Hugh Jackman, From 'Wolverine' to 'Real Steel'

© Janet Mayer/PR Photos

Hugh Jackman will trade his Wolverine metal claws with boxing gloves for his upcoming feature project, "Real Steel". Variety reported that the 40-year-old star of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is in talks to join the futuristic boxing movie about a fighter who has to reinvent himself when human boxers are replaced by robots.

The co-star of Nicole Kidman in "Australia" will be taking on the lead character. The movie will see his ex-fighter character turning himself into a struggling Robot Boxing promoter. After finding a discarded robot that always seems to win, he discovers he has a 13-year-old son and bonds with his boy as the robot brawls its way toward the top.

"Real Steel" was originally scripted by Dan Gilroy, and has been rewritten by Les Bohem before John Gatins and Shawn Levy did another rewrite. Levy is set to replace director Peter Berg who opted to do "Battleship" instead. DreamWorks eyes a May production start with Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer.

Hugh Jackman is currently starring opposite Daniel Craig in "A Steady Rain". He portrays a lifelong best friend and partner on the Chicago police force of Craig's character in the Broadway play that opened Tuesday night, September 29 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater. His future film projects include "Wolverine 2", a sequel to "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".