Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz Almost Played a Mutant in ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’
Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz recently remembered losing out on a part in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine to British actor Dominic Monaghan, the performer best known as the hobbit Merry Brandybuck from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
But would viewers have accepted the FOB rocker as the mutant Chris Bradley, the role Monaghan ended up occupying, in the fourth installment of the X-Men film series? It's impossible to say for sure. Regardless, Wentz obviously didn't land the gig in the Wolverine origin story, even though he was offered it, as the musician explained this week on the latest episode of his Apple Music show, Loud and Sad Radio.
Over a decade ago now, the Fall Out Boy member had first learned of the acting opportunity while filming a silly, musical bit for Jimmy Kimmel Live! called 'F*@#ing Ben Affleck' alongside a laundry list of big Hollywood stars. Monaghan was also involved in the late-night TV sketch; unbeknownst to him or Wentz, they were both in the running for the X-Men role.
"Literally, while I was filming this, my manager called me, and they were like, 'You've been offered a role in the next X‑Men,'" Wentz recollected. "'It's a really small role. You're going to have to fly right from the 'F*@#ing Ben Affleck' shoot to Australia to film it. And they need to know right now.'" [via NME]
But the Fall Out Boy bassist hedged instead of immediately responding.
"I was like, 'OK, cool. Let me think about it,'" the musician continued. "I go on; I film the 'F*@#ing Ben Affleck' thing with this guy, Dominic Monaghan. He's in Lord of the Rings, you know? … Really cool, really funny. We're paired together in the song. And I get home from the shoot, and I'm like, 'Yeah, I want to go do X‑Men. I don't really care what I have to miss. Fly me to Australia.' And my manager was like, 'Well, while you were thinking about it, they actually cast the role.' I was like, 'Fuck.'"
When Wentz discovered it was Monaghan who nabbed the part, he remembered thinking, "'Are you fucking kidding me? I was literally just standing next to this guy.' And if he wasn't so nice, I'd be fucking furious. But I think that was my one chance. We might have been sitting here doing 'In Defense of Pete Wentz as an X-Men Character.'"
Just imagine the portrayal that Fall Out Boy fans missed out on — Pete Wentz the Mutant.
"When I watch the movie," the musician added, I see his character, and I'm always like, 'That could have been me,' you know? And it's this tiny little character, and it's this tiny little blip of a role that he probably doesn't even think about ever."
Listen to the latest installment of Loud and Sad Radio here. The inaugural episode, which first aired last week, found Wentz recalling the time he kissed Kim Kardashian in Fall Out Boy's "Thnks fr th Mmrs" video.