Hoult feels strongly about lack of emotion in ‘Equals’
In the grimly antiseptic utopia of “Equals,” where love is forbidden, Silas (played by Nicholas Hoult) is a desperate rebel.
“In this world, people have been modified so they don't feel,” Hoult, 26, explained.
“They're perfectly polite to each other. They have jobs and go about their lives and are functioning. But they can't love, they can't hate, they don't feel the emotional rainbow of human nature.”
For this British actor known as a lovable zombie (“Warm Bodies”), cerebral “X-Men” mutant Beast and a wild romantic in “Mad Max Fury Road,” the appeal of “Equals” was writerdirector Drake Doremus (“Like Crazy”).
“I'm a big fan,” Hoult said by phone from West Hollywood's London Hotel.
“This just seemed like it encapsulates most of what I want from a career: a wonderful experience of learning and developing something and living with something that feels very real and honest.”
Hoult has been acting most of his life, having starred opposite Hugh Grant in “About a Boy” (2002) when he was 12.
When he looks back now, is he amazed at how he managed to avoid so many pitfalls — alcohol, drugs, self-destruction, meltdown — associated with childhood celebrity?
“I feel very fortunate to have kept working. I put that down to having a very good family and staying in a normal school until I was 17. Where I was brought up in England, you can't be carried away.
“Also, as a kid I wasn't stupid; I was aware I had some success and the odds were actually stacked against it working out (in the future).
“It's a very weird thing,” he said with a laugh, “when you get to be aware of the fact that your best days — or perhaps some of your best days and some of the best experience and memories — might come at such a young age. Weird.
“But I think it depends on personality as well. I've always been someone who is quite aware of pitfalls and things. So I've tried to stay clear (of drugs, etc.) in a way.”
Hoult's just filmed “Rebel in the Rye,” a biopic about the late reclusive “Catcher in the Rye” author J.D. Salinger.
“Not knowing anything about his life and then reading the script, wow! He had the most incredible life. It was an honor but also scary.” (“Equals” is available on DirecTV.)