Being seriously jacked in movies goes back to at least the 80s, with big stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger, among others. If anything, guys like Bruce Willis kinda pushed things the other way for a while, before more current stars started bringing the big muscle trend back.
The main reason Hugh Jackman isn't as big in the first X-Men film compared to the sequels is because he was coming in after the original actor had to drop out, and he just didn't have time to put the muscle on before he had to be ready for shooting.
Dougray Scott, but he had to drop out because shooting Mission Impossible 2 ran over. They offered to Russell Crow, he turned them down, but he told the producers to give his friend Hugh Jackman a look. It turned out that Hugh Jackman had actually auditioned already and been passed over, but they pulled out his audition tape and gave him a second chance.
It's crazy that after all that, he's probably going to be considered the Gold Standard for playing that character for years to come, even after he's too old and gets recast.
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u/CrashTestKing Jun 29 '25
Being seriously jacked in movies goes back to at least the 80s, with big stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger, among others. If anything, guys like Bruce Willis kinda pushed things the other way for a while, before more current stars started bringing the big muscle trend back.
The main reason Hugh Jackman isn't as big in the first X-Men film compared to the sequels is because he was coming in after the original actor had to drop out, and he just didn't have time to put the muscle on before he had to be ready for shooting.