Anna Paquin says Hugh Jackman went 'through the wringer' for first 'X-Men' film

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 6/11/21

Anna Paquin was only 17 years old when X-Men hit theaters in July 2000, but she was wise enough already to observe what Hugh Jackman was enduring in order to truly embody Logan/Wolverine.

"He got put through the wringer on that first one and never, ever complained," the Oscar-winning actress told The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM. "It'd be like, minus-40, and he's being dropped off some, like, I don't know, building onto his back. Over and over and over again. It's just—[he] still has all the time in the world to just be a nice, normal person."

That intel came as a result of Cagle asking Paquin who her best friend was on the X-Men sets, to which she answered, "Hugh was always the person I was closest with because I had all my scenes with him":

Jackman was Logan/Wolverine in nine X-Men films, beginning with X-Men in 2000 and ending with Logan in 2017.

"I knew it was the right time for me to leave the party—not just for me, but for the character," the Oscar-nominated Australian actor told The Daily Beast in April 2020. "Somebody else will pick it up and run with it. It’s too good of a character not to. It’s kind of like, you’re on your way home and your friend rings you and goes, Oh, dude, a new DJ just came on and the music is awesome, are you going to come back? And you say, Sounds good but… no. They’re fine with someone else."

Paquin played Marie/Rogue, Wolverine's in X-Men, X2: X-Men United (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).

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