Hugh Jackman Talks About His The Wolverine Director and Getting Workout Advice from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Posted 12.08.10 by Ryan
When director Darren Aronofsky was officially hired for The Wolverine, it ended a search that included a short list of other directors, including David Slade, who admitted to a meeting with star Hugh Jackman. Jackman, however, ultimately wanted to work with Aronofsky, and told EW that his re-teaming with his The Fountain director was years in the making.
I love every one of his movies. He’s a visionary. I’ve been trying to get Darren since X-Men 3, really. We’ve been talking about this and Wolverine for so long.
Jackman wouldn't exactly reveal details about the stand-alone non-sequel, but did reveal that he and Aronofsky have shared ideas.
[W]e had a meeting about three weeks ago, catching up as friends more than anything, and he just ran a few ideas by me and my eyes just lit up, because already I think this is like a whole new ballgame — just the ideas, the level of depth, and intelligence, and creativity. I think he’s been waiting so long to do a movie in this genre. When he found the script, he said this is it. It’s really exciting.
What Jackman could reveal was that Aronofsky has asked him to gain 25 pounds of muscle which the actor says "is more than I ever have for the role." Jackman had to turn to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for work-out advice.
It’s not easy for me, because I’m actually quite long and lean. “I had a chat with Dwayne Johnson, who did 25 pounds for [Faster]. I rang him up and was like, "Okay, tell me what’s going on."
Johnson's answer was pretty simple: six months, a pound a week, 6,000 calories a day. Jackman has the appropriate amount of time since The Wolverine will go into production in April 2011 in New York before moving to Japan.