Wolverine is built on hairspray

In an interview with the 'Mail on Sunday', Hugh Jackman, 43, has opened up about his haircare problems playing mutant action hero, Wolverine.

‘When I first wore a wig, I used to hold it in place with so much hairspray...I depleted the ozone layer single-handed.

[Hugh Jackman: this is the ‘ultimate Wolverine’]

When the first 'X-Men' film came out in 2000, Jackman says his wig  required hours of backcombing. ‘It was much longer then. Every time there was a fight it would go wild and I’d have to spray more on it...Now, I’m happy to say, the wig is shorter and environmentally sound."

The first five films have been extraordinarily successful, grossing nearly $1 billion in the U.S. alone. "Kids can relate to it. Every teenager feels murderous and marginalised – just like the mutants in 'X-Men'," says Jackman.

He can relate because he often felt the same way as a boy. "I was bullied by my big brother. Playing Wolverine makes me think how I used to fight with my brother. He used to call me poofter and sissy for being interested in dancing… And by the time he said there was nothing wrong with that, I was too old. I was 18 then.’… I stopped myself being Billy Elliot. I didn’t have the guts. But the rage I felt then, I can use to play Wolverine."

[The Wolverine exclusive clip: fight at a funeral]

He's won a Tony on Broadway, a Golden Globe and got an Oscar nomination earlier this year for 'Les Misérables', but when asked if he's too bright to play a sociopathic mutant in a comic-book franchise, Jackman smiles amiably.  "I find it interesting," he explains. "If I didn’t I’d get out."

But he does reveal that when his wife, actor-director, Deborra-Lee Furness, saw the first X-Men script,  she told him to turn it down. "I was given three pages of script. She read them and said, “There are words like ‘kerpow’ here... She thought it was beneath me. I was working with Trevor Nunn at the National Theatre.... It’s the only time my wife has ever been wrong – and you can quote me on that."

Wolverine costs him physically. "‘In my living room, I’d walk around wearing the claws, to get used to them. I’ve got scars on one leg, punctures through the cheek, on my forehead."

Each time he plays the role he undergoes a workout he hates. "I used to go to the gym and see these guys pumping iron and I thought they were idiots. In what situation could you need to bench 350lb? I never understood the addiction, it’s just painful. But that’s what I do to become Wolverine.’'

Worse is the diet. ‘It’s not good for me to eat 6,000 calories a day. I have to eat a dozen eggs every day… I worry I’ll have a heart attack."

But he stuck at it. ‘No one apart from Sean Connery has been in so many films in the same franchise.’He has to gain 25lb in 12 weeks of workouts and dieting each time he plays Wolverine.

"The problem is my height,’ he says. "I’m 6ft 2in and lean but in the books he’s 5ft 3in and stocky."

Directors have made co-stars wear platforms and shot Jackman from unusual angles to make him seem smaller. "Part of the bulking-up was to make me look squatter – more Mike Tyson than Hugh Jackman."

He watched Tyson bouts on video to study how to move like the boxer. "He was a touchstone because he’s ruthless and has that Wolverine build."

He has to suppress his sunny, all-singing, all-dancing self. "The first day on set, Bryan [director Bryan Singer] said, “Stay still for one goddam second, will you!” I moved too much, probably because of my background in musicals. I was too expressive. Bryan sent me to my trailer to watch Mel Gibson in 'Mad Max'. Mel has about 11 lines in the whole picture, but you sense unbounded rage through his minimal movement. I learned from watching Mel how to act in films.’ 

Jackman also watched 'Dirty Harry' repeatedly to cop Clint Eastwood’s unremittingly surly persona.  One day, he was in front of Clint in a queue at a Hollywood event.

"I said, 'Good day Mr Eastwood, Hugh Jackman.' He said, 'Yeah, I know.' So I said, 'I’ve been told I occasionally look like you in films.' And Mr Eastwood replied, 'You’re holding up the line, kid'. Well, I still watch his movies for inspiration.’'
 
The demands on Jackman’s body are not confined to when he mutates into Wolverine. In 2011, when Hugh was preparing to become Jean Valjean in 'Les Misérables', he lost 15lb so he could look emaciated on prison work detail. Later, he gained 30lb to suggest his character's success.

Later, he gained 30lb to suggest his character’s success. He gave up coffee, drank seven litres of water a day, took three steam baths a day, endured cold baths and a damp flannel on his face during flights to protect his vocal cords. He would sing numbers from the show as he bench-pressed at his gym.

"One thing that is good about having the body I have,is it makes you more physically imposing. People back away when you’re in a crowd and give you more space."

As a young man he played Henry Higgins on stage in 'My Fair Lady'. Now 44, Jackman is ready to play Higgins once more. "Someone came to me about playing the part recently. The one problem you have is that there is something pretty creepy about Henry Higgins. I mean, a 44-year-old bachelor grooming a young woman? Weird, very weird. Mind you, I would still love to play him.’

His kids are level-headed, he says, but son Oscar loves the reflected glory of his father's career. ‘He’s nearly 13 and thinks it’s cool I play Wolverine. And his friends think he’s cool because his dad is Wolverine. He seems to think he can use me being Wolverine into getting dates."

Can you blame him for that? "Of course not, but that makes me his wing man. But I suppose if it helps him get girls, then fine."

‘The Wolverine’ is released on July 25