Hugh Jackman Recalls Blowing ‘Miss Congeniality’ Audition

Hugh Jackman boasts a Hollywood career that many actors would envy, but he still bristles when he recalls how he missed out on the role of Sandra Bullock's love interest in the 2000 rom-com "Miss Congeniality."

The "X-Men" franchise star opened up to Variety about the incident, explaining that his agent sent him to audition for the role in order to negotiate against another rom-com Jackman had been offered: "Someone Like You" with Ashley Judd.

Unfortunately, as Jackman is the first to admit, he blew the audition. "No one knew ‘X-Men’ yet,” the actor recalled. “I was a nobody.”

While reading lines with Bullock at the audition, Jackman thought, “‘Holy s---! She’s amazing! And so quick and fast. I’m not even vaguely up to speed here.’"

"I was pedaling as fast as I could, but I didn’t know the script well enough," he added.

Benjamin Bratt ultimately won the role, leaving Jackman feeling embarrassed. “That’s humiliating, when your agent says, ‘I don’t want you to get this job, but just go get it.’ And then you don’t get it," he said.

Though Jackman allegedly retired his "X-Men" character, Wolverine, after the superhero died in the 2017 movie "Logan," Jackman and pal Ryan Reynolds surprised fans last month when they jointly announced that Wolverine will appear in the upcoming "Deadpool 3."

The pair announced the exciting crossover news in a hilarious Twitter video. The clip begins with Reynolds speaking to the camera while sitting on a couch. It then shows glimpses of Reynolds strolling through a wooded area, lifting weights and and typing on a typewriters as he muses about the “depth, motivation and meaning” that went into planning the upcoming movie’s story arc.

And after reaching down "deep inside" himself, Reynolds reveal that he came up with ... nothing. "Just completely empty up here," he says, nervously tapping his forehead.

“But we did have one idea,” Reynolds continues as Jackman suddenly appears, walking in the backdrop.

“Hey, Hugh. You wanna play Wolverine one more time?” Reynolds ask his fellow action star.

“Yeah. Sure, Ryan,” Jackman replies indifferently as he walks up a flight of stairs.

The video ends with Reynolds smiling as Whitney Houston’s song “I Will Always Love You” kicks in.

Related:

This article was originally published on TODAY.com