Quotes

On turning down the chance to play Richard Gere's character in the Harvey Weinstein-produced film Chicago (2002): I thought I was too young for the role. You have some 34-year-old guy up against Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renée Zellweger and it becomes a different movie. At one point, Harvey was telling me they were thinking of Kevin Spacey, and Ivtold him, 'That's exactly right. You should hire him.' Then I was in New York when the movie opened and the queue was around the block. I sat down and thought that I had probably made the biggest mistake. But I still honestly think that it was the right thing to do. I still think I was too young for that part.

Finally something my family can be proud of.

Now I meet people with full-color Wolverine tattoos on their backs. Thank God I did okay, because I think if I handn't, they'd spit on me in the street. - on his role of Wolverine.

There is something very secretive about the way they cast that role. I've never had an official call asking: 'Are you interested or not?' but there's no guy I know who wouldn't want that role -- and that includes me. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. [on the now (Nov. 2004) opened spot for the next James Bond]

[on comic books] I never read comics as a kid, and when I was slipped the comics under my trailer door, Bryan Singer didn't want us to read them. He was very frightened that we would come out with these 2-D characters, and I was amazed at how helpful they were, the images more than the story. The images, and how they capture emotion or an action sequence in just, say, three images. I have to say I used them as inspiration for some of the fighting stances or techniques. The way Wolverine stands and how he looks.

[on Wolverine video game] I didn't do the motion-capture work; I didn't do any of that. I don't know if they've used my voice or not, they probably have.. I did a lot of recordings on the first movie for dolls and video games, so they probably just used the same stuff.

[on his action figure] People can stick pins in it, put in the freezer. It's far more dangerous than a video game.

[on playing Wolverine] The character I play is actually only 1.6 meters [5' 3"]. Before I had any kind of acting profile I was encouraged to lie about my height. I was told to say I was about six foot [1.83 meters] tall. I was worried about it when I first had my audition because pleasing fans of the franchise is important. My height was brought up on the Internet. They didn't think it was right. A lot of people who never met me think I'm very short. James Marsden (Cyclops), who's only 10 centimeters [4 inches] shorter than me, was put on boxes and platforms in our scenes together. You'll notice that every character in X-Men (2000) looks taller than me.

I've always felt that if you back down from a fear, the ghost of that fear never goes away. It diminishes people. So I've always said yes to the thing I'm most scared about. The fear of letting myself down -- of saying no to something that I was afraid of and then sitting in my room later going, 'I wish I'd had the guts to say this or that' -- that galvanizes me more than anything.

Acting is something I love. It's a great craft that I have a lot of respect for. But I don't think it's any greater challenge than teaching 8-year-olds or any other career. In my life, I try not to make it more important than it is and I just hope that rubs off on the people around me.

Becoming a father, I think it inevitably changes your perspective of life. I don't get nearly enough sleep. And the simplest things in life are completely satisfying. I find you don't have to do as much, like you don't go on as many outings.

I have shocking teeth. . . . I'm being a little facetious - I just went to the dentist the other day, and he looked at my teeth and went, "Oh, my God, you've got gray teeth."

Joking about being selected 'most sexiest man' as People Magazine's annual choice, 2008: I think we ran a very strong campaign and I'm not proud of it -- I can admit it now. We're the first ones to run a negative campaign and we spent years bringing Clooney, Pitt, Damon, and McConaughey down to size. I was prepared to do absolutely anything.

[on his 8-year-old adopted son Oscar] He said to me the other day, 'Dad, two o'clock, hot chick.' He walks over, and I heard him say, 'Hey, my dad's Wolverine.' That's his opening line! He brings them over and asks, 'Dad, can we have a few autographs for the girls?' I'm like, 'Am I pimping for my kids?'

If ever there was any doubt about whether or not people wanted their comic book heroes dark and vulnerable, I think X-Men (2000) started this idea, and The Dark Knight (2008) last year really confirmed it. Audiences want to see that, they want to see the superhero's frailties, their doubts, and their battles.

My idol was Olivia Newton-John...I had her poster and I would kiss it every day. I met her and told her that...and she was like, "Great".

[on his father] He never took ones day off in his life. He had five kids he was bringing up on his own. If any one deserved a day off it was my old man, but he never did. I learned that from him.

When I came out of drama school I was like, 'I'm going to do anything I can just to keep working'. In drama school you do Shakespeare to movement to circus skills to singing all in one morning. I know a lot of people hated it but I reveled in it. I loved it. It's weird how it evolved.

I can look back on my life, where there have been moments where things might have gone the other way. Everything is like stepping stones, and I've seen people I admire falter. We're all vulnerable.

I was at a Warner Bros. event and all the stars were lining up backstage. Sylvester Stallone was in front of me and [Clint Eastwood] was behind me and we were all embarrassingly close. I turned around before the line went off and said: 'Good day Mr. Eastwood, Hugh Jackman.' Clint replied: 'Yeah I know.' I continued: 'By the way, I know we've gotta go but I've been told I occasionally look like you in films.' Clint replied: 'You're holding up the line kid.' I'll never forget it. I went on stage bright red and never looked at him again. Clint has never asked me to be in any of his movies or have an audition.

(on Father's Day gifts) The best is a hand written card. I don't know where some of my awards are, but I can tell you exactly where those cards are. I treasure them most.

[on the look he wanted for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)] I had this image in my head of De Niro in that remake of Cape Fear (1991). You were terrified of that character from the moment he took his shirt off and you saw all the tats; you know he was this coiled spring that would rip your head off, no matter how nonchalant he acted. That's who Wolverine is.

