Nicholas Hoult portrayed Beast in the X-Men movies during the 2010s and is set to debut as Lex Luthor next summer in James Gunn’s new Superman movie. In between, however, he also auditioned for an even more iconic comic book role. He was called in by The Batman writer and director Matt Reeves for an audition, but even before he could prove himself, rumors had already circulated in the press that Robert Pattinson was almost certainly getting the role of Batman.
"I remember a week before my screen test for Batman, I was driving in my car, the radio was on, and they were talking about how Rob would be the new Batman. I thought, ‘It hasn’t even been announced yet! I’m going for my audition next week! Give me a shot!’” Hoult recalled on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. But the radio hosts were correct, and Hoult went into the audition knowing that the media already considered Pattinson the frontrunner. "It was a punch to the gut. You can’t [control] your thoughts. I was aware I’d be going up against Rob. And Rob is fantastic in that film. They made the right choice," Hoult admitted.
Hoult now believes Pattinson was a great choice, but at the time, the experience was tough for him because he had really wanted the role, viewing Reeves as a fantastic director and Batman as a brilliant character. "There’s this strange period before you can accept [the rejection] when you can watch the film and acknowledge they made the right call. You go through a phase where you think about what you could have done differently or why you weren’t chosen. You work through those thoughts," he explained.
In fact, Hoult didn’t just miss out on Batman; he had also auditioned for Superman in James Gunn’s upcoming film. However, the head of DC felt that the role of Luthor suited him better. "James Gunn is a fantastic director, and I’m excited about what he’s doing at DC. We talked because they knew what I’d gone through with The Batman audition, and they didn’t necessarily want me to go through that again. That was very considerate of them. It was like they were saying, ‘We like you as an actor, and we want you to be part of this world,’” Hoult shared. Audiences can catch him in Nosferatu in January, while Superman hits theaters in July.
