Robert Downey Jr. was looking to get into superhero shape after he was first cast as Iron Man. In the process, he figured Hugh Jackman was the perfect actor to tell him how to sculpt his new body.
Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man wasn’t really known for his physical abilities. The superhero’s strengths lay in his intelligence and his advanced robotic suit. Even when Downey was finally given the part, he was told that he didn’t need to exercise.
“They said I’d be fine to start shooting the way I looked, but I took it upon myself to get into really good shape,” Downey once told Cinema.
He added that he applied a mixture of weight training and martial arts to achieve the physique he did for Iron Man. But he also went to fellow actor and superhero Hugh Jackman for help. Jackman was known to put on quite a bit of muscle for his portrayal as the physical Wolverine. In an interview with Britain’s Notebook (via Contact Music), Jackman shared a few details on how conversations with Downey went.
“Half of Hollywood[(plays superheroes] now… When Robert first got the part of Iron Man he reached out to me and said, ‘Mate, can you just share with me the diet and how to get in shape?’ because he knew I wasn’t in shape before it, so there’s a little bit of that [sharing that goes on between actors],” he said.
Jackman hasn’t just been the giver of advice when it came to fitness. The actor initially received a bit of advice as well. Jumanji star Dwayne Johnson has been known for sporting a very muscular and large physique for the majority of his career. Since Jackman wanted to get into comparable shape, he was also hoping to get tips from the actor.
“He told me that if in a six-month period you want to put on 25 pounds of lean muscle and not fat, eat natural and eat 6,000 calories a day,” Jackman once told Men’s Fitness (via Just Jared). “There were times when I would literally eat with the mind set of working out. ‘One more mouthful, one more, come on, come on, you’ve got to finish this meal!’”
According to Variety, Jackman ate 8000 calories to get in shape for Deadpool 3 using some professional help.
“Bulking. A day in the life,” Jackman wrote on Instagram. “Thank you, Chef Mario, for helping me stay healthy and properly fed whilst… Becoming. Wolverine. Again.”
Jackman has always been interested in his Wolverine entering the official Marvel Cinematic Universe. In an interview with Collider, he even inquired about teaming up with The Avengers long before it was possible.
“Mate, I ask the same question,” he said. “I literally asked the same question the other day to Tom from Marvel who works with all the other studios, he works with Sony and Fox, that’s his job to liaise. I said, ‘Man, can this happen?’ and he goes ‘Look, it’s not gonna be easy because you’re working with different studios and they’re their properties.’”
Still, Jackman didn’t give up hope. Seeing Sony strike a deal with Marvel for Spider-Man fueled Jackman’s optimism further.
“I was sort of surprised, a little bit, although I could see the possibilities of that partnership working,” Jackman once told E! News. “It’s interesting. I mean, I’m an actor first, I’m a movie fan first, I’ve come to love comic books—I didn’t as a kid, but, you know, I love it when people go, ‘Woah, what if Iron Man faced off with Wolverine, that’d be cool,’ and I go, ‘Yeah, I’d love to do that movie with Robert Downey Jr. I’m in.’”