Hugh Jackman took a pay cut to ensure Logan would be R-rated

In 2017, Hugh Jackman portrayed his much-loved Wolverine character in a way that was officially not suitable for children.

Okay, that makes it sound filthier than it was. Jackman wasn't unleashing his claws to get down and dirty, but Logan was deemed unsuitable for children was because it featured a lot of blood and gore, including people having their bodies brutally sliced open.

It marked a change of pace for the X-Men films that had previously been rated PG-13, which advises parents that some of the content might not be suitable for children under 13, but is a rating that Jackman himself is said to have pushed for when it came to the release of the movie.

As a huge Hollywood star and the face of Wolverine, it's safe to assume Jackman could have raked in the big bucks for his role in Logan. However, after an early screening of the film at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon film marathon in 2016, the director of 2013's The Wolverine revealed Jackman took home a bit less for the R-rated movie.

As reported at the time by Ain't it Cool's Eric Vespe, James Mangold revealed Jackman 'took a salary cut because he wanted to do an R-rated movie'.

While the promise of extra blood and gore might entice some viewers who usually wouldn't check out a comic book film, rating such a movie as R is a risk. It means audience members not only have to be old enough to see the film, but also willing to subject their eyeballs to more gruesome content.

As such, the movies typically have to be cheaper to produce in order to reduce the impact if it doesn't perform too well in cinemas. By taking a pay cut, Jackman would have helped lower the overall cost of Logan.

Though the 2017 film was the first time he took the character to a more mature level, Jackman admitted after he said goodbye to the character that he wished he'd been able to find the heart of Logan more quickly.

Speaking to Variety, he commented: “I wish I’d started playing him like that 17 years ago,. So there’s some sense of missed opportunity, but when I saw ‘Logan,’ I sat there and I did have tears in my eyes. The main feeling I had was: “There, that’s the character. I feel like I’ve done it now.” And I was calm and at peace, but I’m going to miss that guy.”

It looks like Jackman hasn't had to bid farewell to Wolverine for too long, at least, as it was recently revealed he would be starring in the new Deadpool movie alongside Ryan Reynolds.

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock/20th Century Fox

Topics: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Wolverine, TV and Film

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.