Millie Bobby Brown reveals she auditioned for Logan

May 31st 2017, 10:18am

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

When it comes to seeing perfectly-cast actors in famous roles there’s always a question of “what if” attached. Like, what if Robert Downey Jr. was never cast as Iron Man? Or what if Hugh Jackman never landed Wolverine? The mind melts with such thoughts, but luckily the right person is picked most of the time, much like the case of Dafne Keen getting the role of X-23 in LOGAN, a role that could’ve gone to a 12-year-old superstar – Millie Bobby Brown.

The STRANGER THINGS actress sat down with Evan Rachel Wood as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” segment and was asked about best and worst auditions. That’s when Brown surprised folks by saying her best was for the superhero drama, getting to do some serious acting alongside Jackman’s Wolverine:

I was like, ‘It’s going to be amazing, I’m going to really prepare,’ and I sat in my room reading the lines. Honestly, for me, I felt so — I felt an actor, in the audition room, hitting Hugh Jackman, and James Mangold sitting right in front of me.

Surely Brown did a good job, but as we saw in the audition tape (above) Keen went above and beyond with Jackman and even did a bit of improvisation. She obviously landed the part, and she sliced and diced her way into our hearts. But things obviously worked out for Brown, who won millions of fans in her role as Eleven in STRANGER THINGS, and will be seen in the upcoming GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS in 2019.

One has to wonder though what Brown in the role would look like. That, and would the character getting her own movie be a sure thing if she was in part, given her celebrity? There have been talks of giving the character her own solo adventure, and it’s not far-fetched to think that if Brown had been in the role Fox would be quicker on the trigger about capitalizing on Brown’s popularity. Again, it melts the mind.

In the end Keen owned the role, and her feral aggression and vulnerability made her a perfect X-23. I think Brown could’ve done okay, but she doesn’t have the same intimidating look in her eye Keen has, a look that says, “Turn around. You don’t want none of this.” But both have found their roles, so there’s no fretting to be had. There are enough fandoms now to go around.

LOGAN is on Blu-ray now, and you catch Brown in the new season of STRANGER THINGS later this year.