Do blondes have more fun? It’s a classic question that actor Nicholas Hoult has been testing out much of this year due to his role in one upcoming 2026 movie, How To Rob A Bank. He’s been absolutely rocking bleach blonde hair while being out and about, particularly going viral for the look while on the Superman global press tour. But how did the new do come about?
Of course he’s been asked about bleaching his hair before, but when Hoult recently sat down with GQ, he spoke more in depth about how it all went down. In his words:
You know what, it was something that I had considered for roles before, but never felt like it was quite right for the feel of the tone of the job or whatever it might be. And then, while I was talking to David Leitch, the director of [Hoult’s upcoming 2026 film] How to Rob a Bank, we were talking about this character and what he felt he represented. And as we started to prep, he said, ‘How would you feel about bleaching your hair?’
Given that Hoult went and shaved his whole head to play Lex Luthor, it seems word has got around that he’s not especially precious about staying with his typically-brunette short hair if a role calls for another look. As he continued:
And it was funny because I’d had this instinctual thing at one point about the character where I was like, ‘Maybe [bleached hair] is something physically I could do to transform and use with this character.’ So I said yes right away. Two days later, I was in my wife’s aunt’s salon, and she was putting the bleach on my head, because I was like, ‘Let’s do it now and we’ll see, because maybe it looks bad and we don't want to use it.’ But I did it and we felt like it was right for the aesthetic of the film and the character, and I kind of like it. I’ve got my Madonna Blonde Ambition T-shirt on. I’m all about that blonde life now.
And voila, bleach blonde haired Nicholas Hoult was born. It’s sweet that he enlisted a member of his family to get it done early, and show filmmaker David Leitch before committing to it on the set of the movie. It’s clearly gone over well considering the actor is still wearing the look even though the production reportedly wrapped four months ago. Hoult's certainly not alone in the look given that fellow actors like Josh Hutcherson went bleach blonde for The Beekeeper, and Dylan O’Brien also made a similar transformation a few years back.
The movie that got Hoult to go blonde is about a crew of bank robbers that uses social media to document all the heists they’ve pulled off as they go on the run from the police. Leitch has directed other stylish action movies in past like Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Bullet Train and The Fall Guy. We expect we’ll see Hoult doing a lot of stunt work and tapping into his comedic side for How To Rob A Bank given the filmmaker’s other work thus far.
Hoult will be starring alongside Zoë Kravitz (whom he previously worked with on Mad Max: Fury Road), Shogun award darling Anna Sawai, SNL alum Pete Davidson, The Penguin’s Rhenzy Feliz, John C. Reilly and Christian Slater.
As we wait to see Hoult in How To Rob A Bank next fall, it’s worth noting that he told the magazine that it’s been “fun just to do something different” regardless of it being for work. He’s had tons of people reaching out to him saying they are “thinking” of doing something similar to their hair. Nicholas Hoult encourages more people to “shake it up” and “change your hair” if you want to. “Why not?” Hair is prone to grow back, you know!
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