Hoult in ‘beast mode’

MANILA, Philippines – We saw him as a young kid wanting a family in About a Boy. Then we saw him climb a beanstalk and go on a gigantic adventure (Jack the Giant Slayer), become lovelorn zombie (Warm Bodies) and even a post-apocalyptic War Boy (Mad Max: Fury Road). But then things got hairy... and a little blue.

English actor Nicholas Hoult once again takes on the role of Hank McCoy who, in his blue and hairy form, is known as Beast in the X-Men Universe. For the currently screening X-Men: Apocalypse, the actor explains. “The main concept behind this one is that mutants existed long before we ever believed they did in any of the other movies; and that gods from bygone eras, including Apocalypse, were actually mutants. He’s been trapped and asleep for thousands of years and, suddenly, through a series of events, is woken up and is fairly shocked by the situation we’re in and isn’t too happy about it.”

Luckily, even if Beast lets out his inner, er, beast when things get really bad, he always seems to be having some sort of a good time. For instance, McCoy is a child prodigy and as a sort of assistant to Professor Charles Xavier (James MacAvoy), he gets to play big-boy-with-big-toys at the mutant academy, designing the X-Men jets and other awesome things.

“Yeah, he’s been kind of going behind Charles’ back,” Hoult says of his character. “It’s very impressive, the things that Hank makes down there in the basement. We need a good 10 years between each film just for him to rebuild all the things that have been blown up in the previous one.”

McCoy’s scientific, logical mind is confounded when movie baddie Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, who is unrecognizable in the role), with almost god-like powers, turns up.

“Then they’re playing catch up to try and figure out who this guy is, what his powers are and what he’s capable of, and how the hell they’re going to stop him,” Hoult says. “So from a scientific point of view, Hank is fairly ahead of the curve with all of his contraptions, but then this guy comes along who is just on a different level from anything they’ve dealt with before.”

And as always, aside from the enemy, the whole deal with the X-Men is always having opposing sides among mutants themselves that see differing futures for their kind.

“I suppose the main thing in terms of that relationship is there’s a slight difference in thinking from Charles’ beliefs, who feels that there is a way to peace for humans and mutants and for them to live alongside each other. As much as Hank hopes for that, he also expects the worst and has been working away in the basement, preparing for that,” he explains.

That said, Hoult thinks perhaps they could distract Apocalypse another way — like with the clothes they wear, shoulder pads and all, considering the story happens in the ‘80s. “The clothes are all big. I felt fairly lost in most of my costumes,” Hoult admits, laughing.

He adds, “Hank is always fairly conservative. His look, this time, is ‘1980s geography teacher’ and nothing is quite put together in the right sense. It’s always a little bit cobbled together and uncool, but that’s his thing. He’s a teacher at the school now… he’s literally old school.”

Apocalypse, however, has no patience for mundane things like fashion; he’s more irked at how humans have turned out. And an enemy that powerful makes up for some awesome screen fights where anyone could go full-on beast mode.

Beast, for one, has some pretty exciting fight scenes, not really with Apocalypse but with the very babe-alicious Psylocke, played by Olivia Munn, where “we go head to head for a little while,” he notes.

“I think Beast has gotten stronger in this one. He’s been working out between movies,” he jokes. “I did get a sword in the head from Olivia at one point! No fault of hers at all; it was completely me not moving out of the way. And that would’ve been a nasty end had it been a real fight.”

Still if it were up to Hoult, he’d much rather be more laid back. “I’m waiting for the script to come along when there is no threat and it’s literally just us all hanging out at the house and using the powers to barbecue and have the mutant Olympics.” Imagine X-Men as “Friends” where all they do is drink coffee. “Yes! Central Perk — that would be great!”

As the world collapses around them and the mutants band together to fight an all-powerful being, Hoult apparently has a more pressing concern in mind: “The one thing that I never quite figured out was who was doing the lunches (at the mutant mansion). I thought that was perhaps the one thing missing: Charles and Hank in the kitchen making hundreds of sandwiches and wondering who can’t have peanut butter!”

See, Hoult has his priorities straight.

X-Men: Apocalypse is now showing in theaters nationwide.