If I’m being honest, while I’m still looking forward to X-Men: First Class, none of the images or footage so far have particularly wowed me. That’s probably because with a ridiculously short shoot-to-release timeframe, most of the big set-pieces are still being worked on, but it does mean the marketing has been less bombastic than you’d expect. That continues with this new image, which shows Nicholas Hoult (Beast) and Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) having a quiet moment together.
Hoult also took time to answer a few questions over at Facebook. Here are the best:
What drew you to the role of Hank McCoy/ Beast?
The fascinating part of the role for me was the chance to play Hank/Beast before and after his transformation. The combination of his intelligence and wit offset by his animalistic appearance was fun to play.
What did you think of the original Beast?
I thought Kelsey Grammer did a fantastic job when he portrayed Beast, his charm and eloquence was something I wanted to try and emulate. However, in First Class I play Hank younger before becoming a politician, when he is a scientist and still learning about himself and his abilities. So I didn’t want to try and just play a younger Kelsey but also bring something new to the role.
What type of preparation did you do for the role of Beast?
In preparation for the role I watched lots of Frasier and listened to people who spoke with a similar accent to Kelsey, my dialect coach and I worked on creating something towards Kelsey’s dialect but without being an imitation. I also did lots of fitness training as being in the Beast costume and make up could be very tiring and tough physically.
How long does it take to get your makeup on?
The make up took 4 hours to get on, during which time we would listen to music mostly, or if it was a very early call I sometimes fell asleep.
Beast is a nasty combination of high intellect and brute strength. Which side is more evident in the movie, and which side do you relate to more?
You get to see both the brute strength and intellect of Beast in this film. If I had to choose which one I related to most it would have to be the intellect as I certainly don’t have anywhere near the strength and speed he possesses. Although, the same could be said for the intellect…