I do a lot of talking in the below interview with Nicholas Hoult, but not because he was uncooperative or even untalkative. He, unlike most actors sent out on publicity tours, is a good listener, willing to let me talk out my belabored points and give me a puzzled expression or two if I was on the wrong track. He's a fascinating guy, turning 20 the day we spoke but full of experience in the movie industry, having made his big debut at age 12 in 2002's About A Boy.
He's come a long way from there in A Single Man, sporting an American accent and a spray tan as college student Kenny, who's become fascinated with his English professor George Falconer (Colin Firth) on the precise day that George has decided to take his own life. Eerily confident and ethereally beautiful, Kenny pops up repeatedly to force George to rethink the world he's given up on. It's 1962 in Los Angeles, and while neither of them would use the word "gay," it's clear that both are looking for a specific kind of connection that wasn't even spoken of at the time.
Hoult started out the interview by looking at some questions I had written out for an earlier interview with Terry Gilliam, and answered those instead, about his early days in Monty Python and his decision to cast Robert Duvall in the upcoming Don Quixote movie. Moving on to Hoult's actual career, we talked about the Out Magazine photo shoot-- "someone described me as being gay-bait," he said sounding astonished at the existence of the word-- developing a dynamic with co-star Colin Firth, having no idea who director Tom Ford was when he was offered the role, and even his bit part in Clash of the TItans, in which he admits that he doesn't exactly die in the first scene, "you're lucky if you spot me." It's an interview worth watching even if you're not into ogling him. Check it out below.
