The part required some meaty acting chops on the part of the boy, who shared the screen with Hugh Grant, already a massive star. I can do this all day.’ “īy 11, he found himself up for the title role in About a Boy, a British-American co-production based on the Nick Hornby novel and directed by American brothers Chris and Paul Weitz. “For the audition, I had to sit under a table and pretend to eat cake. His first screen role came in a 1996 film called Intimate Relations, playing Julie Walters’ grandson. But he quickly realized that he loved it and that he was quite good at it. “I remember them saying, ‘If you want to, do it, but you don’t have to,’ ” recalls Hoult of his parents’ take on showbiz. (This despite Nick having performed a less-than-showstopping rendition of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’s “Comedy Tonight” in a clown costume.) It was in 1995 at a competitive talent show called the All England Singing and Dancing Championship - a precursor to reality shows like American Idol - that an agent offered to represent the two Hoult sisters and Nick. He also has a much older brother, 12 years his senior, who “kind of raised me in many ways,” he says. Because his dad was so often working, his mother - who quit to raise a family and teach piano - would bring Nick along to dance classes attended by his two older sisters. They met working on a flight together and were married eight weeks later (and remain married). His father was a British Airways pilot and his mother was a flight attendant. Hoult spent his childhood in Wokingham, a picturesque little market town about an hour east of London. Hoult jokes his “basketball credential is 6-foot-3, acting credential 6-foot-1.” Photographed by Shayan Asgharnia For such a young person, Nick is quite exceptional, mainly in the way that he displays grace under pressure.” “Not just his talent, not just his skill level and not just his ability to collaborate under difficult circumstances. “He’s basically one of those actors that ticks every box,” says Fury Road helmer George Miller on a call from Australia, where he’s in preproduction on Fury Road‘s follow-up, the 2024-slated Furiosa (in which Hoult does not appear). That would be followed by a series of high-profile gigs in pics like 2011’s X-Men: First Class (he played Beast in three of the films) 2012’s Mad Max: Fury Road (he was the crazed renegade Nux in the postapocalyptic action stunner) and 2018’s The Favourite (the savage period comedy that led him, via screenwriter Tony McNamara, directly to The Great). “I was like, ‘Should we put it on tape?’ And they were like, ‘No, I think we’re good.’ “įile that one under “bullets dodged,” as not long after, Hoult was selected by Tom Ford to star in his directorial debut, 2009’s A Single Man. “I did one reading, and then they were like, ‘Great, thanks,’ ” he recalls. Hoult’s heart sank as he waited for his turn to be called in. When he arrived, the Studio City waiting room was packed with dozens of actors his age nervously running lines. So they sent him in to read for 90210 - yes, the CW reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210. His agents at the time were throwing everything at the wall and hoping something stuck. No one can appreciate the humor in that humbling situation more than Hoult, who, figuratively at least, has had to endure countless such indignities on his journey from child star (starting with that bowl cut he sported in his breakout turn in 2002’s About a Boy) to handsome leading man.Ĭase in point: By 2008, Hoult, then 18, had found continued success in the U.K., having starred in Skins, an edgy young adult series that brought him what he calls “a weird-ish level of fame because only people in your age group are watching.” But he was struggling to find a footing in Hollywood. This is definitely poop.’ For some reason, it had snowed in England. “We finished a take, and there was a slightly green, weird mud on my face. “So I was snuffling through the woods,” Hoult continues. When Catherine refuses to let him and his beloved poodle out on a promised truffling expedition (Peter is an unabashed foodie), he outruns the guards and storms into the woods in a fur hat and nightgown to root out some truffles on his own. NATPE Miami: WarnerMedia, Disney, NBCUniversal Sign Up for In-Person TV MarketĪnd so now Peter is being held captive inside his own castle.
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