Nicholas Hoult is just as funny as he is talented. Which, for context, means that our conversation on his way to the airport ahead of his flight to Venice was pretty much equal parts laughter and logical cohesion.
What began as a call to discuss Hoult’s new film The Order and its upcoming premiere at the Venice Film Festival quickly turned into an amalgamation of fashion takes, irksome mundanities, and daily musings. First and foremost, we need to talk about the elephant—erm, penguin—in the room.
“I'm wearing a very classic Ralph Lauren tuxedo with—I don't know exactly what style of vest this is—but it's kind of like a dinner penguin vest underneath,” says the English actor. “Yes, I call it a penguin vest. That's definitely not the technical term. Imagine if you saw the images from the carpet, and it was just like a vest with a big penguin printed on it.” The rest of his fit? “Some Santoni shoes, and then, I don’t know how to exactly pronounce this brand but maybe you can help me: Retrouvai studs and cufflinks. I’m also wearing a JLC Reverso Tribute Small Seconds watch.”
Hoult’s character in The Order, white supremacist Bob Mathews, is far from the endearing and earnest man that converses with me—but that’s part of what makes this such a compelling role for him. Before you see what we mean, take a moment to understand the man beyond the screen. Oh, and Hoult’s been practicing all day how to tie his bow tie, too, so let’s go easy on him.
"When I watched my oldest son score his first basketball hoop—basket, I was sitting on the sideline, and my eyeballs instantly started sweating," says Hoult.
The Style Trio
I'm 34, so I'm not always going for trend dressing. I don't mind sometimes going towards the more fashionable cuts with suits and stuff, but particularly when it's formalwear like this, I like to go with a classic style that doesn’t go out of fashion. But who knows, maybe I'll go through a high fashion phase again soon. That's just what I'm feeling at the moment. My style in three words? Very. Very. Cool. Or maybe like: Who’s. That. Guy? Oh, I don’t know what three words I would choose. That’s difficult. I like things that just fit my body type well and look good. I’m not necessarily a big label person—like printed labels on things—but I like patterns. That’s more than three words, so just cut me off whenever.
A Close Shave
This is my second time shaving my head for a role. You always have to remember to put sunscreen lotion on the top of your head, which isn’t normally a thing. It's a surprising amount of maintenance. When we were shooting, every morning I'd have to shave it down. At first my scalp was a little tender, but I got used to it. One question I got asked a lot was about working out with a shaved head, and I actually found it better than having hair while working out. Because your hair kind of hangs on to all the sweat, whereas when you've got a shaved head, I don't know if it evaporates, but it feels like there's less sweat on you.
Into the Role
The kind of process changes from character to character. Obviously physical things help, whether that is cutting hair—something that when you look in the mirror and it stops you from looking like your image of yourself in your mind—then that's always a great start. And there's always brilliant designers and makeup artists to help. I just try to think, behave, and imagine what it would be like to be that person. I read what I think they would, listen to what I think they would, and spend a lot of time just researching, so that hopefully, by the time I get to set I have a good sense of who they are, what this means to them, the story I’m telling, and how to inhabit them best to service that story. That was actually the great thing about The Order. Justin [Kurzel] sent me a long checklist of things to work on to get into the character of Bob Mathews, and it was great to have his guidance through that.
Fears and Peeves
The fear that I have the most nightmares about is that I've just turned up to work, and they hand me pages of a script that I haven't seen before. And then they're like, “Great, we're doing this speech.” That's a recurring nightmare for me, so I guess it must be a deep rooted fear where I don't know my lines, and I turn up for work and they just expect me to do two or three pages of a speech that I just don’t know.
Today, I spilled some ice on the floor, and it was really difficult to pick the ice off the floor because it was kind of frozen and stuck down. So I was chasing it around the floor. It doesn’t happen every day, but it’s happened a few times where now this has become a bit of a recurring theme. Every time I try to get ice out, it spills everywhere, and then I’m chasing it around all over the floor. I guess another pet peeve is that I always tell myself I'm not going to shrink my clothes, and then every time I do in the tumble dry. So I very rarely maintain the size of anything that I purchase.
Queued Up
I'm excited for people to see all of them, because they're all very different. There's Juror No. 2, which Clint Eastwood directed. For me, it was a dream come true to get to spend time and work with Clint. It was really, really special. And I did a reimagining of Nosferatu that Robert Eggers directed, and he’s one of my favorite directors ever, so I just feel really lucky to have that opportunity. And then next summer, Superman is coming out, and I’m Lex Luther. James Gunn is just a fantastic director, and the whole cast and crew on that movie were at the top of their game, so hopefully it’s a special film.
On Parenting
When I watched my oldest son score his first basketball hoop—basket—I was sitting on the sideline, and my eyeballs instantly started sweating. I was like, “Come on, pull it together.” Those sorts of moments are my proudest.
Advice for your kids?
Just do what makes you happy. And be kind.
And a Final Penguin Moment
I'll waddle slightly down the carpet.
Photographer: Greg Williams
Stylist: Wendi and Nicole
Groomer: Liz Taw
