Dafne Keen Punched, Ultimately Bruised Hugh Jackman During ‘Logan’ Audition


Logan might have brought an end to Hugh Jackman’s reign as Wolverine, but it did introduce the world to Dafne Keen, who portrayed X-23 in the comic-book adaptation.

Logan’s writer and director James Mangold has now admitted that he actually had serious concerns that they wouldn’t be able to find an actress that could portray X-23, as it was such a challenging role for a teenage actor. James Mangold made this admission to Comic Book Resources, revealing that there was only a handful of actors in the world that could do it justice.

“I felt like I had written with my writing partners a stool with three legs. I knew one leg was Hugh Jackman and one leg was Patrick Stewart, but I had no idea who was going to be this third leg and they needed to be between 10 and 12 years old, bilingual, physically talented and an amazing actress.”

[Image by 20th Century Fox]

James Mangold’s concerns were immediately quashed when he saw a video audition featuring Dafne Keen as X-23, which involved her traipsing across furniture as the mutant.

“The first introduction was this tape I got of her climbing around on bookshelves at their house and prowling around lounge chairs and doing a somersault or two.”

After seeing this video, Dafne Keen was flown out to New York City with her parents for a face to face audition alongside Hugh Jackman. The scene in question was particularly grueling, too, as it saw her getting extremely frustrated with Logan, who retaliates himself.

It also just so happened to involve Dafne Keen punching Hugh Jackman in the face repeatedly, something that writer and director James Mangold encouraged her to do. Clearly, she did quite a good job, too, because not only did she get the role, but her efforts also resulted in Jackman receiving numerous bruises.

“That was one of the scenes we did in New York and I kept encouraging [Dafne] to get crazier and crazier in that scene. And I think Hugh ended the day with a giant bruise on his shoulder.”

[Image by 20th Century Fox]

Clearly, working on a Wolverine film is quite an arduous task. That’s because as recently as yesterday, the Inquisitr revealed that Hugh Jackman had repeatedly injured himself during production on the X-Men films. This even saw him stab himself a number of times with Wolverine’s claws, as well as other people on set, too.

“I can’t tell you how many people I stabbed, how I stabbed myself. They were killing machines… I used to have to practice so I wouldn’t hit people [with the claws]. And one thing I neglected to practice was the follow-through. … I’ve got a number of scars on my thighs, and it’s really not cool. Got pretty close to some sensitive areas, but everything’s fine.”

At one point, it also included Hugh Jackman stabbing the stunt-double for Mystique right in the arm, too. Something that left the Australian actor aghast.

“I stabbed the [stunt] double for Mystique right in the arm. Of course I freaked out a little bit. It’s not every day you stab someone.”

But it turns out that the woman who was stabbed by Hugh Jackman was nowhere near as furious as he assumed she would be. That’s because rather than immediately suing the actor for all he is worth, or seeking the medical attention that she almost certainly required, the stunt double instead celebrated the incident.

“She said, ‘I’ve been stabbed by Wolverine!’ That was one of the first days of shooting. That’s when you realize this is not a normal character, when people are really happy to be stabbed by your character.”

[Featured Image by 20th Century Fox]

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