If anyone is a good guest to have on a talk show, it’s Nicholas Hoult. The Renfield actor always has crazy onset stories, like that time he casually told Seth Meyers he was chased by wolves. So naturally, he recently dropped lore about the time he had to eat fake ice cream for a movie, and you won’t even believe what it actually was.
While doing press for his most recent movie Nosferatu, Hoult and co-star Lily Rose-Depp appeared on the Capital Evening show with Jimmy Hill. Of course, the Skins actor had to share an impromptu anecdote about the one time he had a diva moment (via @bestofhoult on X), and honestly, I don’t blame him:
The one time I’ve been a diva on set was when there was a scene where I was meant to be eating ice cream. Obviously I’m looking forward to it. And I get there, I take a bite of the ice cream and it’s lard mixed with food coloring and sugar. It was fake ice cream.
That has got to be the worst unintentional prank ever. Imagine you’re craving ice cream on a nice hot day and you bite into a lump of lard. Hoult doesn’t say which movie he took a mouthful of lard for, although maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t think I would be able to watch whatever scene that is now without feeling sick.
Now, the X-Men actor is no stranger to working with food, given he was in the critically acclaimed dark comedy The Menu. In fact, this reaction to the “ice cream” is very reminiscent of his character in The Menu, who was a huge food snob. Although, eating lard is a different kind of horrifying than the wild moments that happened in Ralph Fiennes’ fictional restaurant.
I agree with the radio show host that Hoult’s reaction to the fake ice cream wasn’t even a diva move after hearing the actor describe the whole affair:
It was absolutely disgusting, and my character was meant to eat a lot of this throughout the day. And I was like, ‘What is this?’ And they were like, ‘Oh, it’s lard. We thought the ice cream might melt, because of the set and the heat and everything like that.’ I was like, ‘I don’t — no. That’s not gonna work for me.’ And so they went to Tesco’s around the corner and picked up a real load of ice cream for me.
Hoult’s list of performances is impressive, he’s done some pretty wild stuff on screen, and I think he’s a fantastic actor. However, I don’t care what anyone says, no one is a good enough actor to enjoy eating lard all day. Just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt.
I wouldn’t blame him if he never blindly took a bite of prop food again, it seems like a slightly scarring experience. It was The Order star’s first thought when the conversation turned toward disgusting things the actors have worked with for a movie, like the real rats they had on set while filming Nosferatu. Rats and ice cream, not really related. So clearly, the experience had a lasting impression on him.
Thankfully, I don’t think his upcoming role as Lex Luthor in James Gunn’s highly anticipated Superman, set to release on the 2025 movie schedule, required him to eat any disgusting fake food. However, if you are looking for some sinister surprises yourself (the good kind), Hoult has some intense movies out right now — with Nosferatu playing in theaters, and Juror #2 available to stream with a Max subscription.