“They’re keeping his look very traditional, and even things that are happening within the story are very traditional,” Smit-McPhee, 18, said in a recent interview. “I believe his look is mustered from a combination of Azazel and Mystique, the blue and the demonish figure. I think it’s really cool they have that image but then the heart, soul and brain behind that image is something so different to what he looks like.”
As illustrated in the image, which was quickly pulled from Singer’s Instagram account, Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler is the offspring of Mystique and Azazel and resembles traditional comic-book depictions of the character as a three-fingered, yellow-eyed figure with a prehensile tail. Though he said it’s been “amazing” to go through make-up and costume tests for the look of Nightcrawler, the actor said he feels a strong personal connection to the character’s faith and selflessness. “Nightcrawler has a love for faith and god and all he really does is, through his pain and suffering, give love to everyone else,” he said. “There’s some really raw, true elements to me and my life.”