In earlier, pre-digital times, he would probably have been called a “jack of all trades”. Over the course of the 2010s, Harry Styles, the former bakery salesman from central England, not only became a global mega pop star. First with the UK boy band One Direction, then as a solo artist.
The 28-year-old is a fashion icon with top sponsorship contracts at Gucci and Co, a role model of the “Generation Woke” and of course an extremely sought-after actor.
A week ago, Styles turned up at the Venice Lido to chat about the film Don’t Worry Darling, including a few quips about esteemed colleague Chris Pine.
Already on Sunday (October 30th) jetted across the Atlantic and showed up at the renowned film festival in Toronto, Canada. It was also about a leading role in a major international production. This is originally called “My Policeman” and directed by Michael Grandage, who has also made a name for himself as a sought-after theater manager in London.
Fatal love triangle
Styles plays Tom, a police officer in 1950s England who develops feelings for museum curator Patrick (David Dawson). The two have to keep their relationship a secret due to the repressive laws of the time. Tom marries local teacher Marion (Emma Corrin), whose jealousy develops destructive energy.
Jumping back in time to the 1990s, the three (then played by Linus Roache, Rupert Everett and Gina McKee) are still full of regrets. After all, they are trying to put together the porcelain that was smashed 40 years ago.
For someone like Styles, who squeezes his burgeoning film career into an already busy schedule, it was, in his own words, a moving realization “that the film touches the vita of those people among us who just haven’t made the best” of career and life would have – or have just experienced this “failure”.
A life that threatens to fail
For him, the content of this historical saga is also so devastating because it is ultimately “about wasted time in a completely normal life”. “It’s absolutely devastating because these lives are failing completely,” Styles said at a press conference ahead of the world premiere of “My Policeman.”
From today, November 4, 2022, the film – a novel adaptation of “My Husband’s Lover” by Bethan Roberts – can be seen on the streaming channel Amazon Prime.