Hugh Jackman Announces His Body Is Permanently Damaged From Playing Wolverine
Hugh Jackman says that playing Wolverine permanently damaged his vocal cords.
Hugh Jackman made a major sacrifice to play our favorite surly X-Man on the big screen. According to Deadline, the Australian actor damaged his vocal cords with all the growling and grunting he had to do to play Wolverine. And while Wolverine was Jackman’s major breakout role in the United States, the damage caused to his vocal cords has affected other aspects of his career.
While doing a radio interview with BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Hugh Jackman said that the 17 years he played Wolverine in the X-Men and Wolverine films permanently damaged his vocal range, affecting his falsetto. The 54-year-old actor joked that his drama school teacher would be shocked if they heard some of the things Jackman has had to do to his voice in order to portray the Marvel character.
While a lower falsetto range isn’t a big deal to some actors, singing and dancing are a major part of Hugh Jackman’s career. Before playing Logan in the X-Men films, Jackman first arrived in the States from Down Under to play Curly in Broadway’s 1999 revival of Oklahoma! The actor also starred in several Hollywood musicals, including 2012’s Les Mis and 2017’s The Greatest Showman, which he also produced. Most recently, Jackman was back on Broadway playing music salesman/conman Harold Hill in the classic Meredith Willson musical The Music Man.
Despite the damage done by playing Wolverine, Hugh Jackman has already announced he is returning to the role. Previously, Jackman had the Guinness World Record for the longest portrayal of a Marvel character until Sir Patrick Stewart snatched the title away in 2021 when the British actor reprised the role of Professor Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness. It seems as though Jackman is anxious to claim the accolade again, as the actor will be reprising Logan/Wolverine in Deadpool 3.
Having Hugh Jackman as Wolverine appear in a Deadpool movie has long been anticipated by fans and Deadpool superfan/star Ryan Reynolds. Deadpool 3 is currently in pre-production and is scheduled to begin filming this May. The trequel in the Deadpool series will release in theaters on November 8, 2024.
So far, not much is known about Deadpool 3, though we know that Wolverine will play a major role next to the “Merc with a Mouth.” The plot of the third Deadpool film is being kept under strict lock and key, and even the full cast has not been announced yet. Hugh Jackman will join Ryan Reynolds, of course, and Leslie Uggams will return as Blind Al. Additional cast includes Emma Corrin as the unnamed villain.
Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds first faced off as Deadpool and Wolverine in the fateful 2009 movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In Deadpool’s cinematic debut, Wade Wilson’s alter ego appeared nothing like the merc in a red suit that has become a bonafide fan-favorite. Needless to say, fans are anxious to see what Jackman and Reynolds are cooking up for Deadpool 3 to rewrite the mess X-Men Origins created all those years ago.
