Nicholas Hoult: From "Boy" to "Man"

Nicholas Hoult, who went from being the young star of About a Boy to a studly, bum-baring young adult on BBC America's Skins, has joined the cast of gay designer Tom Ford's directorial debut, A Single Man.

Colin Firth

Reuters reports that Hoult will play a sexually-ambiguous grad student who has a flirty relationship with a gay professor played by Colin Firth (above). Based on the novel by gay author Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man will also feature Julianne Moore (as a friend of Firth's character), Matthew Goode (as the professor's deceased lover) and Big Love's Ginnifer Goodwin (as a friendly neighbor).

Since Hoult has had no compunctions about going bare-assed on Skins, the possibility exists that Ford can get a little birthday-suit action out of him on the big screen.

They do grow up so fast these days.