Warm Bodies star Nicholas Hoult is the lead character in a story that may remind some of Romeo and Juliet. He portrays "R," a zombie who winds up saving a girl (Teresa Palmer) named Julie. R & Julie... get it?
As previewed in the Warm Bodies trailer, their relationship may hold the key to the cure for being a zombie, something films of the genre have debated for decades. Could love warm a heart that has gone cold? That was certainly what drew the in-demand actor to the film.
"It's a nice story about a zombie, that I play, who feels a little bit trapped and wants to feel alive again -- to have that spark back," Hoult told us in our exclusive video interview. "When he meets Teresa's character Julie, he finds the enjoyment in life again... could that be a cure for the zombie race?"
The film also shows how far the zombie genre has gone and how it may be, with The Walking Dead and its kind, that zombies are replacing vampires as the go-to supernatural storyline. "I've enjoyed how zombie films have progressed over the years with Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead with a bit of humor in there. Not to say I don't like the classic types like 28 Days Later."
Hoult is one busy actor as he has both X-Men: Days of Future Past and Jack the Giant Slayer coming up. We asked him to give us a clue as to what to expect from the latter -- like Warm Bodies, a unique take on a story we've seen before.
"It's based loosely on the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale. It's about this young farm boy, Jack, who I play, who gets tagged along on this mission to save a princess from lots of giants," Hoult said. The actor cautions that this is not your grandparents' fairy tale. "There's not one giant in this movie. There's lots of giants!"