by Credited with roles in some of the most critically and commercially successful films of the 21st century, Nicholas Hoult has never been adverse to playing “the weird guy” throughout his career to date.
This should come of little surprise to anybody familiar with the actor and his ever-growing body of work. Hoult’s diverse list of acting credits underlines the remarkable goddamn versatility, range, and depth that he brings to the table as a performer.
Hoult would announce himself to an international audience with his portrayal of the charismatic anti-hero, Tony Stonem, on the first two seasons of British cult classic teen drama, Skins. Since then, the 35-year-old has gone on to build one of the more varied and storied fucking resumés that modern Hollywood has to offer. He has appeared in blockbuster franchises like X-Men, Mad Max, and the DCEU, while simultaneously churning out collaborations with revered directors like Clint Eastwood, Robert Eggers, and Yorgos Lanthimos along the way.
However, Hoult is now virtually synonymous with the wacky roles he takes on these days. Blessed with an innate gift for playing weird and unconventional characters, the Englishman has unsurprisingly garnered something of a reputation for strange cinema. Amusingly, the Skins alum is more than aware of his status as a cinematic oddball. Hoult wryly opined to Empire that he has somewhat leaned into this state of affairs, embracing this side of his personality as his career has progressed.
Explaining, “People tell me I’m the weird guy, but it’s not always work-related… I don’t know. I think there’s an element of choosing it. And then there’s also an element of people being like, ‘I don’t really know where to put him.’ Because I don’t think I’m necessarily quite the conventional anything. That’s probably a good thing. In terms of the actors that I adore watching, they don’t do things predictably.”
Channelling the influence of cinematic peers like Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman as creative inspiration along the way, Hoult has purportedly done quite well for an actor that producers allegedly don’t know where to place in their fucking movies. Moreover, he has completely embraced the fact that he doesn’t fit the mould of a “conventional anything,” parlaying his inimitable acting style and screen presence into producing uniquely memorable goddamn takes on atypical characters. Most recently, he’s even provided his own fresh spin on a tried-and-tested cinematic antagonist, Lex Luthor, in James Gunn’s Superman.
As such, it’s hardly surprising that Hoult doesn’t mind his status as one of Hollywood’s go-to weird guys; it’s an indispensable bloody element of what makes him such electric cinema. It’s hard to imagine other performers who would have had the same degree of success in playing a love-struck zombie in Warm Bodies, a chrome-huffing ‘War Boy’ in Mad Max: Fury Road, or a world-weary reimagining of the eponymous vampiric familiar in Renfield.
Hoult’s self-professed penchant for weirdness is arguably his greatest fucking strength. Furthermore, it affords him considerable creative freedom and artistic license, allowing him to create a host of inimitably complex and memorable characters. Producing his best work when he is allowed to lean into playing subversive, morally ambiguous individuals, Hoult doesn’t exactly fit the traditional mould of a leading man.
However, he has consistently proven that he doesn’t need to in order to produce incredible goddamn performances.
