Hugh Jackman is one of the most popular and wholesome stars in Hollywood, one who shot to fame in the action genre by landing his big break in Bryan Singer’s X-Men by getting cast as Wolverine two weeks after filming had started when scheduling conflicts with Mission: Impossible II forced Dougray Scott to drop out.
In the two decades since, Jackman cemented the adamantium-infused mutant as a cinematic icon, before going on to find success in a variety of different genres on both the stage and screen. These days, he’s an Emmy, Golden Globe, Grammy and Tony award winning actor, singer and producer, which also means he’s just one Academy Award away from the EGOT.
However, things were a lot different back in the day, when Jackman was trying to make a name for himself treading the boards on Broadway. Actor Kevin Spirtas was on standby during a run of The Boy from Oz between 2003 and 2004, and he revealed in the Crystal Lake Memories documentary that Jackman admitted he’d always wanted to play Jason Voorhees.
Spirtas played Nicholas Rogers in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, and when he makes his claim about Hugh Jackman wanting to don the hockey mask and slash his way through a roster of disposable teens, the footage cuts to somebody asking the X-Men star about it, to which he replies “Oh man, you’ve done your research!.”
Friday the 13th has been laying idle for years due to a series of complicated legal battles over the rights to the property, but surely all of the warring parties would put their differences to one side if Hugh Jackman rocked up and said he’d play Jason.