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Hugh Jackman Promises Aronofsky’s Wolverine 2 Will Be ‘Thoughtful,’ ‘Meaty’

After Anderson Cooper’s opening remarks at Elton John’s Enduring Vision gala last night, we found Hugh Jackman at his table, eagerly anticipating dinner. Shooting on his Woverine 2 begins early next year, he explained, and he’s bulking up: “Expect to see four chicken breasts and a whole pile of steamed broccoli on my plate,” he told us. “I’m starting; I’m having my six meals a day.” With Darren Aronofsky directing, he says that Wolverine 2 will not be a “usual” X-Men movie: “This is, hopefully for me, going to be out of the box. It’s going to be the best one, I hope,” he said, and then paused. “Well, I would say that, but I really do feel that, and I feel this is going to be very different.”

Also, Jackman doesn’t think that Aronofsky’s penchant for dark drama is at odds with the big-budget action franchise. “This is Wolverine. This is not Popeye. He’s kind of dark,” Jackman said. “But, you know, this is a change of pace. Chris McQuarrie, who wrote The Usual Suspects, has written the script, so that’ll give you a good clue. [Aronofsky’s] going to make it fantastic. There’s going to be some meat on the bones. There will be something to think about as you leave the theater, for sure.”

Meanwhile, Jackman says he had fun working with boxing robots in next summer’s Real Steel: “There were a few little mishaps, but mainly just me being clumsy and hitting them and knocking things over,” he said. “I had to pretend like I knew exactly how to run these things and put my hands in the back and figure them out, and, of course, I was pathetic.”

Hugh Jackman Promises Aronofsky’s Wolverine 2 Will Be ‘Thoughtful,’ ‘Meaty’