Podcast that Deadpool and Wolverine hate each other.
"10 being really close, zero being the reality, we're zero, we're opposites, hate each other," he said. "I'm just talking from my perspective, [Logan is] frustrated by him, wants to be a million miles away from him or wants to punch him in the head.
"Unfortunately, he can't be a million miles away from him in this movie, so I'm probably going to punch him in the head a lot."
Although Wolverine died in Logan, Jackman insisted that his return in Deadpool 3 won't affect the events of that movie, which will begin production in May for a Nov 2024 release.
Watch Jackman's interview here:
— BANG SHOWBIZ
Photos: TPG News/Click Photos
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