Nicholas Hoult magazine interviews are a rare thing, and I completely enjoyed this British GQ Hype cover story. Like so many actors, Hoult has lightened up over the years – it’s almost like actors finally get to their 30s and they realize that everything doesn’t have to be so dark. Plus, Hoult lives a pretty quiet life – he’s an in-demand actor, for sure, and one of the better actors of his generation, but he’s not constantly Instagramming his life, and he’s quietly in a serious relationship and a father of a child whose name has never been publicly released. Nick is promoting The Great, where he plays Czar Peter to Elle Fanning’s Catherine. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Being in lockdown in LA: “I was reading this article a while ago, about how celebrities are telling people to stay home and then complaining about doing so in their $50 million houses and that wasn’t flying well with people because they’re not living in the same environment. And then to preach their viewpoint… I want to send the right message and do the right thing.”
On Black Lives Matter: He knows he is not who people need to hear from right now and is looking inward and donating money to causes he hopes will help instead. “We [as white people] never fully understand. You can listen and educate yourself and then try to make a positive change from that.”
His relationship with Jennifer Lawrence made him wary of the press: “I didn’t like [interviews]. I guess it’s quite a scary situation, in that it’s kind of out of your control. So that uncomfortable thing would make me shut down and not want to be there. Sometimes you’ll do a five-minute interview when all people want to do is ask about your personal life and dumb things that don’t matter.”
He loves his character in The Great: “He was this kind of man-child, who had developed this abrasive personality from the environment, following in his father’s [Charles Frederick, Duke Of Holstein-Gottorp] footsteps and his mother [Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia] kind of torturing him. He is the villain in many ways, but, also, because of his lack of any sense of understanding, it makes him quite a funny character.”
He was recently attacked by magpies in Australia: “Everything in Australia wants to kill you, but magpies are like swooping animals that will remember faces” – which caused him to veer off the road into a tree.
His love scenes in The Great: “We had a few intimacy co-ordinators who would come along and help out with that, which is a great thing. This is the first job I’ve had that on and it’s a very positive change in the industry. It’s almost like having a stunt co-ordinator. They make sure everyone is comfortable in terms of what’s happening and agreements of what can happen, but also choreograph it in a way that makes sense for the story and what it is you’re trying to tell.”
Can I just say? It’s really nice to hear positive things from a male actor about the shift towards intimacy coordinators for nudity and love scenes. Usually, it’s just the actresses talking about it, so it’s great to hear Hoult has embraced the change too. And now I have to worry about magpies?!? Seriously though, that’s probably why I could never visit Australia – I would step off the plane and get bitten by an Aussie bug the size of a Volvo and my arm would swell up the size of a log and then I would die. And I do miss Nick and J-Law together, they were so beautiful and tall together. But they’ve both moved on and that’s fine.
Cover & IG courtesy of British GQ.
Not going to respond to the ignoramous above; assuming he/she will be deleted anyways for said ignoramousing.
Just came to say that “they were so beautiful and tall together” is really my fave line of the day and definitely something I will look for in all my future relationships. LOL!
But you just did, moron. Afraid of free speech when you don’t like it?
Hi Lisa.
Didn’t reply, just posted my own comment.
No issue with free speech. But there is a way to discuss things that isn’t hateful and this is not it. Why are you so up in it today? Are you one of the Karen’s who’ve been caught on video lately and feeling salty?
I hope you learn and grow.
Free speech does not include “not to be critized” and does not cover insults. You should learn that already. Also, changing your alias does not help, “Lisa”.
WTH? are you yet another person who doesn’t understand what freedom of speech entails?
1) you have the right to say what you want.
2) people have the right to respond and criticize
3) the gov’t can’t punish you or lock you up for the things you say, with a few exceptions.
4) it does not mean you are guaranteed a platform to spew your free speech; that is to say, a site like this can delete what you say and/or block you from posting; a newspaper or tv show isn’t required to print or broadcast what you say
5) IT DOES NOT MEAN FREEDOM FROM CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT YOU SAY.
got it?
