A last-minute change to the cast of the X-Men franchise led to the replacement actor becoming one of its most iconic stars. Changes to the cast meant a scramble to find someone to fit the role Dougray Scott had been tipped for. The star had been held up in production for Mission: Impossible 2, which had ran over schedule. Because of this, Scott dropped from the Bryan Singer-directed superhero film in 2000 and the role was handed off to a now legendary actor.
The star would go on to appear in countless adaptations of the character and even appeared as the veteran comic book hero as recently as last year alongside Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool. Movie lovers were stunned to realise Hugh Jackman, who became the iconic and long-running face of Wolverine, was not first choice for the role. One user taking to Reddit to discuss the casting change wrote: "Hugh Jackman stepped in after filming had already started to replace Dougray Scott (who was held up filming MI:2), which is why he looks relatively scrawny through much of the first X-Men movie.".
A separate thread has now asked how Scott would have changed the role should he have managed to portray Wolverine. The actor, better known for his work in Taken 3, Hitman, and Ripley's Game, missed out on the chance to portray the comic book hero, and fans say he would have done a great job. One fan asked: "Do you think Dougray Scott would have made a good Wolverine? Apparently Scott was going to play Wolverine in the 2000 X-Men movie but filming of MI:2 went long and he also suffered a motorcycle accident.
"I wonder how he would have done (according to IMDB). Also, interestingly, The part of Commander Swanbeck in MI:2 (Sir Anthony Hopkins) was originally offered to Sir Ian McKellen but he was already doing a play. Had he accepted, he would have missed out on Gandalf and Magneto because MI:2 went long.". One user joked: "I'm sure his portrayal of Wolverine would have joined the long list of iconic Dougray Scott performances that we all love and celebrate." Another countered, saying Jackman was not a household name at the time of making X-Men.
They wrote: "We also didn't know Hugh Jackman from Jack before Wolverine. Just saying..." A third added they would not have liked Scott in the role, but it was nothing to do with him as an actor. They wrote: "Probably not. But then again, if you had asked me about 6'3" song-and-dance broadway man Hugh Jackman, I would've said the same prior to the movie.". Others considered what the role of Wolverine needed, and how Jackman brought it to the screen. One user wrote: "Wolverine needs to be charismatic—the audience needs to like him, in spite of him being a jerk a lot of the time. Scott’s whole career is built on being an unlikeable guy with kind of a punchable face, so I don’t think his Wolverine would’ve worked out.
