Russell Crowe On Why He Turned Down Playing Wolverine

It’s kind of hard to imagine anyone but Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, but of course, before Jackman was cast, there were others who had the opportunity to play one of the most popular X-Men characters. One of them was actor Russell Crowe, who knew director Bryan Singer and was encouraged to pursue the role, which he turned down.

Speaking with Australian TV, Crowe discussed how he was offered the role and why he turned it down.

“Bryan [Singer, X-Men director] was a friend at the time and he was really putting the pressure on.”

At the time, Crowe was in the midst of filming for Gladiator and he didn’t want to take on another role that associated him with… wolves?

“If you remember, Maximus has a wolf at the centre of his cuirass, and he has a wolf as his companion … which I thought was going to be a bigger deal [at the time]…So I said no, because I didn’t want to be ‘wolfy’, like ‘Mr Wolf’.”

Interesting that that was the reason, but it isn’t a role that Crowe seems to regret not having taken and it was eventually him who pointed Hugh Jackman out to Bryan Singer, who took on the role after actor Dougray Scott had to drop out.

Source: Australian TV