The casting in 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men” movies was always a mixed bag. Some picks were perfect at bringing the comic character to life — Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, etc. Others were swings and misses — Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse (but really any actor would have struggled inside that makeup), etc. Then there were some in the middle — actors who didn’t really match the character on paper but still worked well due to the strength of their performances, like Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
Marvel first started pursuing an “X-Men” movie in the 1980s, more than a decade before it was finally released. In 1990, Stan Lee and longtime “X-Men” comic book writer Chris Claremont met with James Cameron about him directing the movie, but Cameron was more interested in a “Spider-Man” movie (which also fell through). When an “X-Men” film was still just a glimmer in Claremont’s eye, he had his own ideas for the casting. He wrote the X-Men from 1975 to 1991, practically recreating the comics and characters from the ground up, so his ideas (while unrealized) came from a place of deep familiarity.
For one, Claremont wanted Angela Bassett to play Storm. That fits like a glove, doesn’t it? Especially in the late ’80s/early ’90s. Bassett doesn’t just have the screen presence and goddess looks to play Storm, she’s got a contralto crafted to belt out lines like “Let them thunder, for I am lightning!”
Claremont has confirmed several times that he also envisioned the late Bob Hoskins playing Wolverine. Yes, that Bob Hoskins, the portly 5’4 British character actor most remember for playing Eddie Valiant in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
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If you only know Wolverine as Hugh Jackman played him, this probably seems like a bizarre pick. I, though, think Hoskins could’ve been an excellent choice for Logan as Claremont wrote him.
Hugh Jackman is perfect as Wolverine even if he doesn’t look like him
I love Hugh Jackman as Logan. Even when the movie around him is bad (like this year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine”), he takes his character seriously. Jackman’s ability to play a scowling berserker, unabated even after 24 years, is all the more impressive considering he came up in musical theater. On looks alone, though, he’s not a close match for the character — he’s a foot too tall (6’2) and way comelier than Logan.
Comic Wolverine is a short, hairy, and pug-faced man, with a temper and personality that match his vicious animal namesake. His height is part of the reason for his name; wolverines are strong and ferocious predators, even though they’re only about the size of a bulldog. The same could be said of the mutant Wolverine. (It’s why his arch-enemy Sabretooth always calls him “runt.”)
Hoskins looked quite a bit like how Dave Cockrum and John Byrne drew Logan during Claremont’s early “X-Men” issues. He wasn’t just the right height, his big sharp nose and pointy ears made him look like a human-shaped wolf. It’s easy to see Logan’s spiky hair fitting on Hoskins’ large forehead and widow’s peak, while he had both Logan’s seeing-red glare and mischievous smile too.
Looks aren’t everything though (see the aforementioned Mr. Jackman; everybody, Claremont included, thinks he nailed the part). Hoskins broke out by acting in British crime films during the 1980s, including “The Long Good Friday” and “Mona Lisa,” where he played short-tempered cockney-accented gangsters. It was those pictures that made Claremont think Hoskins could play Logan. (“Don’t think of ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Think of ‘The Long Good Friday,'” Claremont said when explaining his wish to BleedingCool in 2010.)
Claremont saw in Bob Hoskins the Wolverine he wrote in Marvel Comics
When interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Claremont specifically cited the 1984 film “Lassiter,” where Hoskins goes toe-to-toe with the 6’4 Tom Selleck and comes out looking like the bigger man:
“In one scene, Selleck comes to the door of [Hoskin’s] house and Hoskins takes one look at him and hauls off and shoves Selleck back down the drive, yelling ‘You come to my house?’ and just repeating it over and over as he shoves Selleck back down the path and through the fence out onto the street. And the expression on Selleck’s face is “Holy Sh*t!” and I thought, bingo. That is Logan. That instant rage.”
Even Hoskins’ more comedic performance in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, as an angry man befuddled by the zaniness around him, fits how Logan often interacts with the other X-Men.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” classifies Jackman’s Wolverine as the “anchor being” of his timeline; without him, everything falls apart. After all, Jackman/Wolverine was the face of the “X-Men” movies, taking center stage in both advertising and almost every film. I think one reason for that wasn’t just Jackman’s performance, but also that he looks like a leading man “should” (tall, muscular, good-looking, and with warmth in his eyes and smile). Wolverine in the comics doesn’t, and neither did Hoskins (I’m not trashing his looks, to be clear, but I think most would agree Jackman is more conventionally handsome). Maybe if the movie Wolverine had more of a character actor face, he would’ve been the supporting character he’s meant to be?
Hoskins passed in 2014, so he’ll never get his chance at wearing adamantium claws. While I think he definitely could’ve pulled it off, I’m not complaining that we got Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine instead.