Less than 24 hours before the 74th annual Emmy Awards kicked off in Los Angeles, Nicholas Hoult was behind the wheel of a race car, speeding through the Sonoma Raceway in Northern California during the Ferrari Challenge. But on Monday afternoon, the star of The Great, who was nominated for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the Hulu show, found himself in an altogether different environment: the basement of L.A.’s Soho Warehouse Hotel, where he was preparing for television’s biggest night. (He didn’t stay on the West Coast for long—the next day, he flew back to London to continue filming season three of The Great.)

Despite all the movement, the British actor had a calm, laid-back outlook about the next few hours, which saw him getting ready to hit the red carpet in a ’70s-inspired Dior suit with a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch. “I didn’t even really think about today until yesterday, when I got off the track,” he tells me over the phone, adding that he is an automobile enthusiast. “Then suddenly, I was like, ‘Oh, the Emmys are tomorrow.’ Up until then, I had just been concentrating on the racing and driving.”

As Hoult tells it, finding out the news of his nomination had a similar relaxed vibe—and, incidentally, he was driving at the time, too. “I honestly forgot about it, until my phone started popping off a little bit,” he recalls. “I was like, what’s going on here?” He then called his partner, who revealed to him that he had been nominated. “I was like, ‘Hey! That’s good,’” he says.

After finding out his costar, Elle Fanning, had also snagged a nomination for Lead Actress, he got her on the horn—and ended up breaking the news. “Elle was actually filming that day,” he adds. “Normally, she doesn’t have her phone on her, but for some reason, that day, she did. I was like, A-ha! And I screamed congrats. She was like, ‘Wait, what?’ And I was like, You’re nominated!’ Then we both just screamed down the phone at each other for a second.”
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Nicholas Hoult attends the 74th Primetime Emmys at Microsoft Theater on September 12, 2022 in Los Angeles. You can go to the gallery to take a look to the photos.

Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One), Nicholas Hoult (The Menu), Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) and Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live) have signed on to star alongside Chris Pratt and Samuel L. Jackson in Alcon Entertainment’s animated feature adaptation of Garfield.

The film from director Mark Dindal (Chicken Little, Emperor’s New Groove) is based on Jim Davis’ iconic cartoon strip of the same name, which follows a cynical and lazy orange cat of the same name and his interactions with his owner, Jon Arbuckle, along with his fellow pet, Odie. Details as to the roles the newest additions to the cast will play have not been disclosed.

But David Reynolds (Finding Nemo) adapted the screenplay, with DNEG Animation animating and producing the film alongside Alcon Entertainment. John Cohen (Despicable Me, Angry Birds) and Steven P. Wegner are producing alongside Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, as well as DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra and President Tom Jacomb, with Davis, Andrews McMeel Entertainment’s Bridget McMeel and Craig Sost exec producing. Sony Pictures will distribute the film globally in all major territories apart from China on February 16, 2024.

Hoult recently notched his first Emmy nomination for his performance in Hulu’s The Great and will next star in Searchlight’s The Menu alongside Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes, and in Universal’s Renfield alongside Nicholas Cage and Awkwafina. [Source]

The first-time Emmy nominee explains the different sides of Peter III and why playing the Russian royal is so rewarding.

“I’ve had probably more fun playing this character and being in this world than I had for a long time,” says 32-year-old Nicholas Hoult as he considers the impact of portraying the often-impulsive, venal, cocksure and imperious yet increasingly evolving Russian Emperor Peter III on Hulu’s The Great opposite Elle Fanning’s Catherine the Great. “And I think that’s something that audiences can pick up on.”

Indeed, the second season of Tony McNamara’s (The Favourite) pseudo-historical period dramedy — which veers from staggeringly funny to painfully moving in seemingly effortless brisk turns — has earned accolades aplenty, including Primetime Emmy nominations for both Hoult and Fanning, due in large part to the lively sense of fun that pervades it.

“Someone said that it seems like all the cast are having the best time, and we are!” Hoult tells THR with a laugh as the English actor (who lives in L.A. but travels to the U.K. frequently) reflects on the delights and challenges of the season. “I feel fortunate to do what I do, but I also care about it a lot. And sometimes when you care about things too much, that could actually hinder in a way. When you’re having fun, you end up doing your best work, and there’s a freedom that comes with that as well. I would like to think that’s something that I can take forward working from now, where there’s just a joy and a fun in it.”

As you dug into this season and all the different shades and colors of Peter that you got to play, tell me about making your own mental road map and all the adjustments you made throughout the season.

Peter is someone that on first impression does a lot of terrible things and is a horrendous human being to be around most of the time. But Tony’s got a fantastic way of really exploring all the grays within all of his characters and creating a world where they can make mistakes. But Peter is someone who’s always trying, in some ways, his best, despite the fact that he’s been brought up in such strange circumstances that he can’t quite empathize or feel what other people would. It’s been really fascinating, to be honest with you, because Tony writes as we go. As the map unravels in front of me, I gain it as you would as an audience member, I suppose.
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