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Hugh Jackman Relished Drastic Villain Makeover

Hugh Jackman, loved the world over for playing the heroic Wolverine, has embraced his dark side for a villainous new film role – and has also had a drastic new makeover.

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He plays a psychopathic and overzealous robot designer called Vincent Moore in ‘Chappie’, the new film by ‘District 9’ director Neill Blomkamp. The role included a disturbing mullet haircut and finally getting to use his own Australian accent.

“Neill makes movies his way, so I don’t know if [the mullet] would’ve been a dealbreaker or not, but I was onboard at he beginning,” Jackman told Yahoo Movies.

“He sent me a picture of someone with that outfit and that hair and the frustrating thing was that I couldn’t quite grow the mullet in time for filming. I finished in December/October and I tried to grow it and I wanted it to be good.

“When I met my wife (actress/producer Deborra-Lee Furness) I was rocking a mullet for a TV series, so she was into the idea actually until I got the tips in it. The tips took it over the top!”

“I wasn’t sure he’d go for it,” admitted director Blomkamp. “I wanted Hugh to be Australian and use his own accent so it was just getting that much closer to reality.  When I realised that I was like ‘why don’t I just push that further’. So I sent him some photos of some Australian farmers and this kid with this mullet from the Australian outback and he was like ‘oh that’s cool - I want to do that…’ It also felt hilarious.”

Jackman also said that he was relishing stepping out Wolverine’s shadow and playing some villains – not only in ‘Chappie’ but also Blackbeard in the upcoming ‘Pan’ (see below).

“It just happened that this year I’m playing two villainous parts, which by the way are the most fun. It took me all these years to find out that the hero gets beaten up for the whole movie, and then wins the last fight, and the villain basically wins every fight, gets the best dialogue and then loses at the end.

“The truth is I am really boring. I’m married to the most fun, awesome woman - that’s like the greatest thing to ever happen to me - But if it wasn’t for Deb I’m pretty boring. The thing I love about acting is that there’s different stuff, different sides. I don’t always get to play a villain but I like to play different sides to things.”

‘Chappie’, co-stars Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel and Sigourney Weaver and is released in the UK on 6 March 2015. Watch the trailer below.