X-Men: First Class Beast Actor Auditioned Using A Family Guy Impression

Actor Nicholas Hoult revealed that director Matthew Vaughn asked him to do a take as Family Guy‘s Stewie Griffin for the role of Beast in his audition for X-Men: First Class. Hoult not only played the comic book character of Beast in X-Men: First Class, but also in its subsequent sequels: X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men: Dark Phoenix – which, sadly, turned out to be a box office bomb for 20th Century Fox. In fact, Dark Phoenix bombed harder than 2015’s Fantastic Four reboot, only reeling in $65 million domestically against a sizable budget of $200 million.

X-Men: First Class served as a prequel for the comic book franchise, revealing the origins of Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), as the two banded together in order to find other mutants like themselves and provide them safe haven from those who wished to cause them harm. One of those mutants is Hank McCoy, played by Hoult, a scientist who possesses ape-like strength and agility, sporting animalistic features such as blue fur, fangs and claws that cause him to be referred to as “Beast”.  The character forms a romantic bond with fellow mutant Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who tries to convince him to embrace his mutation instead of trying to perfect a cure for it.

In a recent video for GQ, actor Nicholas Hoult revealed part of his audition for Beast in X-Men: First Class involved doing a take as Family Guy‘s Stewie Griffin. When speaking about his audition process for X-Men: First Class, the actor states,

Matthew Vaughn asked me to do a couple takes in an American accent as you kind of saw the character. But then also do a take doing an impression of Stewie Griffin from Family Guy. I had watched a lot of Family Guy in my teen years growing up, so I was like, ‘OK, I think I’ve got a pretty good impression of Stewie Griffin lined up. And so I did a whole version of the the take as Stewie Griffin and sent it off. So maybe that helped me get the part? I don’t know.

Since the 2011 prequel, Hoult has certainly stayed busy. In addition to the X-Men sequels, the actor has gone on to star in high-profile projects, such as Warm Bodies, Jack The Giant Slayer and Mad Max: Fury Road. Hoult has also been cast in the next two Mission: Impossible films, possibly playing a villain in both sequels. The actor previously worked with Mission: Impossible writer and director Christopher McQuarrie on Jack The Giant Slayer, a film McQuarrie wrote. The actor also reportedly screen tested for The Batman along with Robert Pattinson, unfortunately coming up just short of playing the caped crusader.

Nicholas Hoult has proven to be one of the most versatile young actors working today, bouncing from genre to genre with ease and proving his prowess in each. His work in the X-Men films was fantastic, showing sides to Beast that helped bring the character depth and pathos. The fact that part of his audition involved auditioning as Stewie from Family Guy is fascinating and is sure to incite passionate fans pleading to see his audition tape. The actor continues to mature and expand his horizons, leading to better and more impressive performances. If anything, this piece of news will make fans want to revisit X-Men: First Class and Hoult’s layered performance.

Source: GQ

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