Hugh Jackman's X-treme Role

When Hugh Jackman heard an unfinished copy of his upcoming film 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' had been leaked online, he thought it was an April Fool's Day joke.

A week and 100,000 downloads later, the actor doesn't find it funny anymore.

"I was heartbroken," the 40-year-old star said. "It is a serious crime and there's no doubt it's very disappointing."

'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' is a prequel to the hit 'X-Men' film trilogy. It focuses on the violent past of mutant Wolverine, played by Jackman, and his early encounters with Stryker (Danny Huston), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and his half-brother and nemesis Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber).

The unauthorised "rough cut" of the film appeared on an illegal file-sharing website on April 1, a month before its official release date.

The footage - which was reportedly near-DVD quality - was unfinished and missing many of the special effects the comic book franchise is famous for. Wires hang off the actors and green-screens are visible in many scenes.

Jackman said: "Obviously, people are seeing an unfinished film. It's like a Ferrari without a paint job. I am upset for all the people who have spent years working on this."

The bootleg film was removed from the internet within 24 hours and America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the leak.

Jackman is confident the culprit will be caught and prosecuted.

"The FBI are onto it and they're taking it very seriously," he said. "Rest assured that person will be found." Film studio 20th Century Fox is also aggressively pursuing the bootlegger.

Fox Chairman Tom Rothman said: "The version that went out is unfinished. It's about 10 minutes shorter, doesn't have key scenes, it wasn't edited, and none of the effects shots were in any remotely final form.

"It's a complete misrepresentation of the film and is deeply unfair to the people who have worked on it for years. I have a high level of confidence we'll bring the perpetrators to justice."

The first casualty in the hunt for the pirate was Fox News columnist Roger Friedman, who was fired after he posted an online review of 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'.

Although his review was positive - Friedman said the film "exceeds expectations at every turn" - the writer admitted to illegally downloading the feature and joked he would do it again because it was "so much easier than going out in the rain" to see it at the cinema.

Fox News condemned Friedman's "reprehensible" behaviour, removed the review, and sacked him "immediately".

Despite their disappointment, the 20th Century Fox have vowed to re-edit the movie and go ahead with the scheduled UK release date of April 29.

Rothman said: "Hugh is heartbroken and hurt. He's lived with this thing for 10 years. But he's also a man and knows that life isn't fair, and is more determined than ever."

Despite his faith in the film and its fans, Jackman is concerned the leak will reduce box office figures.

But the success of Ang Lee's 2003 comic book epic 'Hulk' - which was also leaked online prior to its release date - suggests the actor has nothing to worry about.

The film went on to make more than $60 million worldwide and remains one of the top 50 openings of all time.

No matter what happens, Jackman can't wait for the film to hit cinemas - if only so the world can see his newly buff body.

The actor went to insane lengths to sculpt his physique for the film, even waking up in the middle of the night to drink egg whites.

"I'm so glad I'm not on my diet anymore," he said. "I still eat every three hours but what I'm eating is a hell of a lot tastier than it was. I'm certainly not waking up to eat either.

"I used to get up at 4am and eat egg whites, then every three hours after that. I have a combination of protein or steamed vegetables and brown rice for breakfast. Then after midday, no rice or carbohydrates.

"I trained for an hour and a half, five days a week. Then on the sixth day, I did what my trainer calls 'a play session' which previously would have killed me in itself."

Judging from promotional posters, Jackman's hard work has paid off - his body is so perfect it almost looks like it's made of plastic. It even inspired his co-star Liev Schreiber to tone up his own flabby figure.

Schreiber was initially planning to wear a muscle suit during filming so he wouldn't have to exercise or give up smoking but his plans changed when he saw Jackman's bulging biceps.

Schreiber said: "I started to read blogs in the comic world with things like 'That's the dumpiest, most out-of-shape Sabretooth I've ever seen in my life!'

"They gave me a muscle suit at the beginning. I was so humiliated I thought, 'I've got to try to do this on my own.' "

Jackman helped Schreiber shape up and before long, the 41-year-old actor - who is in a long-term relationship with Naomi Watts - became confident he could beat Wolverine in a fight.

Schreiber said: "I can take him. In fact, I do. Hugh is huge and he has muscles everywhere and I have to play this guy who whoops his a*s.

"So I began this four-month training period where I just got bigger and bigger and bigger. I mean, it was awful but amazing.

"And then when I finally got there and I got to choreograph the fights with Hugh and get on the wire and do the work - it was insanely fun. I've seen the footage and it's amazing."

However, Ryan Reynolds - who plays Deadpool, a wise-cracking mercenary with the power to heal Wolverine - found his fight scenes "depressing" because they took so long to shoot.

He said: "I have a sword sequence in the movie that is probably less than a minute long in the film but that takes months and months to prepare for.

