Hugh Jackman was almost fired as Wolverine in X-Men

Hugh Jackman was almost fired from X-Men.

Although the 50-year-old actor played Wolverine for 16 years and now holds the Guinness World Record for "longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero", he has admitted that he nearly lost the role during filming on the first movie.

Speaking on stage during his 'Hugh Jackman. The Man. The Music. The Show.' world tour at The O2 in London on Friday (June 7), Hugh told the story as he talked about his love for his wife Deborra-Lee Furness.

He said: "Five weeks into shooting X-Men, I was on the verge of getting fired. I haven't told this story a lot for obvious reasons...

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"The head of the studio pulled me aside at lunch and he told me that they were worried at the studio, that they weren't seeing on camera what they'd seen in the audition. He said it was like a lampshade is over the light.

"And the very next day the director pulled me aside and told me exactly the same thing, even the whole 'lampshade over the light' thing, the same speech. So clearly they'd been talking and I was freaking out.

"I'm thinking, oh, this is the talk you get before you get fired. And this was the biggest break of my career by a mile up to this point. And I went home to Deb, and was complaining to her.

"So, she listened to me very patiently for about an hour, and finally she put her hand on my shoulder and she said, 'Babe, I think you've gotta just trust yourself, you're worrying way too much about what everybody else is thinking, just go back to the beginning, focus on the character, trust your instincts, you've got this'.

"And she was right. And to me, that is love: someone who believes in you even when you don't really believe in yourself. And this whole show is dedicated to Deb and the kids."