AceShowbiz - Nicholas Hoult savored a "peaceful" time during lockdown after losing out on three huge movie roles. The "Mad Max: Fury Road" star has opened up he suffered a number of big disappointments in the last few years after missing out on roles in superhero reboot "The Batman" and in Tom Cruise's Oscar-winning action movie "Top Gun: Maverick" - and he was delighted to get a call from Tom offering a part in the new "Mission: Impossible" two-parter "Dead Reckoning" but he had to drop out due to scheduling issues.

"I screen-tested for 'Batman' and didn't get it. Screen-tested for 'Top Gun', didn't get it. Then I got the call from Tom Cruise, 'Hey, how about 'Mission Impossible'?' OK. Got it. Then I had to drop out because I was already attached to do some more of [TV series] 'The Great'," he explained in an interview with the Guardian.

The losses all came before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the movie industry back in 2020, and Nicholas insists he actually enjoyed being forced to take time off work because he was able to spend more time with his family.

The actor - who has two kids with model Bryana Holly - said, "I think I was shut down for seven months. It was the longest I've ever spent not working ... [I didn't have an identity crisis] I think because I was just home being dad, which was nice."

"And it's easy in this industry to get Fomo [fear of missing out] - like this person's doing this, and that's coming out, and it's all happening for them. You want to be in the mix. But nothing was shooting, so it was actually quite peaceful."