We’ve seen Nicholas Hoult have a lot of sex in Skins, but bludgeon people to death in the role as a serial killer? Surely not.
From the innocent Marcus with the cute smile and bowl haircut in About A Boy, to rampant teen in Skins, to Beast in X-Men, to Mad Max: Fury Road, we’ve watched this blue-eyed boy grow up on screen.
But in his latest film Kill Your Friends, adapted from John Niven’s brilliant cult tome about the music industry in the ’90s, for the first time in his career, Hoult unleashes his sinister capabilities.
If you’re not aware of the book, which you should definitely read, Steven Stelfox is a toxic A&R label exec, who would do anything to get ahead in the game.
Backstabbing, drugs, loads of drugs, threesomes, murder, Stelfox is on a par with American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman.
Hoult clearly paid close attention to Christian Bale’s Bateman as Stelfox, a man who is also a narrating anti-hero with charm and good looks.
Who cares if you’re a sick f*ck, as long as you’re good looking sick f*ck, right?
Sitting down the day after the film’s premiere in London, which JOE attended, Hoult, discussed his first adult lead.
He tells us it was John Niven’s writing that attracted him to the role (in fact it was years ago he agreed to it), and how one of his favourite scenes is smashing James Corden’s skull in to the sound of The Prodigy.
And how even after all this time, he still can’t watch himself back on screen.
JOE also sat down with Hoult’s co-star Craig Roberts, interview to follow.
Kill Your Friends is released in Irish cinemas on November 6
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