"When you think about it like that it's vaguely depressing, but when you actually do it, it's worth it, when you see on the screen that it's me and it's not a stunt person and I'm doing my thing.

"So, yeah, they're slow. We had one fight sequence that took weeks."

Despite the gruelling filming schedule, Reynolds is glad he accepted the role because he made so many friends on set.

He said: "I was a little bit destined to play that character. I love that franchise. I love that whole vibe, so I was happy to jump in there and do it.

"Movies like this are intense. You have a lot of big personalities in one room and you think that's going to be combustible, but it was just the opposite.

"It was a shockingly chummy set. Everybody was really into what they were doing and because of that, it was like this bonding experience."

Right now, Jackman would like to forget about Wolverine for a while, but he's not ruling out the possibility of a sequel.

He said: "If it's clear to us on May 2 or 3 that the appeal's gone, then I'll walk away happily. I'm not going to flog a dead horse, or try and make movies that people don't really want to go and see.

"I have no interest in that, no matter how much I love the character. Having said that, there's a few storylines that are running my head which I think would be really cool, but unless the script is right, then I just don't see the point in doing it.

"I'm probably at the point in my career where I don't need it, and the last thing I want to do is just to push it on people if it doesn't warrant a full feature movie."

By Kerry Coleman.

When Hugh Jackman heard an unfinished copy of his upcoming film 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' had been leaked online, he thought it was an April Fool's Day joke.

A week and 100,000 downloads later, the actor doesn't find it funny anymore.

"I was heartbroken," the 40-year-old star said. "It is a serious crime and there's no doubt it's very disappointing."

'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' is a prequel to the hit 'X-Men' film trilogy. It focuses on the violent past of mutant Wolverine, played by Jackman, and his early encounters with Stryker (Danny Huston), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and his half-brother and nemesis Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber).

The unauthorised "rough cut" of the film appeared on an illegal file-sharing website on April 1, a month before its official release date.

The footage - which was reportedly near-DVD quality - was unfinished and missing many of the special effects the comic book franchise is famous for. Wires hang off the actors and green-screens are visible in many scenes.

Jackman said: "Obviously, people are seeing an unfinished film. It's like a Ferrari without a paint job. I am upset for all the people who have spent years working on this."

The bootleg film was removed from the internet within 24 hours and America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the leak.

Jackman is confident the culprit will be caught and prosecuted.

"The FBI are onto it and they're taking it very seriously," he said. "Rest assured that person will be found." Film studio 20th Century Fox is also aggressively pursuing the bootlegger.

Fox Chairman Tom Rothman said: "The version that went out is unfinished. It's about 10 minutes shorter, doesn't have key scenes, it wasn't edited, and none of the effects shots were in any remotely final form.

"It's a complete misrepresentation of the film and is deeply unfair to the people who have worked on it for years. I have a high level of confidence we'll bring the perpetrators to justice."

The first casualty in the hunt for the pirate was Fox News columnist Roger Friedman, who was fired after he posted an online review of 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'.

Although his review was positive - Friedman said the film "exceeds expectations at every turn" - the writer admitted to illegally downloading the feature and joked he would do it again because it was "so much easier than going out in the rain" to see it at the cinema.

Fox News condemned Friedman's "reprehensible" behaviour, removed the review, and sacked him "immediately".

Despite their disappointment, the 20th Century Fox have vowed to re-edit the movie and go ahead with the scheduled UK release date of April 29.

Rothman said: "Hugh is heartbroken and hurt. He's lived with this thing for 10 years. But he's also a man and knows that life isn't fair, and is more determined than ever."

Despite his faith in the film and its fans, Jackman is concerned the leak will reduce box office figures.

But the success of Ang Lee's 2003 comic book epic 'Hulk' - which was also leaked online prior to its release date - suggests the actor has nothing to worry about.

The film went on to make more than $60 million worldwide and remains one of the top 50 openings of all time.

No matter what happens, Jackman can't wait for the film to hit cinemas - if only so the world can see his newly buff body.

The actor went to insane lengths to sculpt his physique for the film, even waking up in the middle of the night to drink egg whites.

"I'm so glad I'm not on my diet anymore," he said. "I still eat every three hours but what I'm eating is a hell of a lot tastier than it was. I'm certainly not waking up to eat either.

"I used to get up at 4am and eat egg whites, then every three hours after that. I have a combination of protein or steamed vegetables and brown rice for breakfast. Then after midday, no rice or carbohydrates.

"I trained for an hour and a half, five days a week. Then on the sixth day, I did what my trainer calls 'a play session' which previously would have killed me in itself."

Judging from promotional posters, Jackman's hard work has paid off - his body is so perfect it almost looks like it's made of plastic. It even inspired his co-star Liev Schreiber to tone up his own flabby figure.

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