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Evangeline Lilly Admits She Bluntly Turned Down X-Men Role Right To Hugh Jackman's Face

Evangeline Lilly; Hugh Jackman
Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Imagees; Matt Keeble/Dave Benett/Getty Images

The Wolverine actor personally approached The 'Ant-Man' star while the two costarred in 2011's 'Real Steel.'

"If I'm not impressed, you'll know."

Though she admitted sometimes she shouldn't, Evangeline Lilly seems to live by these words.


Th Ant-Man star recently revealed on an episode of Happy Sad Confused podcast that she's had some massive opportunities for which she had "no desire" to be a part of, specifically in superhero movies.

The Lost alum recalled the time that she shot down Hugh Jackman for a chance to be in an X-Men film. At the time, the two were working on the 2011 film Real Steel.

She revealed Jackman was urged by "the X-Men guys" to mention the idea.

"[He] was like, 'Hey, so, the 'X-Men' guys are asking me if I would approach you because they know that you won't talk to anybody. They knew I was working with you and were interested to know if it would ever interest you to do an 'X-Men' thing."

Lilly shared she felt bad about turning down the opportunity to Wolverine himself, but she wasn't feeling it.

"I was like, 'No. It doesn't interest me. I'm not interested."
"I was like, I feel like such a d*ck because I'm talking to an X-Men! The X-Men! And I'm like telling him, 'No, that doesn't appeal.' Like what?!"
"I felt so rude!"

You can watch the moment below.

youtu.be

In the interview, Lilly even admitted she wanted to turn down the Ant-Man role, but her agent encouraged her to look into Marvel films before coming to a final decision.

She shared:

"When I did, I was like, 'Oh, they're doing something very different and very cool.'"

Earlier in the interview, she even revealed she had an opportunity to play Wonder Woman, as well, but the script was unappealing and her feeling about it was evident during the audition with Joss Whedon.

"I think my impression, coming away from it, was I had no desire and he could tell."
"It didn't appeal and there was nothing about the meeting that like, jazzed me or made me think like, 'Oh, I've gotta do this.'"
"Nothing clicked. Nothing felt good."
"I am way too authentic for my own good. I mean, it's not good."
"If I am not impressed, you'll know. And maybe you shouldn't know sometimes."

Several on Twitter found humor in Lilly's choice to turn down X-Men and Wonder Woman only to join the Ant-Man franchise.




But many are glad she chose to pursue the role of Wasp.


You can catch Lilly now in the third stand-alone Ant-Man film as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was released worldwide today.

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