Warm Bodies actor set to go viral
Nicholas Hoult also to star in Jack the Giant Slayer, Mad Max reboot and X-Men sequel
Nicholas Hoult was notable, but now he’s on the verge of becoming unforgettable. “I have had some really cool jobs,” admitted the 23-year-old Londonbased actor smiling at his understatement during a Toronto interview.
For instance, Hoult plays Jack in the special effects action fantasy Jack the Giant Slayer, out in March. He has a co-starring part in the much anticipated George Miller reboot, Mad Max: Fury Road, set for release next year. And he’s preparing to bring his Beast back to the big screen in the sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past, which will begin filming later in the year.
Soon, he’ll be making a name for himself as R, the misunderstood zombie in the droll thriller Warm Bodies, which opens Feb. 1.
Call these coming attractions Phase 2 of his young career after introducing himself by portraying the waif in About a Boy followed by the rebel teen role in the acclaimed Brit TV series, Skins.
As occupational hazards would have it, Hoult was also famously dating recent Oscar nominee and X-Men: First Class co-star Jennifer Lawrence before the couple split recently.
Meanwhile, back at Warm Bodies, Hoult’s R is an undead lost boy wandering around a post-apocalyptic America left in ruin after a decimating plague wipes out most of the world’s population.
Things change for R when he consumes the brain of an unfortunate human teen and begins to fall for the dead kid’s girlfriend, Julie (Teresa Palmer), whom he eventually saves from a pack of zombies.
As their relationship gets closer, R starts to transform into a more human form setting off a series of confrontational events between the last human settlement and some extreme zombie hordes.
Rounding out the cast is Rob Corddry as R’s grunting undead friend M. John Malkovich is the human girl’s protective dad and tribal leader while Analeigh Tipton is Julie’s best friend.
Based on the popular Isaac Marion young adult novel, the Jonathan Levine movie version attempts to present a delicate balance of humour and horror. And that’s exactly why Hoult gravitated to the Levine script.
“I liked the character, and the screenplay made me laugh, and I thought it was well written and moved along at a good pace,” said Hoult. “It had some serious issues, but it makes them light, and the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously.”
Certainly, the comedydrama approach is difficult to pull off. “I knew it was going to be tricky, but I trusted everybody involved and especially the director,” he said of Levine, who worked the same storytelling magic with his previous films, The Wackness and 50/50.
Despite the complications of Warm Bodies, Hoult refused to over-think his portrayal of the zombie who starts falling in love while showing all the human awkwardness that accompanies the emotion.
“I think every boy knows the experience of wanting to talk to a girl and not knowing what to say,” said Hoult. “And not only can R not remember words but he’s also dead, so it’s a real predicament he’s got himself in.”
For referencing, Levine had the Warm Bodies cast screen the hardcore Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Dead, and the more stylized Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead. Hoult even watched Johnny Depp’s Edward Scissorhands to recall the performance defining ghoulish innocence.
Generally, though, he played his zombie hero as it was written.
“I left the grander schemes of the script up to the director because there’s a lot to be said for being in the moment,” he said. “I didn’t want to become manipulative.”
After Warm Bodies, he’s venturing into bigger budgeted genre activity.
There is Jack the Giant Slayer. “It’s a big family swashbuckling adventure,” he said of the performance-capture epic. “I play Jack, the farm boy trying to save the princess in the land where the giants live in the sky.”
In the fourth Mad Max flick, Hoult plays Mad Max’s warrior sidekick Nux, living in a different sort of post-apocalyptic world compared to Warm Bodies.
“But I wear a lot of makeup again,” said Hoult. “It’s kind of becoming a habit of mine, like I’m the king of eyeshadow.”
Still, he said being involved in Mad Max was worth its many delays.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said of the new Mad Max starring Tom Hardy. “But it was worth it — particularly when they put you in the (Mad Max) vehicles, and you get to rev the V-8 engines and drive them around, and then blow stuff up.”
Meanwhile, X-Men: Days of Future Past is scheduled to begin filming later in the spring and will include an appearance by Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.
“I don’t know too much about any of that, but everybody seems excited by the prospect,” Hoult said.
So, what is the laid-back actor excited about? “I like making different choices, and I think I have,” he said. “It’s fun to take risks.”