How Hugh Jackman Says Goodbye to Wolverine in Logan

How Hugh Jackman Feels About Saying Goodbye to Wolverine in Logan

After 17 years, Hugh Jackman is hanging up his steel claws.

"I knew it was going to be my last one so it ... has to be perfect," the star of "Logan" tells Made in Hollywood reporter Damaris Diaz. "I wanted to be at peace saying goodbye. I wanted to be really happy. I didn't want to leave a stone unturned. So every bit of it I've been very involved in."

The Wolverine swan song has a weary Logan caring for an ailing Professor X, played by Patrick Stewart, while also protecting a newcomer -- a young a mutant girl, who is very much like Logan, from dark forces trying to capture her.

"In a way, this is my love letter to the fans, as well as I think to people who have never seen an X-Men film or a comic book film," Jackman says. "We're just trying to make a great film, not necessarily a 'comic book movie.'"

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Hugh Jackman Calls Logan the Most Personal Wolverine Film

Jackman calls "Logan" one of the most realistic film in the franchise, taking the cast and crew to actual locations.

"It was hot, it was uncomfortable, it was on the road," he says. "We weren't in a soundstage doing a lot of green screen, which a lot of these movies seem to have become now. It felt real and rooted in reality. So that's what we wanted. But I got to tell you it was hard work, very hard work, but incredibly satisfying."

It's also, Jackman says, one of the most personal of the movies. He knew its success hinged on finding the right young costar for a critical role, and he says producers succeeded in casting child actress Dafne Keen.

"I was really nervous when I read the treatment," he says. "I love this idea that this movie is about family and putting a family together and putting Logan in the middle of it because he so doesn't want to be involved. He doesn't want to love. Love brings pain. So I thought, How the hell are we going to find someone who can play this role, who's in the entire movie, hardly says anything, and holds the screen? And as soon as I saw the tape of her, I was just blown away."

Hugh Jackman Says He's at Peace Ending His Run as Wolverine in Logan

In the end, there's as much emotion off screen, as Jackman comes to terms with giving up an iconic character.

"The word is not bittersweet. There's not bitterness," he says. "It's quite sweet. It's calm. It feels calm. It just feels right. I'm really relieved to feel that. You don't really know. You don't know until that last day of filming how you're going to feel, or when I see the movie. I love this character so much. I actually love this character more than ever. But I don't feel it's gone. I can't feel it's gone. It's there with me, that experience is with me for life. I just feel happy. I'm grateful."