Liam McIntyre, the Australian actor now lending his voice and likeness to Marvel’s Wolverine in the highly anticipated PlayStation 5 game, reflects on a journey that began far from the glitz of Hollywood. His early career included a stint as an assistant manager at EB Games, a role that involved inspecting trade-ins and selling video games. Now, two decades later, he’s returned to the gaming world, but this time, his face is emblazoned on the cover of the very game he’s starring in.

A Dream Role for a Gamer and Fan

For McIntyre, a self-proclaimed avid gamer and lifelong X-Men fan, the opportunity to embody Wolverine was a profound dream come true. “I don’t think I believed it for three years,” he confessed. When presented with the chance to audition for a character described as “Rough Guy John”—an angry man with razor-sharp knuckles—McIntyre, even without Wolverine’s enhanced senses, could tell he was auditioning for Insomniac Games’s latest superhero blockbuster.

The upcoming game is set to offer a more visceral and combat-focused experience compared to Insomniac’s previous work on the Spider-Man series. McIntyre’s prior experience portraying a gladiator in the TV series Spartacus: Vengeance proved invaluable for capturing Wolverine’s primal growls, terse dialogue, and ferocious roars during motion-capture sessions in Burbank.

Embracing the Gruff Loner Archetype

McIntyre mused on his recurring casting as characters who are “gruff, angry loners who wield violence to help people.” He questioned, “What’s that say about me?” In collaboration with stunt doubles, he meticulously developed Wolverine’s distinctive, bullish gait and savage, animalistic fighting style. This role marks a significant shift, even from his recent work in voice acting, as the intense scrutiny of embodying such an iconic character, both visually and vocally, brings him back to the demanding environment of his early theatre career.

Recalling intimate “black box theatre” performances, McIntyre described the unique challenge of performing in a tight Lycra suit covered in reflective markers. “This is the weirdest blend of stage and film, because you’re always in the round, you’re always in a close-up. And you never know which one they’re going to pick,” he explained. The process required him to tap into his imagination, much like in sparse, intimate stage productions.

Navigating the Demands of Motion Capture

As the lines between film and high-budget video games blur, McIntyre faced the same peculiar challenges as Hollywood A-listers. He described the surreal experience of performing intense action sequences, such as crawling through burning buildings or leaping from planes, while wearing a bulky helmet. “You’ve got this giant helmet on, so if you try to hug someone you try not to Velcro onto them, which ruins the sound, and try not to clank into each other, which ruins the footage,” McIntyre noted. He drew a parallel to traditional filmmaking, where actors must also suspend disbelief amidst a sea of cameras and lights, asserting, “You’re used to removing segments of the reality you’re in so you can act.”

The game promises an expansive narrative, delving into the broader X-Men universe and Wolverine’s complex relationship with Jean Grey, with globetrotting adventures spanning locations like Canada, Tokyo, and the fictional island of Madripoor.

Following in Hugh Jackman’s Footsteps

Fourteen years ago, McIntyre cited Hugh Jackman as his favorite actor. Now, he becomes the second Australian to embody the iconic Wolverine, a role so closely associated with the Sydney-born star. McIntyre, however, remains unfazed by the pressure of succeeding such a beloved predecessor. His own American TV breakthrough came after the tragic passing of Andy Whitfield, the original lead of Spartacus, a situation that taught him valuable lessons he now applies to the Wolverine role.

He consciously avoids imitating Jackman’s portrayal, resisting the urge to replicate his jaw clenches, furrowed brows, or signature claw stances. “I can’t ever be him. I wouldn’t want to copy him,” McIntyre stated. Instead, he draws inspiration from the source material, including Chris Claremont’s seminal comic book runs and Cal Dodd’s Clint Eastwood-influenced vocal performance in X-Men: The Animated Series.

McIntyre humorously suggested that while being Australian isn’t a prerequisite for playing Wolverine, it certainly helps. “The Australian ethos, gruff, earthy, don’t seek the plaudits, tall poppy syndrome, all align with the way Wolverine is. He keeps his head down,” he observed.

Capturing Wolverine’s Rage and Resilience

Wolverine’s barely contained rage is a defining characteristic, and the game amplifies this with an aggressive rage system that rewards players for accumulating kills with increasingly powerful attacks and graphic combat. This emphasis led to an intense recording schedule for McIntyre, requiring him to produce a vast quantity of agonized screams, roars, and grunts. “There was one day where it [the day’s recording runsheet] was ‘Grunts, angry.’ ‘Grunts, perturbed.’ ‘Grunts, confused,'” he recalled. He managed these strenuous sessions with herbal remedies and effective vocal exercises, including using a straw.

To capture Logan’s feral intensity, McIntyre utilized vocal techniques, kept a Wolverine-themed playlist on repeat, and channeled his road rage from navigating Los Angeles’s notoriously congested freeways. “This is the most acting I’ll do in my life,” he remarked.

The Player’s Role and Unexpected Glitches

The game’s extended runtime, offering 15 to 20 hours of gameplay, allows for a deep exploration of Wolverine’s internal conflict—the struggle between his animalistic instincts and his desire for redemption. “I love this rare opportunity to tell this longer, broader story,” McIntyre expressed.

Transitioning from film to video games presented unexpected challenges, particularly regarding player autonomy and occasional technical glitches. McIntyre found himself amused and slightly mortified by in-jokes on Insomniac’s internal communication channels, especially concerning a glitch where his character’s iconic yellow suit disappeared, leaving him momentarily naked. “Which was fine in theory until I realised that people would save this and then share it around. That’s my face! Please be gentle,” he laughed, expressing concern over how players might use his likeness. “I didn’t think that through when I signed away my rights.”

Despite these minor anxieties, McIntyre remains in awe of his career trajectory. “I was a kid that got bullied at school. It just wasn’t my worldview to imagine I could achieve such cool things,” he admitted. He finds a personal connection to Wolverine’s resilience, noting that the character’s true superpower lies not in his claws, but in his unwavering capacity to endure. “Just keep pushing. That’s what I like about Wolverine the most: No matter how many times he gets kicked down, he always finds a way to dust himself off and keep going. I want to have more of that in my life.”

Marvel’s Wolverine is now available on PlayStation.