It has been 20 years since the world was introduced to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in 2000's X-Men. It was a huge shift in the landscape of comic book movies and was the starting point of a run as the iconic character that would last nearly two decades for Jackman. Yet, as it turns out, the audition process to land what any actor would surely refer to as the role of a lifetime was surprisingly brief.

Hugh Jackman recently appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show. During the interview, they showed the actor's original Wolverine audition tape. After viewing it, Jackman provided some insight, explaining that there wasn't even a good chance of him playing the part, meaning he had a rather short audition. Here's what Jackman had to say about it.

"When I walked into that room, I was pretty sure that I wasn't playing the role. It was a weird audition because Dougray Scott had the role and then he got caught up in Mission: Impossible 2 but everyone thought that would get sorted... It was like this Hail Mary to begin with, which is probably the best way to do an audition. You're going in like 'Eh'... I think the entire audition was about 20 seconds. It wasn't much longer."

Indeed, Dougray Scott was supposed to be Wolverine but Mission: Impossible 2 ultimately prevented him from reporting for duty. So, Hugh Jackman, who was the backup plan, wound up being the guy. The rest, as they say, is history.

X-Men became a huge success and Hugh Jackman reprised the role multiple times in the ensuing years, concluding his run in 2017's Oscar-nominated Logan. But the year 2000 was a remarkably different time. As Jackman explained to host Jimmy Fallon, nobody expected the movie to be a success, as comic book adaptations weren't viewed as sure things like they are in Hollywood today.

"In Hollywood, a mate of mine said to me, who was quite high up in the business, he said, 'Dude, the word on the street is not good about the movie. No one watches comic-book movies, they're like dead, that things gone forever. Book another movie before it comes out, just so you're the lead in a big movie...' No one understood it was the beginning of, like, Comic-Con was a 50,000-person thing. The internet was really just beginning. No one really understood. What they thought was like, a subculture. Comic books was actually mainstream, but no one knew that."

In the years since, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a $20 billion behemoth that shows no signs of slowing down. A new actor will, in the not-too-distant future, be cast to play Wolverine once the X-Men are rebooted within the MCU. There is no indication at present who that actor will be but they will have a big legacy to live up to. You can check out the full interview clip from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon YouTube channel.