Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen rejected Wolverine role in X-Men; Know Why

Hugh Jackman portrayed Logan / Wolverine for around 17-years in the X-men film series, receiving praises from the audiences. On the other hand, Viggo Mortensen played Aragorn in the epic fantasy adventure trilogy The Lord of the Rings which earned him worldwide recognition. Now, Mortensen revealed that he was offered the role of Wolverine in the X-Men universe but denied it.

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LOTR fame Viggo Mortensen explains why he refused Wolverine role in the X-men series

In a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Lord of the Rings actor said that the thing which bothered him at the time was just the commitment of endless movies of that same character over and over. He admitted that he was nervous about taking on the character. The actor explained that the makers ironed most of the doubts out, but he did take his son Henry to the meeting he had with the director as his sort of “good luck charm” and guide. He recalls that at the back of his mind he was thinking that he could learn something, too. But developed doubts because he let Henry read the script and he went ‘This is wrong, that’s not how it is,’ referring to the difference between Wolverine in those X-Men movies and in the comics.

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Mortensen mentioned that X-Men (2000) director Bryan Singer asked his son if he was familiar with the character. The actor stated that Henry quipped, ‘yeah, but he doesn’t look like this,' And all of a sudden the filmmaker was "falling all over himself" and then the rest of the meeting was Singer explaining in detail to Henry why he was taking certain liberties. The Lord of the Rings star asserted that they walked out of there, and his son asked if the director would change the things he told him about, and he replied that he does not think so. Viggo Mortensen noted that he was not going to take on the role anyway because he was not sure if he wanted to be doing that for years, and then a couple of years later he ended up doing three Lord Of The Rings. 

 As everyone knows Hugh Jackman ended up playing Wolverine and the rest is history. Expressing his opinion, Viggo Mortensen said that he thinks Jackman “did great” with his portrayal of Logan. He asserted that he is sure no one could imagine anyone else doing it better than he did it.

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