“How Harry Styles Became the World’s Most Wanted Man: is the headline of Rolling Stones’ new Harry Styles cover story.
It could also translate to Hollywood where the global pop superstar has been in-demand and on a big-screen run since his debut in Christopher Nolan’s WWII epic Dunkirk in 2017. He segued from that small, supporting role to leading man work by way of Olivia Wilde’s anticipated psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling and Michael Grandage’s My Policeman. He also snagged a major Marvel cameo as Eros in the end credits of Chloe Zhao’s The Eternals.
But don’t expect it to continue. Ahead of world premieres for Darling and Policeman at both the Venice and Toronto film festivals, Styles tells Rolling Stone, “I don’t imagine I’d do a movie for a while.”
“I think there’ll be a time again when I’ll crave it,: he explains to cover story writer Brittany Spanos. “But when you’re making music, something’s happening. It feels really creative and it feeds stuff. A large part of acting is the doing-nothing, waiting thing. Which if that’s the worst part, then it’s a pretty good job. But I don’t find that section of it to be that fulfilling. I like doing it in the moment, but I don’t think I’ll do it a lot.”
Styles, who is now on a blockbuster sold-out tour, also clears up a couple of rumors. “That’s the first I’ve heard of that. I’d imagine…false,” he says in regard to whether he’s eyeing a future Star Wars series. As for whether there’s more Eros to come in any more Marvel projects, he jokes, “It’d be funny if that was it, wouldn’t it?”
No matter what happens, there will be no shortage of Styles-related headlines in the coming weeks when his work in both films is finally unveiled amid an anticipated awards season.
In the 1950s-set Policeman, Styles plays a gay policeman who falls for a museum curator, played by David Dawson. Due to the restrictive time period, they keep their relationship a secret while Styles’ character settles down with a schoolteacher, played by Emma Corrin. Styles said he was drawn to the part after reading the script by Oscar nominated writer Ron Nyswaner, who penned Philadelphia and is currently show running Showtime’s Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey-starrer Fellow Travelers which he created.
“It’s obviously pretty unfathomable now to think, Oh, you couldn’t be gay. That was illegal. I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it,” he says. “It’s not like ‘This is a gay story about these guys being gay.’ It’s about love and about wasted time to me.”
The film also features sex scenes between the two men and Styles says viewers should expect the opposite of what they’re used to seeing. “So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it. There will be, I would imagine, some people who watch it who were very much alive during this time when it was illegal to be gay, and [Michael] wanted to show that it’s tender and loving and sensitive.”
Meanwhile, Darling centers on Alice, played by Florence Pugh, and her husband Jack, Styles, who appear to be living a happy life in the idyllic community of Victory, home to the secretive Victory Project. As time goes on, Alice begins to question their purpose for being in Victory, eager to expose the sinister secrets of the community and company led by a CEO, played by Chris Pine.
Styles tells Rolling Stone that the role delivered a bit of a learning curve from his day job. “In music, there’s such an immediate response to what you do. You finish a song and people clap. When you’re filming and they say ‘cut,’ there’s maybe part of you that expects everyone to start clapping, [but] they don’t. Everyone, obviously, goes back to doing their jobs, and you’re like, ‘Oh, shit, was it that bad?’” asks Styles, who came to the project to replace Shia LaBeouf, who was reportedly fired by Wilde after they clashed during pre-production.
She says Styles left quite an impression, especially in a scene that features Jack’s promotion during a company gala. “It’s a strange scene, full of fascist references, and a disturbing amount of male rage. The scene called for him to stand onstage with Frank (Pine) and chant their creepy slogan, ‘Whose world is it? Ours!’ over and over again,” explains Wilde of her leading man with whom she is in a relationship. “Dark as hell. But Harry took it to another level. He was so fully in the moment, he began screaming the lines to the crowd, in this primal roar, that was way more intense than anything we expected from the scene.”
She continues: “The camera operator followed him as he paced around the stage like a kind of wild animal. We were all gobsmacked at the monitor. I think even Harry was surprised by it. Those are the best moments for an actor — when you’re completely outside your body.”
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