How does Nicholas Hoult even have time to sleep? This fall alone he will be seen in Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2, the real-life thriller The Order opposite Jude Law, Robert Eggers’ new take on Nosferatu opening Christmas Day, and coming up in 2025 he is Lex Luthor in DC/Warners’ reboot of Superman.
That is quite a lineup for the actor, who first gained fame opposite Hugh Grant in 2002’s About a Boy when he was just 11 years old. Since then he has found much success as Hank McCoy/Beast in the X Men franchise; in Mad Max: Fury Road; A Single Man, for which he won a BAFTA nomination; the Oscar-winning The Favourite; and for three seasons as Peter, his Emmy-nominated role opposite Elle Fanning in Hulu’s The Great.
These are just a drop in the bucket for this much in-demand star, who joins me for this new edition of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side coming this week from the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills.
In the December release The Order, Holt is taking on the real-life Bob Matthews, an extremist being hunted by the FBI in 1983. It is an extraordinary performance in this very timely drama. In Nosferatu he plays Thomas Hutter in this new take on the classic vampire tale. In Superman, due in July, he is the new Lex Luthor, the key villain as we haven’t seen him before. And in Juror #2 he plays the title role of a man chosen for jury duty in a murder case he slowly discovers he knows more about than he ever bargained for. That one, from director Clint Eastwood, just opened AFI Fest and is in theaters now on a limited run despite winning rave reviews.
We start by talking about the unique experience of working with the legendary 94-year-old Eastwood as Hoult describes what a typical day on set was like. We also talk taking on a real person like Matthews in The Order and the delicate balance in playing someone like that, as well as the challenges of such time-honored stories as Superman and Nosferatu. Our wide-ranging conversation also covers his memories of About a Boy, studying Kelsey Grammer’s portrayal in order to play the young Hank McCoy, and why he loved doing the TV series The Great. With all this activity, we also find out why he still thinks of acting as a “hobby.”
To watch our conversation and to get the “actor’s side” of things from Nicholas Hoult, watch the conversation above.
Join me every Wednesday this Oscar season for a new episode of The Actor’s Side.