Skip to main content

Hugh Grant's 'About a Boy' Sidekick Grows Into a Beastly X-Man


by Joe Lynch · July 9, 2010

If one of the new faces in the upcoming "X-Men" prequel looks strangely familiar, it's because you've probably seen Nicholas Hoult before. Best known for playing the eccentric kid mentored by Hugh Grant in "About a Boy"-the youngster with the eerie, big blue eyes and the terrible bowl cut-Hoult has since grown up to resemble a British Zac Efron. Even better, Hoult is no longer playing the type of character who gets bullied by others-he plays a superhero with raw animal strength in the new "X-Men" movie.

The 20-year-old British actor will play Beast in "X-Men: First Class," an upcoming prequel that focuses on the famed mutant fighting force in their early, rough-and-tumble years. For those who hear "comics" and think "standup" instead of graphic novels, Beast is the big, blue man-animal with a scholarly mind, brought to vivid life in by Kelsey Grammer in "X-Men: The Last Stand."

The "X-Men" prequel-reboot has a slew of other hunky Europeans taking over familiar roles: Scotsman James McAvoy ("Atonement") will play Professor Xavier, while Germany's Michael Fassbender will play Magneto, Prof X's best friend/arch enemy. The titular character from "Kick-Ass" (Aaron Johnson) will don Cyclops' laser-blasting visor, and the babe from "She's Out of My League" (Alice Eve) is set to portray Emma Frost, a dry-witted, telepathic mutant who has just barely appeared in the "X-Men" films thus far.

But surely Nicholas Hoult's leap from the socially inept, lovable loner in "About a Boy" to a furry blue superhero is the weirdest acting transformation we'll see in the upcoming "X-Men" film. Regardless, it should be interesting to see what Hoult brings to the role, considering that Beast is one of comic-dom's most interesting characters: a man whose imposing physical strength is in direct contrast to his learned, quiet intellectualism.

That juxtaposition was perfectly suited for the man known to us for years as Dr. Frasier Crane, but Hoult seems to have the credentials to match the difficult role. He recently appeared as the soft-spoken college student of Colin Firth in the indie flick "A Single Man," but he also excelled as a sword-wielding warrior in this summer's "Clash of the Titans." With that in mind, Hoult just might be the perfect choice to play the scholarly mutant.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FBI plans large hiring blitz of agents, experts

By James Vicini James Vicini – Mon Jan 5, 5:15 pm ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Wanted by the FBI: agents, language specialists, computer experts, intelligence analysts and finance experts. The FBI said on Monday it had launched one of the largest hiring blitzes in its 100-year history involving 2,100 professional staff vacancies and 850 special agents aimed at filling its most critical vacancies. The agency, which seeks to protect the United States from terrorist attack, fight crime and catch spies, among other duties, said it currently has more than 12,800 agents and about 18,400 other employees. Since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, the FBI has been criticized for not having enough employees fluent in foreign languages and for not moving fast enough to upgrade its computer system. FBI Assistant Director John Raucci of the Human Resources division said the federal law enforcement agency is seeking to bring more people on board with skills in critical areas, especially language fluency and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Anti-cancer foods

Posted by: Zap Mon, Sep 29, 2008, 1:44 pm PDT Source: Yahoo Health It turns out that a healthy diet can help to override any cancer-prone genes you might have at work in your body. "Nutrition has a bigger influence on cancer than inherited genes, which means you could significantly reduce your odds of the disease through diet alone," explains Joel Fuhrman, M.D., author of Eat for Health (Gift of Health Press). OK, OK. I know what you're thinking right about now: She's going to tell me I have to eat kale at every meal. Not so! I mean, for the record, you should always eat as many fruits and veggies as possible, because they will dramatically lower your odds of ever hearing the dreaded diagnosis. But there are many other, less rabbity ways to eat away at your cancer risk. Add whole grains to your diet. My two faves, aside from a thick piece of freshly baked whole-grain bread? Oatmeal with a pinch of cinnamon for breakfast, or brown rice with a chicken and veggie stir-f...
1 comment
Read more

Why Disasters Are Getting Worse?

By: AMANDA RIPLEY Thu Sep 4, 12:40 PM ET In the space of two weeks, Hurricane Gustav has caused an estimated $3 billion in losses in the U.S. and killed about 110 people in the U.S. and the Caribbean, catastrophic floods in northern India have left a million people homeless, and a 6.2-magnitude earthquake has rocked China's southwest, smashing over 400,000 homes. If it seems like disasters are getting more common, it's because they are. But some disasters do seem to be affecting us worse - and not for the reasons you may think. Floods and storms have led to most of the excess damage. The number of flood and storm disasters has gone up by 7.4% every year in recent decades, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. (Between 2000 and 2007, the growth was even faster - with an average annual rate of increase of 8.4%.) Of the total 197 million people affected by disasters in 2007, 164 million were affected by floods. It is tempting to look at the line-u...
Post a Comment
Read more