Following the Margot Robbie and Jake Gyllenhaal video interview about Harley Quinn, now Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman and Green Goblin and Aquaman actor Willem Dafoe discuss the evolution of superhero movies.
Willem Dafoe offers that he thinks why super hero films still resonate is that Marvel and DC movies are still successful today and that they feature stories that cross cultural boundaries as they can work in Asia as well as the United States.
Hugh Jackman says he thinks they are “generally exceeding people’s expectations” and remembers hearing people saying ten years ago that they didn’t thing it would last.
Willem Dafoe agrees and says when Spider-Man was proposed to him, reactions were: “Really, you are going to make a film from a comic book?” Dafoe says some people saw it as “slumming,” but he didn’t see it that way.
Hugh Jackman says Spider-Man was a great movie, and regarding the first X-Men movie, he says when it first starts with the concentration camp scene that it offers that it should be taken seriously in a more humanistic way as opposed to a superhuman way. Jackman says that he thinks Christopher Nolan raised the bar to a whole new level with the Batman movies “and made people see beyond any kind of genre.” Hugh Jackman also name drops his Logan movie as well as the Ryan Reynolds Deadpool movie as examples of films taking risks and doing different things.
“I have no idea how long it will last,” Jackman says and points out Dafoe is doing another one.
“I did Aquaman, In Australia by the way (Jackman’s home country). It was a great experience.” Willem Dafoe replies. “James Wan. A very strong director. And great fun, because I still like to do all the action stuff.”
“I do, too,” Jackman agreed.
Check out the video below for more (Jackman also talks about how Jerry Seinfeld inspired him to retire as Wolverine):
