Why Hugh Jackman owes his career to Tom Cruise: “He was a very powerful guy”
Sometimes fate can have a larger hand in our experiences than we might think, and for people working in the film business, there are often larger forces at play that tinker with the careers of the stars. From alternative courses of history in which an iconic role was nearly given to someone else or botched auditions that turned out to be a blessing in disguise, Hollywood is known for its sticky web of inter-personal connections and relationships that lead people to book roles in the most surprising of ways.
Whether it be personal recommendations, such as Robert De Niro inadvertently sparking Leonardo DiCaprio’s long working relationship with Martin Scorsese after introducing the pair or Nicole Kidman falling in love with Harris Dickinson’s performance in Beach Rats, sometimes there are strange moments of fate that have a huge impact on the course of our lives despite never being known to us.
For Hugh Jackman, this very twist of fate played a huge part in his career, with one role being taken away from a fellow actor and then finding its way to him after another Hollywood heavyweight played his hand in the matter.
Jackman is one of the most beloved film stars of his generation, starring in a mix of commercial projects and franchises from Logan to X-Men, as well as gritty independent dramas such as Prisoners, The Prestige and Les Miserables. The actor has continuously showcased a wide range of surprising talents, whether it be singing, dancing, musical theatre and body combat, leading to a versatile and dynamic screen presence.
However, one of Jackman’s most successful franchises is the X-Men series, in which he plays the character of Logan/Wolverine. While this is one of his most notorious characters, requiring incredible physical strength from him and extensive training, he was not initially the top choice for the character, with Dougray Scott being rumoured to star in the film before Jackman was considered. But eventually, Scott was taken off the table as an option and Jackman was offered the role after Tom Cruise blocked Scott from taking the part.
Scott was supposed to star in Mission: Impossible, with Cruise not allowing him to take the role of Wolverine to protect his part in the spy franchise. When discussing this, Scott said, “That one was out of my control. 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.”
While Scott may have been disappointed not to reprise such an iconic role, and Cruise’s role in this might have been a little heavy-handed, perhaps it was another example of divine intervention in which he was blessed with insight into Jackman’s later success as the character, leading to a rather strange yet ultimately fruitful twist of fate for Jackman.
