Nicholas Hoult talks with Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum about preparing for James Gunn’s Superman

The Lexes meet! Nicholas Hoult has had an illustrious career, which already includes a go-around as a comic book superhero in a big franchise as he played Hank McCoy, also known as Beast, in the later versions of the X-Men movies. Now, he will be playing Superman’s famous arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, for James Gunn in the upcoming DCU reboot, Superman. The film has commenced its production with each day getting teases left and right with Gunn posting photos from the set and a big teasing reveal of the new Superman suit. In one of the cast images, Nicholas Hoult is shown in full bald glory as he reports for duty as Lex.

Just prior to filming, Hoult would stop by Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast for an interview. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Hoult discussed his preparation for playing Lex. Hoult revealed that some dialogue from the comic, All-Star Superman, provided the inspiration for the direction of his incarnation. He explained, “There’s that bit in All-Star Superman [comic book series] where he talks about his muscles being real and hard work and all that. I kind of took that as a little bit of fuel for the fire.” However, he would point out that it’s more of a psychological jumping off point for his portrayal and that we won’t likely be showing off his physique in the film.

Of course, although Rosenbaum is now a prominent podcast host, it’s not lost on Hoult that he’s talking to a vet of the character and even revealed that Rosenbaum’s Smallville interpretation was his first exposure to the character in live action and it became his personal favorite. “The first ever Lex I saw was you. Yeah, I grew up, Smallville was on. That was the show I would watch and see my first iterations of Superman and Lex and all those stories. I’ve since seen Richard Donner’s movies and all the other ones and kind of seen some of the other performances but you’re like the one. … It’s the best.”

The Renfield star also commented on his experience auditioning for Gunn. He revealed that Gunn has the “ability to keep things fun and alive and try things in the moment and be like, just shouting out from the monitors, ‘Say this line. Do this! Do that!’ And that’s something that I really enjoy. … That’s the whole process of prep for me is like, be prepared as possible so when you get there you can throw it all away and do whatever you want in the moment.”