ETA: “Are you one of the Karen’s who’ve been caught on video lately and feeling salty?” legit made me laugh. Thank you for that.
Lisa is banned, don’t feed the trolls.
Eh go to Australia anyway. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, and the people are so nice. most extroverted people I’ve ever been around, it was wild.
He was SO good in The Great-Elle Fanning too.
A child actor who has come through it without so much of the damage we see in so many others. Good for him.
100% agree right now I am listening to a podcast Girl Trek’s Black History Bootcamp. Every day for 21 days they are discussing a historical black female that helped shape our world today. I am a whitey white never had a black teacher. Raised in a white community. School history was eurocentric based. I only knew one POV. I am still learning and growing and have to correct things that are ingrained and learn about other cultures.
Highly recommend to all.
I saw a sign at a protest held by a white person that said, “I understand that I can’t understand…but I will stand.” Good for him for articulating that white people need to acknowledge that we can’t understand what it’s like to be a POC, and that it’s not an excuse to do nothing.
Loved this kid in “About a Boy” and love that he’s done well since.
I think that’s the point we whites need to get to, and to be honest, that’s probably as far as we can get. We *can’t* ever understand fully. I’m pretty decent at empathizing, but I will never experience it. Just like I don’t expect my husband to understand what it feels like to be woman, but I do expect him to be a good ally (and he is).
Even if I can’t fully understand “I’ll defend to death your right to say it”.
Could we maybe bear in mind that not all white people live in America or other predominantly white countries, and that in some countries white people can be minorities, and discriminated minorities even? So, white people CAN understand, even if white Americans who never lived anywhere else can’t?
LOL. Is this Meghan McCain?
where do you live?
and, in that location, are you barred from getting housing, loans, equal justice under the law and access to spaces because of your skin? are you targeted and brutalized by police because of your skin color? is that how you are discriminated against? were your ancestors sold and enslaved by other races? and has it been going on for hundreds of years?
Please, elaborate on the discrimination you face as a white person.
lol at Is this Meghan McCain?
I grew up Japan a long time ago as a child, a blonde-haired blue-eyed child in a sea of dark haired people and knew what it was like to stick out as “other.” I remember traveling to Korea from there to visit other family and having people on the train staring in my face and pulling my hair [I was told they thought my blue eyes were blind, and my hair was not real]. It was disconcerting to say the least. I also remember being frightened, holding tightly to my father’s hand as we escaped a a demonstration in Tokyo were throngs were screaming “Gaijins [Foreign Devils] go home!” I legit thought we were going to die. So yes, it is possible to experience racism as a white person.
And yet, I shut up and listen to and support BLM protesters and acknowledge I have lived a privileged life overall because of my skin color!
+1 MUMBLES. I like that people aré trying to understand. That is so much better than doing nothing.
Thanks. But white people still need to do something. Protest, vote for the right candidates, support minority-owned businesses, acknowledge the privilege a white skin affords us and work to eliminate the privilege, just to begin with. There’s work to be done and it’s not on POC to instruct or guide us what to do. I’m just saying that white people can’t understand what it’s like to be a POC, and we need to acknowledge that, and neither use that as an excuse, nor pretend it isn’t true.
I don’t know that I “miss” Nick and JLaw as a couple, but I’ve always loved that both have nothing but good things to say about each other. They have obviously spent some lovely years together. I never believed all that bs about him being jealous and unsupportive of her popularity.
Highly recommend The Great! It’s charming and funny and both Nicholas and Elle are excellent. I’ve had a soft spot for Nicholas since he was kind enough to “like” an Instagram pic my then 11 year old daughter posted from our visit to London. She was beyond thrilled as she had, coincidentally, a teeny-bopper crush on him from his zombie movie Warm Bodies.
Can I just say that I find him so so beautiful?
You can… and I wholeheartedly agree! Helps that he seems lovely on top of that.
30 years in Australia and have never been attacked by any animal…