Hugh Jackman is one of the rare Hollywood hunks who is perhaps as handsome clean-shaven as he is with a full beard. Hell, he can even pull off whatever the hell Wolverine's hairstyle is called. But for his newest role, the actor/singer/heartthrob extraordinaire pulled off a brand new look; as you've already likely seen, Jackman's hair and beard in Pan are crazy. To play the role of the evil pirate Blackbeard in the new film, Jackman shaved his head completely and grew a wicked beard, which was perfectly coiffed into a curved mustache. In the film, the classic pirate persona is completed with a puffy, black wig, a feathered collar, and black dye added to the actor's greying goatee. Jackman also ditched his Wolverine tan in favor of powder-white makeup, and wore a set of ugly, fake teeth to complete the truly terrifying look.
And it's not only scary to viewers — the actor himself has said that his new appearance took some time getting used to. "I will admit, in the middle of the night waking up and scaring the hell out of myself, like some drug dealer had somehow come into my house," Jackman told AOL.
Jackman went totally bald to play Blackbeard, and his character alternates between wearing a thick, black wig, and rocking the baldness. Yet Blackbeard's unique look, it turns out, was not exactly Jackman's choice. When he first met with director Joe Wright to discuss the project, the actor was presented with a rough mock-up of Blackbeard's appearance. "He had an iPad with my face superimposed with white cracked makeup on my skin with the wig of Marie Antoinette and the costume of Louis XIV. And I was like, 'OK, this is very, very different...'" Jackman told AOL. "And I immediately knew that we were in the world of a child's imagination where adults have to be frightening and also ridiculous to kids."
The inspiration for Blackbeard's elaborate appearance came from Sierra Leone rebels, according to director Wright. "I found some pictures of Sierra Leone rebels and they all wore women's clothes. These kind of terrifying fighters with kind of bright wigs on and fairy wings and dresses, and rather than diminishing their masculinity, it highlighted their masculinity. It made them terrifying," Wright told the New York Daily News.
The crazy look also had some unexpected benefits when Jackman wasn't filming. The actor told AOL that his children, especially, benefited form his temporary makeover. "They kind of loved the fact that for four months I wasn't recognized by anybody. We did go to Disney World, and I had three days of Disney World without getting recognized at all, and that was pretty cool," he said.
Jackman also revealed to Entertainment Tonight that his wife of almost 20 years, Deborra Lee Furness, also embraced his physical transformation to play Blackbeard. "She likes a bad boy. She actually said the Blackbeard, that kind of attitude, that works for her," Jackman said.
You can test the attractiveness of Jackman as Pirate Blackbeard for yourself when Pan hits theaters on Oct. 9.
Images: Warner Bros.; Hugh Jackman/Instagram
