Hugh Jackman Wants to Play Wolverine "Until I Die"

So far, Hugh Jackman has played the role of Wolverine seven times on the big screen. Jackman remains coy on whether we'll see him in Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse, but we know for certain he'll be back in character for 2017's third spin-off Wolverine film, that director James Mangold is returning to helm.

Beyond that? Don't expect Jackman to put those claws away until he needs to.

In a new interview, Jackman has talked about being inspired by seeing the film Birdman -- it won a prize or two overnight, if you hadn't heard -- and he commented that "I said to my wife 'the moral is that I should never stop playing Wolverine. I’ve got to find a way to keep playing him until I die'. I know that someday they’ll recast the role with another actor… I’d be happy if the role was eventually recast. It would mean that it had become iconic."

He added: "I always want to be in better shape than I was for the last one. I don't believe in stagnation. Every time I play Wolverine I want to go further, physically and emotionally."

Yikes. We're glad we don't end up next to him at the gym. In fact, we're glad we don't go to the gym, come to think of it.

Jackman will next be seen in Neill Blomkamp's incoming sci-fi movie Chappie, which arrives the first week of March...

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