English actor Nicholas Hoult talks Mad Max and X-Men

Nicholas Hoult talks Mad Max and X-Men

by rick olivares

The Pokemon, football and basketball, and travel-loving English actor Nicholas Hoult is in Manila as one of the headliners for the AsiaPop Comicon. 

Hoult who is best-known for his roles in films such as “About A Boy”, the X-Men franchise, "Mad Max Fury Road”, and the British soap drama, “Skins", arrived in Manila two days ago and immediately went out with fellow actor, “Game of Thrones” star Joe Dempsey to check out the city. "“We went to visit the memorial of Rizal and a couple of bars last night. The weather has been a little a bit stormy so we’ve had to stay in. We also went to see some of the old churches in the old town (Intramuros)."

During the second day of AsiaPop, Hoult talked to the media and met with the fans for photos and autographs.

The actor admitted to playing the popular online game, Pokemon Go, and is on Level 13 while competing for Team Mystic. “Pokemon is going terribly,” shared Hoult to expressions of delight by Filipino fans. "I’m on Team Mystic and on Level 13 and it’s not very good. I’ve kind of falling off playing Pokemon.”

When told that there were loads of Pokemon in Manila, Hoult promised to “catch them all."

Despite growing up in football-mad England, Hoult played basketball for a local club and admits to following the game up to today. “I’m also a football fan though,” he added swearing allegiance to Reading Football Club since it was closest to where he grew up in Wokingham, Berkshire (22 minutes away by car). 

Because of the pop culture theme of AsiaPop, Hoult was oft asked questions about his role of Hank McCoy aka “the Beast” in the X-Men First Class trilogy, and his recent role of Nux in Mad Max Fury Road.

Hoult read comics as a child though not of the superhero kind. “I read the children’s stuff — Dennis the Menace and Beano (a British comic strip),” he shared. “To prepare for the X-Men, I read First Class and Dark Beast comics in which I enjoyed the darker side of that character. "I read a load of comics because Hank has a distinct way of speaking. He’s a very eloquent and intelligent man. And he’s very smart in the sciences as well. I read the comics to see what I could try to gain from that in terms of his movement and relationships with other characters as well. And there's Hank’s relationship with Professor Charles Xavier as well. (Scottish actor) James McAvoy and I are really good friends outside of filming so that is something that helped us develop for the movies as well." 

"My casting in that film was last minute. We were meant to be shooting Mad Max and I was in Australia when the film got delayed. So I called my agent and said, ‘I need a job.’ So he said, ‘audition for X-Men. They were interested for you.’ So I put a tape down and the next day I was flying to London to audition and back to Australia. Before I knew it I had a job and was on set." 

The X-Men and Mad Max films have been massive successes and they have certainly vaulted Hoult into the A-List of stars. 

"I feel very fortunate,” he reflected on his successful run of films. "The roles (of Beast and Nux) are great characters to play. The films have great directors and filmmakers and the crews on those movies are incredible. Like for instance, the stunt teams on Mad Max are incredible. For them to go out to the Namibian desert with 700 people, hundreds of vehicles and to be sat amidst all those hotrods - when all those engines fire up; you know you get chills. You see the stunt hanging underneath trucks, people are shooting at you, things are blowing up. There’s fire, there's noise, there’s the smell of petrol — it’s an intoxicating atmosphere to be in. The scale of those movies is incredible. And the fact that people really enjoy them and they enjoy the characters and the things you bring to life. I feel very lucky and proud to be a part of it.”

Nicholas Hoult is current appearing in Dark Places with Charlize Theron (for a second time) and will play the lead role in Rebel in the Rye, a biopic about the late and famous writer, J.D. Salinger, that is currently in post-production.