Tom Cruise Once Blocked This Actor From Playing Wolverine in ‘X-Men’
By now, most people know about how actor Dougray Scott missed out on playing Wolverine in Bryan Singer’s X-Men. The actor would’ve been a shoo-in for the role if scheduling conflicts had permitted it. But since Scott wasn’t available, Hugh Jackman was recruited instead. And the rest is history.
However, there’s a bit more to the story. Allegedly, Tom Cruise initially played a major part in preventing Scott from nabbing Wolverine.
Why Hugh Jackman once apologized to Dougray Scott
X-Men was the film that catapulted actor Hugh Jackman to almost instant superstardom. Since then, he’s gone on to be one of the world’s most celebrated actors and hasn’t looked back since. But there was a moment in time where the Wolverine role was Mission Impossible’s Dougray Scott’s to take.
When Jackman ended up as the franchise’s rugged mutant, however, he felt the need to apologize to Scott.
“I met him early on and I said to him, ‘Man, I’m so sorry,’” Jackman once recalled to The Hollywood Reporter. “And he said, ‘It’s just business, but you have just gotten one of the greatest roles out there, so go crush it.’”
Jackman revealed he was moved by Scott’s integrity and hoped he can extend the same courtesy to the next Wolverine after him.
“I just remember being so impressed by that and his class, and hopefully I am a big enough guy that when someone else takes over, I will do exactly what was done to me…and I feel glad to just be a part of the legacy of that character,” Jackman shared.
How Tom Cruise prevented Dougray Scott from being Wolverine
It’s been well known that a scheduling conflict was what prevented Scott from being in Singer’s X-Men. Scott was scheduled to be in Mission Impossible 2, and unfortunately, the two projects ran into each other. However, Scott once asserted his co-star in Tom Cruise had more of a hand in squandering Scott’s Wolverine chances.
“That one was out of my control,” Scott told The Telegraph about the situation. “Tom Cruise didn’t let me do it. We were doing Mission Impossible and he was like, ‘You’ve got to stay and finish the film, and I said I will, but I’ll go do that as well.’”
Cruise, however, would veto Scott’s attempt at being in both movies.
“For whatever reason he said I couldn’t. He was a very powerful guy. Other people were doing everything to make it work,” he continued. “I love what Hugh did with it. He’s a lovely guy.”
The Batwoman star doesn’t seem bitter about how things turned out, however. Scott insisted that he never set out to be a movie star.
“That’s fair, yeah. I was always interested in bettering myself as an actor, you know, rather than [being] box office. Could I have been more successful? Yeah of course. But fame was never something I ever coveted. I just wanted good projects,” he confided.
Dougray Scott also missed out on James Bond and ‘Lord of the Rings’
X-Men wasn’t the only major franchise that Scott was offered. The actor at one point was considered for James Bond.
“They certainly approached me,” he told The Times (via Daily Record.) “But at the end of the day all that matters is that Daniel Craig played Bond and he was great. I’m not sure if it was ever for me.”
Scott was also given the opportunity to star as Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. But he didn’t want to deal with being in another country for an extended period of time.
“They wanted me to go meet Peter Jackson, but to be honest with you I’d just finished doing Mission: Impossible 2 and the idea of spending two years away in New Zealand I just couldn’t quite contemplate,” Scott added.
