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“	I don't want to hurt you. I just want to feel what you felt, to feel a little better, a little less dead.	„
	~ R.

R is the main protagonist of the film Warm Bodies.

R is a young man in the thick of a serious existential crisis — he's dead. But like every other lifeless person in his grim new world, he's still walking, grunting and attacking humans. He doesn't remember his old life, who he is or where he came from; nothing at all but the first letter of his name: R.

He was portrayed by Nicholas Hoult, who also portrayed R.M. Renfield in Renfield, Thomas Hutter in the 2024 remake of Nosferatu, Jon Arbuckle in The Garfield Movie, Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road, and Beast in the X-Men franchise.

Biography

While leading a zombie horde, R finds a group of survivors near his daily hangout, an airport. While attacking the survivors, he is struck by his first inkling of a feeling for an unknown woman. Before he can approach her, he's shot. Being undead and hungry (and now irritated), he kills and eats his shooter, a young man named Perry.

As he bites and chews into his brains, R absorbs the memories of Perry, who just happened to be the lover of R's unknown dream girl, Julie. Strengthened by a mix of his own feelings for her and the ones he's just consumed, he feels the need to protect her from his undead cohorts. Fortunately for R, Julie is hiding nearby, and hasn't seen him consume the flesh of Perry.

Physical Description

In the film, R is portrayed by actor Nicholas Hoult. He is a zombie of average build suffering from only mild decay, with dark hair, pale scarred skin and gray eyes. He wears a red hoodie on top of a gray t-shirt, and blue jeans. Like all zombies in the movie, he walks stiffly and with a distinct shuffle. He is described as looking to be in his late teens or early twenties by Julie's friend Nora. In the book, however, he was described the same as he is in the movie but wearing a suit not a hoodie and jeans. And him and M were more "friendly" and active towards each other in the book. M would play with R's hair and grunt which would mean "girly."

Personality

R has a romantic, withdrawn personality. He imagines the world as it once was, and likes to picture the lives his fellow Dead once lived. His thoughts are deep and ironic, but because he is Dead, he has trouble expressing himself. He wants to be more than a simple-minded zombie, but only manages to fulfill his desire when he meets Julie, a strong and witty living girl. He quickly becomes protective of her. His feelings eventually transform into love.

Despite R's status as a zombie, he exhibits many human qualities through his behavior, and actions. R seems to have an active love for music, and is rather intelligent. He enjoys collecting vinyl music tracks because of their superior quality, which indicates he may or might have been an audiophile (someone who loves high definition sound/music). R's residence in the aircraft give many clues to his character traits. Of all, however, his kindness, caring, and protectiveness seem to be his most defining qualities as he is able to rise above his viscous tenancies as a zombie.

Trivia

• R, both from the movie and the novelized version of Warm Bodies, is based on Romeo from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
• According To The DVD, R is said to be 21 years of age when he meets Julie, which means he was 13 years of age when plague broke out.