Nicholas Hoult has responded to criticism that he 'copies' mannerisms from Hugh Grant, saying he takes such claims as a compliment. 

Hoult, who co-starred with Grant in About a Boy at the age of 12, is popular for his roles as Beast in X-Men: First Class, Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road, and Harley in The Favourite. Hoult shared that the 59-year-old British star has left a huge impact on him.

In a conversation with Collider, he said, "One of my first experiences making a film was with Hugh Grant on About A Boy. That's certainly something that I don't think I purposefully do, but occasionally people will say that there's things I do particularly within Tony's writing (Tony McNamara, who wrote The Favourite). There's occasionally moments where people think I take things that Hugh does and have stolen them and run with them maybe a little bit. I don't purposefully do that, but I take it as a compliment when people do say that."

Hoult was set to play the villain in the next Mission: Impossible, but he recently exited the film due to scheduling conflicts.