The things that I really cherish are the everyday moments, like sitting around cooking pancakes together on Sunday morning, or getting home after a tough day and my kids come up and give me a hug and remind me what's really important.

[on Les Misérables (2012)] Victor Hugo's novel is the greatest handbook any actor ever had for a job. But Annie [Anne Hathaway] brought research to it that went even further than Hugo - about what it meant to be a woman in that time period, what it meant to be a prisoner.

When I come home, my daughter will run to the door and give me a big hug, and everything that's happened that day just melts away.

As a teenager I was explosively angry. I think rugby saved me because that's just organized violence.

Nine out of 10 characteristics of Wolverine I don't share, but aggression is a primal thing and needs to be exercised in some way. When I was younger I was very explosive. I used to let most of it out playing rugby. I'm not as explosive now but in a sense it's still there. It's in our DNA ... far better to have it in a controlled violent environment. So in a way playing Wolverine is good therapy.

[on persistent rumors that he is gay despite being married to Deborra-Lee Furness for 17 years] If I was, I would be. I don't think - to me, it's not the most interesting thing about a person anyway, but I do get frustrated for Deb, because I see Deb go, 'Ah, this is crazy.' On some level it's a compliment, you know, because it only happens when you've got to a certain point in your career.

[on Australians working in Hollywood] We dominate! We're the majority now! It's always good to be an Aussie wherever you are...it's because Hollywood accepts us. Aussies over there they just love them, they love the accent, they want to know everything about you, they really dig the Aussies. It's a good time to be an Aussie, I'm real proud of all the Aussies and real credit to how in Australia we train actors really well, and in general how Aussies will have a go and aren't afraid to pack up and have a crack.

I understand at Marvel they've got The Avengers, they've got a lot of big things going on, but at some point I just find it almost impossible that there's not a way to bring Iron Man, all the Avengers characters, Wolverine, the X-Men characters, Spider-Man, and somehow get them in together.

I just heard Oscar, my son who's thirteen, telling a friend, 'Enough about my dad, all right? The truth is he's nothing like Wolverine. He's not cool, he's not tough, he's nothing like that'.

I'm a typical actor. Someone picks me up in the morning, they give me something to wear, tell me what to say, feed me and send me home.

[on coping with the ultra-Scottish tradition of his Sydney school] I wasn't a bag-pipe guy, but I was a kilt guy - and had to endure endless ribbing on the train. Every Friday, if you were in the cadets, the school army - you had to wear the kilt. It wasn't traditional kilt-wearing: there was underwear involved. Just to clear that up for everybody.

[on maintaining privacy in his life] With paparazzi, I'm constantly trying to see my kids' view of the situation - that if I start flipping the bird or throwing punches how frightening it would be for them. So I'm constantly sitting on it? Yeah. Would I like to handle it differently? Yes.

[on casting challenges] The risk for me is constantly being considered Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. Wholesome. Labels are the enemy. I'm particularly drawn this character [Kelly Dover in _Prisoners_], maybe as a parent. I love looking at how people react under almost melodramatically extreme situations. As an actor, that's the ultimate stretch.

[on preparing to play "Keller Dover" in Prisoners (2013)] All the research I did was about sleep deprivation, because the movie takes place over eight or nine days. And when I read something from a father whose kid was gone, he said that the most maddening part of the whole thing is the powerlessness of the parent, knowing that the child is waiting for you and can't understand why you're not there, every second of every day. The idea of sleep or rest is impossible.

[re working in Prisoners (2013) with director Denis Villeneuve] The common thing in cases like these is the ticking clock. Your hands start to shake, you forget things, you become unreasonable. [Villeneuve pushed us to] a place that is instinctive and primal. What he encouraged was a sense of abandon. It was ultimately very freeing.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) blew my mind. I had no idea movies could be that great and awesome. I was 12 years old, and that's when I remember thinking, 'Oh, I'd love to do that one day.'

[on the Logan (2017)] If I did another one I'm 99.9% sure it would be the last, so that will inform what it is for me.

[on his recurring bouts of skin cancer] I'm realistic about the future and it's more than likely that I'll have at least one more but probably many more, which is not uncommon for an Aussie particularly from English stock growing up in Australia where I don't remember ever being told to put sunscreen on. But the beauty of this is it's all preventable, it's just about getting proper check-ups. I can be typical man, a little lazy, I couldn't be bothered and now I'm not lazy at all.

[on playing Wolverine] I love the character. I love the series. I would never take it for granted or do it for the hell of it. I have to feel like I really have something to offer and we're going to take Wolverine on a slightly different journey. Otherwise it'll be time to hand over the claws to someone else, and I'm sure there will be many lining up to do it.

[on watching X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) with his kids] It is actually really cool to watch it with them until you get to the moment where you're naked on screen and you forgot to warn your almost nine-year-old daughter. And she says, 'Dad, why aren't you wearing underwear?'

[observation, 2012] I believe this is the 2,487th star on the Walk of Fame. However, apart from Lassie, I'm the only one who's got it for playing the same character in fifteen movies.

[on prepping to shoot The Wolverine (2013) and Les Misérables (2012) back-to-back] The roles are so different that it's hard to compare -- except for the level of intensity. I worked on my abs for months [for Wolverine], but there was a similar intensity preparing to play Jean Valjean.

[on possibly integrating Irish mythology into the Logan (2017)] So travel back to Ireland and proper investigate Logan's past. Shake things up. I guarantee you, there's some Irish blood in there. And I loved the myths and legends. A friend of mine from Ireland gave me a book of them and Cu Chulainn and those stories, they're amazing. Action packed. I'm quite surprised nothing has been done with them before. I'd love to see them in the next Wolverine. That could work great.