X-Men’s Wolverine could have looked very different if it
weren’t for Tom Cruise, who is apparently the reason the role went to Hugh
Jackman instead of Dougray Scott.
Dougray, 54, revealed it was Tom who stopped him from
getting the Wolverine role as he insisted he stay on Mission: Impossible 2
after filming ran over the initial schedule in 2000.
He explained: ‘Tom Cruise didn’t let me do it. We were doing
Mission Impossible and he was like, “you’ve got to stay and finish the film”,
and I said I will, but I’ll go and do that as well.
‘For whatever reason he said I couldn’t. He was a very
powerful guy. Other people were doing everything to make it work.’
Dougray had already been confirmed in the role of Wolverine, but had to pull out at the last minute, leading to Hugh getting the role.
He holds no hard feelings towards Hugh, however, admitting: ‘I
love what Hugh did with it. He’s a lovely guy.’
Dougray had starred as a rogue IMF agent called Sean Ambrose
in Mission: Impossible 2, opposite Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, the hero of the
film.
The Mission: Impossible franchise has often started filming without completed screenplays and the second movie was no different, leading to it running over schedule.
When Hugh was cast as Wolverine after Dougray pulled out, fans
were initially disappointed as they considered him too tall and too
clean-shaven for the character, but his performance in the role soon won over
even the harshest critic.
Hugh ended up reprising the role for eight movies, and
Dougray chose to turn his back on many mainstream projects in favour of
choosing projects he was passionate about.
He explained: I was always interested in bettering myself as
an actor, you know, rather than [being] box office.
‘Could I have been more successful? Yeah of course. But fame was never something I ever coveted. I just wanted good project.’
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