Hugh Jackman explains why he came back to Wolverine after saying he was done

Do you have anything with louder packaging? The sound guy just walked out the door. It's partly just to say thank you, thank you. I think there's a lot of people out there coming into this movie thinking, please let it be good, please let it be good, please let it be good. And from what I've seen, you guys have absolutely knocked it out of the park. How does it feel to have it coming out finally after such a long journey to get here? What are you outing your mouth for? I'm actually about to go in again. So I was kind of hoping that you would take over, given that James is from Australia. It is a movie I am so proud of. The making of the movie was the most fun I've ever had. My whole process, it was August 14th, 2022, and I pulled the car over and I said, I said, right, I'm in. I want to do this. I want to do it. We've been flirting with something for a while, but I really thought I was out. From that moment on, we were on set at the end of May. Everything just was like, I'm not going to say easy because none of it's easy, but it just flowed. And right through seeing the movie and now showing it with people, the whole thing just feels awesome. It's rare that the experience being that wonderful to make the movie turned into a movie that actually is somehow better than the experience. Usually, it's the other way around. You know, fire, pestilence, plague on the set, golden movie. This one, no. It was just what the experience was so joyful. But then the final product, Sean, Levi, and I, when we were in the edit room on the movie, a week and a half ago, finished the sound mix and the color timing. I don't think we've ever been that depressed. I mean, I was so profoundly sad to not be working on this movie because working with Hugh in this way has been something that I've wanted for almost my entire, at least the part of my career people even gave a shit about. And for it to happen and to happen now in this way, you sort of go, oh wow, it really did happen at the perfect time, in the perfect way, at the right time in our lives. Yes. After watching the first two Deadpool movies and having so many references to Hugh and to Wolverine, it felt like this movie almost had to happen. How much of that was Deadpool talking and how much was Ryan talking? That's actually a great question because a lot of times it is Ryan talking. In fact, in the third act of this movie, you will see scenes where we are having a conversation and it is very hard to distinguish if it's Deadpool and Wolverine talking or if it's Ryan and Hugh. And it's more emotional than not because we have this persona where we joke around and goof off all the time and rivalries all the time. But when we're hanging out, usually we're talking about sensitive stuff. I love it. There's a moment where you see some of that and that's some of the stuff I'm most proud of. What was it like for you, Hugh, watching those first two Deadpool movies and seeing all those references? Did you kind of get an impression that maybe you'd left the party a little bit too early, particularly after Logan and the Disney? I'll give you the absolute truth. I was in a private screening room at Fox in New York City and Ryan set this up and I took my whole family and went to see Deadpool 1. And three days before that, I had announced that Logan was going to be my last time playing Wolverine. I meant it with every bone in my body. This is it. I watched the movie. I was 15 minutes in going, I didn't just do that. I was like, wow. I think all I kept seeing was Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy. I could just feel, I could see this thing that we'd all been talking about, how these two characters were kind of perfect. And it was also something that I'd never done as this character. I mean, it's my 10th movie, but this all feels so fresh. So I'll be totally honest. There was part of me going, I might have spoken a little too soon. What was going through your head when you had that Eureka moment in 2022? Were you having some sort of existential crisis? A case of life's too short not to do this movie? No, it was one of those. I think I've been talking to my kids or getting ready to have a conversation with them who are becoming adults of, what do you want to do with your life? What is it you want to do? If you could do anything, that kind of thought. And so I thought, oh, I'll ask of myself if I could do anything, which I'm super lucky. In many ways, I can ask myself that question. What would it be? And three things came to head. I want to build my own little house because I can't do anything. I'm the most unhandy guy on the planet. I wanted to learn an instrument. That house will be deathtrapped. It will be. I'll walk into it. I want to learn a new instrument. And then I just went, and I want to do Deadpool Wolverine. I might have said Wolverine Deadpool in my head, just saying. I only ever hear Wolverine Deadpool. Ryan, I can't tell you how much I've been enjoying Welcome to Wrexham these last couple of years. Great to see you at a game. Yeah, you should be in the show. Hugh, have you been extolling the virtues of rugby league and the mighty Manly Seagulls as well as the AFL to Ryan? That's a good idea. I haven't. We've talked a bit about cricket. You guys said no cricket? No. Sometimes they say the football, which I always love in the UK. Oh, really? Cricket. No. But that's a good idea. I don't know. Has Russell talked to you? Oh, Russell. We go deep. No, I actually have touched base with him a couple of years. His grandfather's from Wrexham. Yeah. Really? Yeah. You guys think everyone was born in Australia? No. Yeah, no, his grandfather's from Wrexham. And he reached out and said, I'm a huge, huge fan. He's easily my favorite Aussie. Mine too. And yeah, but he's lovely. It was great. And yeah, Wrexham's kind of, like, touched a lot. Because I think the show sort of is a mirror, right? I mean, it's like people from different towns all over the world, when they watch it, they go, that's my town. I'm going to connect something. I'm going to get a little sappy. One thing I've learned from Ryan, and it's probably why I was having one of those, what do I want to do? Ry Nolze. Nolze, yeah, we've got to do a nickname then. Nolze. Yeah, Nolze. Nolze actually does the thing that he loves to do. And he said you said you're having more fun with Wrexham than even your family. Yes, oh, my God. Distant. Like, I don't even, I could, off the top of my head, couldn't, I could name two of them, maybe. Two of the children from the early days. But Deadpool and Wolverine and Wrexham, really in this period of my life, have been the two most beautiful gifts I've ever had. Yeah, I'm really lucky. I don't take it for granted. Fantastic. Well, thank you both so much for your time. Much appreciated. Thanks for having us. We'll miss the movie.