'Renfield' star Nicholas Hoult said he lost out on 3 consecutive roles in 'The Batman,' 'Top Gun: Maverick,' and 'Mission: Impossible 7'
- Nicholas Hoult said he lost out on roles in three blockbuster movies in a row.
- The actor told The Guardian he screen-tested for "The Batman" and "Top Gun: Maverick" to no avail.
Nicholas Hoult said he missed out on roles in three blockbuster films in a row after a flurry of screen tests and scheduling conflicts.
Hoult spoke to The Guardian's Zoe Williams in an interview published Friday about his life, fame, and his new movie "Renfield." He's had a lengthy career, earning his first acting credit at five years old, but still said some of his biggest disappointments came back-to-back.
The actor told the outlet he completed screen tests for "The Batman" and "Top Gun: Maverick," two of the highest-grossing films of 2022, but didn't land roles in either. Hoult soon got another opportunity from a fellow actor but backed out because he was attached to another season of "The Great," in which he stars as Emperor Peter III of Russia.
"I screen-tested for Batman and didn't get it. Screen-tested for Top Gun, didn't get it. Then I got the call from Tom Cruise: 'Hey, how about Mission: Impossible?' OK. Got it," he said. "Then I had to drop out because I was already attached to do some more of The Great."
Although Hoult is best known for his parts in period pieces and fantasy films, he also said he'd like to try his hand at romantic comedy.
"I would like to go do a romcom, though maybe not as a romantic lead: it sounds like there's slightly less to explore with those characters," he said. "But maybe people just don't think of me like that, maybe I don't get sent the good ones. I'd love to pretend it's all my doing, but it's more about when things align and when directors cast you."
Hoult's titular role in "Renfield" is far removed from a romantic lead. The movie, which is a sequel to the 1931 film "Dracula," sees Hoult eating bugs to keep up his supernatural strength as an assistant to the famous vampire, played by Nicholas Cage.
Although his bug-eating scenes may look real, Hoult revealed that the insects were actually made out of candy — some of them, anyway.
"We had cockroaches made of caramel. They were great. The worms were gummy worms in crushed-up Oreos to look like earth," he said. "Only the crickets were real."