And his interest in Hinduism is in sync with, of all things, his biggest role yet, the blue-skinned Nightcrawler in
X-Men: Apocalypse, which he’s shooting now in Montreal. “I believe there are as many quality stories within franchises as there are in indie films,” he says. “Nightcrawler is in love with the Kanha god and expresses the laws of the universe to people and helps them in that way. So I see no coincidence in me getting this role.”
Last month,
Apocalypse director Bryan Singer posted an image on Instagram
of Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler. The move sent blue-vapor shock waves through the fanverse. “I was a little baffled at first that [Singer] did that, but now I see the genius in it,” he says. “He’s getting information out there before anyone else can.”
Even before Smit-McPhee himself. The actor has an active
Instagram account of his own, which features photos of his original artwork and poetry (and his girlfriend), but he can reveal nothing about
Apocalypse, except that he’s working on his German accent to play the Teutonic mutant. He says when he was a much younger actor—as in, two years ago—he would maintain his characters’ accents in between takes to avoid losing them. But he’s stopped doing that. “Once you put enough work into it, it kind of clicks,” he says. “You’ve just got to keep that spark lit.” Which sounds like a pretty good career philosophy, too.
(sarcasm)
