In a clip released by Entertainment Weekly, you can watch an 11-year old Dafne Keen completely crush her audition with Hugh Jackman for the role of Laura/X-23 in Logan.

***POTENTIAL SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT***

The scene she auditions with is the first one her character actually speaks in, after being silent the first two thirds of the movie. She, in Spanish and English no less, is demanding Logan take her to Eden to be with her friends from the lab where she was created and raised. Logan, of course, refuses at first, cursing at her in the process.

It is totally fascinating to watch, and completely clear why Keen was cast. She says more with her eyes and her facial expressions than the dialogue, and holds her own with an adult man yelling at her. And, according Sir Patrick Stewart, she asked director James Mangold if she could improvise her version of the scene for the audition. So she’s speaking two languages, improvising, and acting against Hugh Jackman, Wolverine himself.

And she nails it. Anyone who saw the movie could tell you the kind of impression she left with so few lines, not to mention being a ferocious fighter. Jackman says she gave him bruises in that audition, and you can see her start punching his arm towards the end, with all her might.

Stewart praises her, saying “its one of the most extraordinary bits of audition tape I’ve ever seen in my life.” Now that is a compliment, especially when you consider that this was Keen’s feature film debut. At just 11, she is carrying half a major motion picture that caps off the stories of two beloved X-Men characters, has a hard R-rating with violence and cursing, and she’s paired with two mega talented actors in their own right.

I think this kid is going places.

Logan is being released on Blu-ray and DVD May 23rd.

 

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