WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I am slightly posting this the wrong way around as technically I should have given you all an article on Kelsey Grammer beforehand as he played Beast first. However, I think it works this way around as well as Hoult played the young Beast. Truthfully, in the cartoons Beast wasn’t my favourite character but in the films he most definitely is!
Clash of the Titans
In this film, Hoult has what I like to describe as an ensemble role. Playing Eroubus, he is one of the several soldiers sent with Perseus to discover a way to destroy the kraken. It is hard to discuss his acting for exactly this reason. You rarely see him actually fight, other than throwing a lance to Draco. This might be because he’s one of the younger ones in the group. Along with this, in a way he has an ensemble death as he isn’t the only one to lose his life to Medusa
About a Boy
You always know when it’s an actor’s first film when their credit at the beginning says ‘introducing Nicholas Hoult’. Oh yes, this is Nicholas Hoult pre-Skins. He hasn’t grown out of those eyebrows you can tell that much. I don’t know quite how the book is written but it can be very rare for an adult and a child to have balanced roles but for this film that is exactly the case. Hoult and Grant play off each other really well.
Coming Down the Mountain
I’ll say this much, Hoult’s character, David, is a little shit at the start of the film but you actually feel sorry for him. Who wouldn’t be annoyed that they’ve been taken away from everything they know without being asked because it’s better for your brother? And that ends up sending him on a downward spiral. I’ll be honest, at one point I thought the title was going to be a metaphor for David’s declining mental health but they do literally climb a mountain. The worst bit is, even though he decides to kill his brother because he blames him for his life falling apart – David actually changes his mind…but Ben decides to be an arsehole and push his brother to his limit.
Honorary Mentions
Yes I’ve mentioned it subtly already but you can’t exactly talk about Nicholas Hoult without mentioning Skins especially as this is the main piece of acting most people know him for – even though he only starred in 19 episodes. The majority of his early career was spent in TV with bit parts in Casualty, Holby City and Doctors (there’s seems to be a theme there…) Everyone refers to About a Boy as being his first film but his first acting credit is as Bobby in Intimate Relations at the age of 7.
