Not really. Russell Crowe was Singer's first choice for the role and it was his if he wanted it. But Crowe was already contracted to do, I think, A Beautiful Mind. Crowe suggested Jackman, but the studio initially said no as he was an unknown. So they then offered it to Dougray Scott but, as you mentioned, he was tied up with M:I 2. Singer then went back to Jackman and brought him in for a formal audition with Anna Paquin. The strength of that audition won the Fox executives over and that was it.
Glenn Danzig had also been considered for Wolverine as well lol.
After a lifetime of Oscar-winning work & stunning achievement, I would not begrudge the man for accepting MILLIONS of dollars to go super-cosplay for a couple of months. Nice work if you can get it.
As for Jackson? LULZ! IMO, I think he's wisely trying to get involved in as many franchises as possible & with the kind of money they keep throwing I can't blame him for any of it.
How about Alec Baldwin in The Shadow. yes the movie was bad but he was a pretty well known actor doing a superhero movie in a time when they were not that big.
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Many of the recent greatest coups mentioned appear to be only in it for the money.
I have a question for the OP, how many of those greatest coups gave some of the best performances of their career staring in superhero movies? Not many.
Many recent superhero films are for sure more about big screen movie stars on green screen island vacation, especially the MCU ones.
Gwyneth Paltrow is the worst coup, she doesn't know how many MCU movies she is in. She is usually only there to collect her cheque.
Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman were in it for the money. Hackman put effort into playing the comedic character he was supposed to play but Brando didn't even try despite being paid 3 million dollars.
I don't know about Paltrow. If you asked Downey or most of the others how many they were in, they might not know without having a few minutes to think about it. John de Lancie was asked how many times he played Q in Star Trek and he said six. It was actually twelve times. But for the actors, this isn't the be and end all like it often is for fans. For them, it's a job they previously did. I dare say all of them did it because it was a paycheck because that's what they do for a living.
Even Brando did it for the money that he didn't need but wasn't willing to get off his lazy duff and put any effort into it. I don't think Redford cared about the money or even the extra exposure but just wanted to be famous to his grandkids. Certainly, Stewart and McKellan put real effort into it. But would they have done it if their pay was just run of the mill pay for an ordinary movie?
Power with Girl is better.
Come on lets be honest, every actor is in it for the check. Why else would they demand millions of dollars to be in a movie? Why else would actors on popular tv shows demand pay raises when they get new contracts? Some of these actors are richer then kings and they still demand millions for a movie. A few actors will take a pay cut for a project they believe in but how often do we hear about that?
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An interesting distinction here is that the actors you cite understand that they were making a franchise that they were expected to participate in. If the franchise is going to be successful, they have to give every effort to their part in it.
Hackman, Stewart, and McKellan all had a stake in the game for the roles they played, Brando, not so much.
Redford gave it all of his skill regardless.
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