Personally, I like Hugh Jackman just the way he is, no matter what that is: starring in bad romantic/time-travel comedies, playing a gay Australian piano player on Broadway, singing and dancing in a casino in one of the most reviled TV shows ever made. Whatever—the man can do what he likes as far as I’m concerned. That doesn’t mean I’m not intrigued, though, that he’s taking his job of superhero very, very seriously when it comes to filming the Wolverine movie.

According to some way second-hand gossip over at Moviehole , Jackman is training like a crazy person to get ready for his part, sleeping three hours a night and drinking—oh, the humanity—protein shakes. I don’t think there was anyone who looked at the man in the first three X-Men movies and said, “Man, send that guy to the gym,” but maybe he’s trying to erase all memories of Viva Laughlin by turning into an Arnold Schwarzenegger clone?

I go back and forth as to whether or not I will care at all about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, especially now that they’ve beefed up the title even more than they’re beefing up their leading man (zing!) But news like this reminds me that, hey, Hugh Jackman is awesome, and takes his roles very seriously, even when they involve a handful of claws. So if everyone making this thing is as dedicated as he is, we might be in for something that’ll also erase the memory of Brett Ratner’s X-Men 3. Now that’s something to be excited about.