Hugh Jackman has had a long, successful career on the stage and screen, but his name is most synonymous with his tenure playing X-Men hero Wolverine. Prior to news that he would be taking up the claws again for Deadpool 3, James Mangold’s Logan served as the final chapter and emotional conclusion to that signature character’s story. That movie starred young actress Dafne Keen as Laura/ X-23, and she recently shared the sweet way Jackman and and Mangold mentored her on the superhero flick’s set.
Dafne Keen made a splash a Laura in Logan, with her fierce performance universally acclaimed–especially considering how young she was at the time. Many moviegoers want to see her return as X-23, although it’s unclear if that’ll ever happen. Keen recently spoke with our sister site Marie Claire, where she revealed the major lesson that Hugh Jackman taught her while working on the acclaimed superhero flick. In her words:
Hugh Jackman was so great as the number one on set at teaching me how to treat crew. He was the most brilliant person with the crew, he taught me how the distance between cast and crew is wrong and that everyone is to be treated equally. He was close with everyone from the crew, he knew everyone’s names and would get people lottery tickets each week. I learnt the ropes from him and feel very lucky to have been taught that by him.
Talk about a class act. While actors are often the face of a movie project, there are thousands of people that go into the release of major motion pictures. Hugh Jackman is an actor who clearly resorts and values film crews, and that was something that he passed on to Dafne Keen throughout the process of bringing the Oscar-nominated Logan to life on the screen. No wonder he’s such a beloved figure in the entertainment industry.
Dafne Keen’s memories about Hugh Jackman and her time working on Logan come as she’s promoting the third and final season of HBO’s His Dark Materials. Eventually the conversation turned to her time in the superhero genre, and the experience of working on the gritty drama at such a young age. And it sounds like her big Hollywood break offered quite a few lessons at the time.
Of course, Hugh Jackman wasn’t the only one passing nuggets of wisdom to Dafne Keen during Logan’s principal photography. James Mangold wrote and directed the movie, and was able to collaborate well with the young actress. In the same interview, she revealed a valuable lesson he taught her, saying:
I was told by James Mangold on the set of Logan to always go full out, because if you do too much we can always bring you down. Which I think is a very good tip for actors because lots of actors tend to not give everything they have in scenes for fear of over-acting. But if you're overacted, you're okay because you'll have someone telling you to do less. That’s a top tip of mine.
That’s some sound logic. This bit of acting advice is one that has been used in countless stage and film productions around the world. Namely that giving too much is better than not enough; it’s easy to pull back an actor but not as easy to get them to truly go for it. Dafne Keen was a force of nature in Logan, so it’s clear that this direction worked out well.
Hugh Jackman is expected to appear in Deadpool 3 on November 8th, 2024. The new season of Dafne Keen’s His Dark Materials will debut on HBO Max on December 5th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. Sadly, it’s unclear if Keen will ever play X-23 again.
