Brett Ratner’s X-Men 3 opens in cinemas this week, and to coincide with it X-Realms is launching an X-Men 3 special. Starting today, we’ll feature one cast member each day sharing his/her thoughts on the new X-Men film and his/her character. Leading the line is Hugh Jackman, who stars as Logan/Wolverine in the film. The australian actor has also appeared in films such as Swordfish, Kate & Leopold and Van Helsing, and will next be seen in Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain and Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, two projects very high on X-Realmers’ must-see lists.

Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine)

…on the story and the conflict
What I love about this film, this particular film, is that the stakes are very high. It’s not just another bad guy that we have to defeat, there’s a conflinct that is intrinsically massive for the X-Men to overcome. All the X-Men have to come together to fight it, and Wolverine has some serious obstacles in this.

…on his role and its various guises
Wolverine, in the comics, is like 5’3, he can heal himself, so he’s almost indestructible. But what he has is this incredible determination and heart that’s the size of Texas, that’s what really makes him powerful. In the comic books they call it the ‘berserker rage’ when he just switches over into this mad white rage and he’s virtually unstoppable. Now for the fans that’s a great moment, and that’s one side of Wolverine that you see very clearly in this picture. But the other side of Wolverine that is hidden is his incredible heart and his connection to – very few – people, but he does have it. He’s very much a part of the family of X-Men, even though he’s kind of gruff and he will complain that he tries to stand back. But when push comes to shove and he has to protect someone he’s the most loyal person there is.

…on Wolverine and how he’s a nice guy at heart
Wolverine is not a nice guy, but at heart he’s a good guy. He’s the reluctant hero, that character or archetype of Han Solo or Mad Max or Dirty Harry. Those kind of characters have been a staple really in action movies for a long time.

…on Wolverine’s fighting style
What’s interesting about X-Men 3 is I worked with Simon Crane who’s the second unit director, he’s a fantastic action director. And he said, look, what you’ve done with the character fighting wise has been great – but what we want to explore is that classic Wolverine berserker rage, which is in the comic books a lot, where he gets this white rage and just goes berserk. And so there’s quite a bit of that in this. And he said, I also want to introduce a style. I deliberately in X-Men 1 and 2 had a fighting style that was more what I call ‘Mike Tyson’, it was like a barb roller. Here’s a guy who’s not pretty, who’s not martial arts in any way, but he just slashes and dices and usually wins.

…on the many characters
X-Men movies really are character movies. They’re about ten, fifteen characters you feel for and you can relate to. Now you may not relate to all of them, but there’s always going to be one or two that you really relate to. The comic book has, for thirty, forty years, been incredibly successful because beyond the fantasy of these stories and characters there is something intrinsically human about them. There are frailties, there are vulnerabilities, and you see that in every character. Teenage kids relate to it in drugs, because at some point every teenager feels like a mutant. They feel different, they feel misunderstood, they feel like the minority. But there’s that within all of us, you can be forty, fifty, sixty years old and there’s something to relate to there.

…on the fine line between good and evil mutants
It’s not clear cut, good guys – bad guys. On both sides of the fence there are grey areas. Wolverine’s a good example. He’s on the side of the good guys but he has a horrific past. And he’s not a nice guy at all. He’s not the guy you take home to meet your parents. He’s kind of an edgy character. And even with Magneto, who’s supposedly on the ‘bad side’, you can feel for him and you understand his point of view. Emotionally, you can connect to him.

Be sure to check back daily to find out what the likes of Halle Berry (Storm), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ben Foster (Angel), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), James Marsden (Cyclops), Patrick Stewart (Professor X) and director Brett Ratner have to share about X-Men 3.

Official synopsis: In X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, the final chapter in the “X-Men” motion picture trilogy, a “cure” for mutancy threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier, who preaches tolerance, and Magneto, who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test - triggering the war to end all wars.

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