Wolverine’s Strange Influence On Hugh Jackman’s Latest Role

Hugh Jackman may be done playing Wolverine in the X-Men movies, but it seems that the character is still following him on new projects.

One of those projects is The Greatest Showman, a musical biopic in which Jackman plays P.T. Barnum, founder of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film’s composers, Justin Paul and Benj Pasek, admit that part o their creative process was reminding themselves that Wolverine would be the one singing their songs.

“We wrote every song for Hugh, knowing it was going to be Hugh,” Paul tells CinemaBlend. “That was actually really helpful because we were able to sort of… it gives you an extra special litmus test while writing. Because as you write something, you get to ask, ‘How would that sound coming out of [Hugh’s mouth]?’ A lot of it was like, ‘OK, we’re writing songs for Wolverine to sing. So how can we make it like as cool and muscular as he is? And give Barnum some of that swagger that I know Michael [Gracey] wanted him to have.’ We were able to write the songs with that little editing filter on it, which was, ‘Remember Hugh’s singing this. So how can we make it best for him.’”

If a musical biopic about P.T. Barnum starring Hugh Jackman wasn’t enough to get potential moviegoers excited for The Greatest Showman then maybe knowing it’s the closest thing they’re likely to get to a musical sequel to Logan will do the trick.

The Greatest Showman opens on Christmas Day 2017.

Jackman gave his final performance as Wolverine in Logan, which opened in March. Logan has an 87.75 ComicBook.com Composite Score, which is the second-best ComicBook.com Composite Score among all comic book movies. Logan also has a 4.54 out of 5 ComicBook.com User Rating, making it the most-loved comic book movie ever among ComicBook.com readers. Let us know what you thought of Logan by giving it your own rating below.

In Logan, in the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan‘s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.

Logan is directed by James Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Frank and Michael Green, from a story by Mangold, and also stars Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant and Dafne Keen.

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