Photo: Big Issue

LOS ANGELES

Hollywood star Hugh Jackman has revealed that he was almost fired from playing Wolverine in "X-Men" films. The 50-year-old Australian actor, who played Wolverine for 16 years, said he nearly lost the role during filming on the first movie.

"Five weeks into shooting 'X-Men', I was on the verge of getting fired... 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.

''And the very next day the director pulled me aside and told me exactly the same thing...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," Jackman said during his 'Hugh Jackman. The Man. The Music. The Show' world tour at The O2 in London.

According to Contactmusic, Jackman's wife Deborra-lee Furness helped him in overcoming the fear of getting fired by pushing him to believe in his talent. "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," he added. For his role of Wolverine, Jackman also holds a Guinness World Record for ''longest career as a live-action Marvel superhero''.