Nicholas Hoult opens up about missing out on 'Batman' role

Nicholas Hoult recently shared his emotional reaction to losing the Batman role to Robert Pattinson. 

On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Hoult confessed that hearing the news on the radio while driving was a tough pill to swallow.

"I remember a week before we did the Batman test, I was driving in my car and I had the radio on and they were talking on the radio about how Rob was going to be the new Batman," Hoult recalled. 

"And I was like, 'It's not confirmed yet! I'm auditioning next weekend. Give me a chance.'"

Despite his initial disappointment, Hoult acknowledged Pattinson's fantastic performance in the 2022 movie. "Rob is fantastic in that movie. That was the right decision."

Hoult admitted that auditioning for high-stakes roles like Batman can be emotionally taxing. 

"You get excited by the prospect... Matt is a fantastic director and the script and everything. I was like, this is going to be a cool movie and I want to be a part of it, and a brilliant character."

He also shared his inner turmoil after missing out on the role. "There's a weird period before you can get to the acceptance and see the movie and be like that was the right choice, you go through the period of 'what could I have done different? Why not me?' You run through all those things."

Fortunately, Hoult's experience with James Gunn's Superman was vastly different. Gunn's considerate approach to the audition process made a significant impact on Hoult.

"James Gunn is such a fantastic director and I was so excited by what he was building at DC," Hoult explained. 

"When we spoke — because they knew I had been through [the Batman] process — they didn't want me to necessarily have to go through that again. That was very kind of them. There was an element of them being like, 'We like you as an actor. We want you to be in this world.'"

Hoult will star as Lex Luthor in Superman, set to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.