With James Mangold’s bleak, ultraviolent, R-rated, Oscar-nominated neo-western masterwork Logan, Hugh Jackman retired from the role of Wolverine following a 17-year stint in the up-and-down X-Men movie franchise. It’s fair to say he went out with a bang, using the freedom of the R rating to bring whole new dimensions to the character.
Set in 2029 and loosely adapted from “Old Man Logan,” Logan sees Wolverine reluctantly taking his cloned daughter X-23 (also known as Laura) under his wing when her generation of mutants is threatened by government experimentation. So, here are 10 interesting details from the making of Logan.
Jerry Seinfeld Convinced Hugh Jackman To Hang Up The Claws
Hugh Jackman was convinced to hang up the claws and stop playing Wolverine after having a conversation with Jerry Seinfeld about when the iconic comedian decided to end his sitcom after nine seasons.
Jackman stated that his increasing age and brushes with skin cancer were major factors in the decision, but his discussion with Seinfeld opened his eyes to the unsavory possibility of audiences getting sick of him after too long.
The R Rating Was Apparently Planned Before Deadpool’s Success
Many fans speculated that Fox decided to give Logan an R rating after the success of Deadpool, but according to both Hugh Jackman and producer Simon Kinberg, this was always the plan, because the story was too dark and violent for a PG-13 rating.
A Lot Of The Dinner Scene’s Dialogue Was Improvised
According to Patrick Stewart, a lot of the dialogue in the dinner scene was improvised. The actors filmed a few takes in which they delivered the scripted dialogue, and then James Mangold told them to play around with the scene a little and ad-lib some lines.
Millie Bobby Brown Auditioned To Play X-23
Before Dafne Keen was cast to play X-23, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown auditioned for the role. She even screen-tested with Hugh Jackman.
In the comics, X-23 is a teenager, but James Mangold wanted to challenge the stereotype of sexualizing young superheroes by making her a little kid instead.
Hugh Jackman Dehydrated Himself Before Each Shirtless Scene
Whenever Hugh Jackman was set to shoot a shirtless scene, he dehydrated himself for 48 hours in order to shed any excess water weight and be as toned and defined as humanly possible before he removed his shirt on camera.
However, the actor noted that this method is very dangerous and shouldn’t be emulated by fans. He used the same technique to appear emaciated as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables’ prison scenes.
Dafne Keen’s Tears During Logan’s Death Scene Were Real
It was initially mistakenly announced that Sienna Novikov had been cast as X-23. However, this was corrected when Dafne Keen appeared in the trailer. Novikov instead worked as Keen’s stunt double.
During Logan’s death scene, when Laura starts to cry, the tears were real. Shooting the death scene was so emotional that Keen actually cried.
Liev Schreiber Was Offered The Chance To Return As Sabretooth
Liev Schreiber was offered the opportunity to reprise his role as Sabretooth from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Logan would’ve reluctantly come to Sabretooth for help in Oklahoma City. However, Schreiber’s commitments to filming Ray Donovan prevented him from making the shoot.
There was also a deleted scene in which one of the young mutants would ask Logan if Sabretooth was real, since he told Laura that a lot of X-Men comic book storylines were made up.
There’s A Specific Reason That The Movie Doesn’t Have “Wolverine” In The Title
Naming the third Wolverine solo movie Logan, making it the first Wolvie movie not to feature “Wolverine” in the title, was more than just a nod to “Old Man Logan,” which served as a major inspiration for the movie.
On his director’s commentary, James Mangold said that he titled the movie Logan because it’s a story about the man, not the mythical heroic figure he’s grown sick of being.
Patrick Stewart Came Up With Xavier’s Dialogue About Shane
Since Shane had a huge influence on James Mangold’s construction of Logan, along with Paper Moon and Unforgiven, the director always planned to include a scene in which the characters watch the movie.
But Xavier’s dialogue about watching the movie as a kid wasn’t in the original script. Mangold added it when Patrick Stewart told him about his own childhood experience of watching Shane on the big screen.
Hugh Jackman Originally Didn’t Want Logan To Die At The End
Although the death of Wolverine proved to be a powerful and fitting ending for Logan, Hugh Jackman originally didn’t want the character to die at the end. James Mangold always wanted to kill off the character, but Jackman encouraged him to keep an open mind and consider letting him live.
Of course, Jackman eventually came around. He explained, “James was always certain of that ending, and he was right. Unlike a human character, what’s most poignant for someone who is thought to be indestructible is him dying while saying, ‘This is what it feels like.’”