While it once looked like Hugh Jackman could leave behind the rigorous training that goes into making him into the feral Canadian mutant, his return to the character for Deadpool 3 means he’ll have to get back to the weights for a six-month transformation. Jackman is featured in an interview in HBO’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, according to Variety, where he slashes the notion that he juiced up to gain the muscular stature of the animalistic character, Wolverine.
When asked about it, the Aussie actor replied, “No, I love my job. And I love Wolverine. I got to be careful what I say here, but I had been told anecdotally what the side effects are of that. And I was like, ‘I don’t love it that much.’ So no, I just did it the old school way. And I tell you, I’ve eaten more chickens — I’m so sorry to all the vegans and vegetarians and to the chickens of the world. Literally the karma is not good for me. If the deity has anything related to chickens, I’m in trouble.”
Back when he was cast as Wolverine in the first X-Men film, Jackman was a last-minute replacement and foolishly hadn’t put on the muscle required for the role, so the shirtless scenes were scheduled for the end of the shoot for the formally skinny Jackman to spend the entire schedule of principle photography to bulk up. He was able to institute a change in physique, but in subsequent sequels, the actor would take a more appropriate training regimen and transform dramatically to fit the bill.
Jackman has even explained a not-so-fun secret to looking extra ripped on screen to where he would drink three gallons of water a day prior to shooting, then cut water out three weeks before the scheduled shirtless scene. The results are up there, but Jackman has been vocal about his misery with this method and does not recommend it outside this very specific situation.
The Wolverine actor also talked about how he foolishly researched real wolverines in preparation for the role for the 2000 X-Men film. “I had never read the comic book. I got the part. I’d never heard of a wolverine. And so I was passing as I was doing rehearsal, they had this documentary about wolves. And I was like, perfect because obviously, I’m a wolf, part wolf.”