At this point the role of Wolverine has become synonymous with Hugh Jackman. It’s hard to imagine that there was once a time when the powers that be were offering the role to other actors but Jackman wasn’t the first choice for the popular character. Russell Crowe was offered the role, Dougray Scott got the role and then had to bail and Viggo Mortensen was also offered the role. He recently talked to The Daily Beast about why he didn’t end up playing Wolverine on the big screen.
“I was offered Wolverine for the first movie—I guess it would have been for the franchise then. That was before I got Lord of the Rings. I remember going to the meeting with the director, Bryan Singer, with my son who was a total comic book expert. He was about 10 at the time. Henry came, and Bryan showed us all these models and storyboards, and Henry was instructing the director, saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to change this thing right here.” Mortensen told The Daily Beast.
On why he couldn’t do it he said.
“I believe it coincided with another project, and I couldn’t do it.” This project was likely his role as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings.
What do you think, would Viggo Mortensen have made a good Wolverine?
