Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy: Nicholas Hoult Brings His Bare Ass to the Big Screen in 'A Single Man'

<< Blog | Editorial Features Thursday, December 17, 4:00 PMThu, 17 Dec 2020 @ 4:00 PM by Jake Jizzenhall

Throughout cinema history, there have been some iconic nude scenes that have transcended the bounds of the films in which they appeared. Our weekly column Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy will take an in-depth look at these scenes, their history, their deeper meanings, and their legacy. This week, Nicholas Hoult erases any traces of his childhood stardom by baring his bare ass inA Single Man!

Although he began working in television in his native UK at the age of 5, Nicholas Hoult was a complete unknown when American audiences caught sight of him, aged 12, in the Nick Hornby adaptation About a Boy in 2002. After playing son to another famous Nicolas, Cage in this case, in 2005's The Weather Man, Hoult more or less disappeared from the international stage for a while. UK audiences, of course, weren't really cheated of more Hoult as they got to revel in his explosion into puberty with his role on the seminal Channel 4 series Skins.

The rest of the world was left to wonder what became of the childhood prodigy, while the UK was drinking in this sight on the regular...

Only the truly hip people in the US had been exposed to Skins when Hoult's next major role in a motion picture came along with Tom Ford's 2009 directorial debut A Single Man. The now 20-year old Hoult plays the object of a dying Colin Firth's character in this terribly sad and depressing film that is, admittedly, gorgeous to look at. Based on Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel of the same name, the film tells the story of the last day in the life of college professor George (Firth), sometime in late 1962. Distraught over the death of his partner of 16 years Jim (Matthew Goode), George admits his intent to kill himself—in voice over—after spending one last night of fun with his old friend Charley (Julianne Moore).

When that whole plan devolves into a drunken mess, George ends up at a bar where he once again crosses paths with Kenny (Hoult), a student who had made a not-so-subtle pass at the good professor earlier in the day. The two return to George's place where they have a few more drinks, head to the beach to go skinny dipping, then return to the house where this scene unfolds...

George ends up deciding not to go through with killing himself, burning his suicide note and locking away the gun he intended to use. Having come to a moment of clarity, a glimpse that he may be able to find happiness again without Jim, George has a heart attack and dies. A tragic ending to a truly tragic film.

It wasn't until after the film was over that I, and many other audience members I'm sure, put together that Kenny was the kid from About a Boy. In fairness, the 6-foot-3-inch tall actor had grown a few inches, to say the least. The following year, Skins came to the content-hungry Netflix, giving American fans more Hoult than they could shake a stick at. By the time he played Beast in X-Men: First Class in 2011, he began to put the child-star image behind him for good.

Of course, Hoult has also gone from adorable pre-teen to lanky teen to ruggedly handsome yet still impossibly skinny adult. It's crazy to think that he's been doing this as a job since he was 5, but he's managed to come out the other side fairly well adjusted. It's rare that anyone has a career that spans childhood into adulthood with few, if any, major stumbling blocks. That Nicholas Hoult has also become one of the most in-demand actors of his generation speaks to the fact that he must have a pretty good head on those well-proportioned shoulders of his.

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Catch up with ALL of our other editions of Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy...

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