He has acted in three major movies, but Harry seems to have no idea of how great he really, says Radio 2 film critic, as he looks back over Harry’s incredible silver screen achievements

Making the leap from pop idol to movie star is not for the faint-hearted, but the process has been seamless and natural for Harry.

From his first role in Dunkirk, through to My Policeman, he has grown his fanbase from those who wave banners stage-side to a stronghold of Hollywood film buffs chanting his name at red carpet premieres.

Now with a string of albums, tours and movies to his name, Harry uses both music and acting for partly the same thing – escapism.

“There are aspects of acting where you’re drawing from experiences a bit, but for the most part you’re pretending to play someone else. That’s what I find most interesting about it,” he explained at a Don’t Worry Darling press conference.

Yet he doesn’t seem keen to rush back in front of the camera anytime soon. “I don’t imagine I’d do a movie for a while,” he said in August last year. “I think there’ll be a time again when I’ll crave it. A large part of acting is the doing nothing, waiting thing… I don’t find that section of it to be that fulfilling.”

This is a shame when you realise how respected the singer is in the industry, as Radio 2 film critic James King reveals in this exclusive look back at Harry’s silver screen achievements…

Harry Styles took his emotional role seriously on My Policeman, spotted here on set in Brighton in May, 2021 (Image: WireImage)

Released in May 2022, My Policeman was Harry’s best performance, according to a Radio 2 film critic (Image: Alamy Stock Photo)

A big leap

Harry could have taken it easy, writes film critic James King.

As the biggest heartthrob in the biggest boyband, he could simply have cruised through half a dozen fluffy romcoms with no problem. Yet just as with his music, he didn’t want to settle for a film career that was straightforward and obvious.

I had my concerns at first because Harry’s not a stage school kid. He’s not someone who we saw acting in TV shows – he’s very much a talent show star. There wasn’t any kind of background to suggest that he’d be a good actor.

But sometimes you find with singers who turn to acting, it’s all performance. Through doing music videos, he’ll have learned about camera work, performing and getting into character, so it’s all been a good grounding.

It’s still a big leap into movies, but this unofficial background training would have probably made Harry more comfortable. The result has been three proper film roles so far, all of which are genuinely impressive.

Harry Styles played a rugged and raw role in Dunkirk with no special allowances or star treatment given (Image: Beretta/Sims/REX/Shutterstock)

Dunkirk was Harry Styles in his acting debut but he wowed audiences with his raw, natural energy both on-screen and on-set (Image: LFI/Avalon.red)

No star treatment

First up was the Second World War drama Dunkirk, an achievement right off the bat since it saw Harry – in his 2017 acting debut – working with acclaimed director Christopher Nolan.

The first time I saw Harry act in this film, it was a really big deal. From the director and the scale of it, to the seriousness of the role and the other actors involved, it was a huge thing.

His character had to be young and naive as a soldier, so not being totally polished actually helped him in this – he didn’t look out of place.

He was starring alongside top actors Kenneth Branagh and Tom Hardy, yet he still felt like a great bit of casting in what was a gritty, grimy, uncomfortable role to play.

There’s more, though. Dunkirk was also an incredibly tough movie to shoot. As Highlanders soldier Alex – escaping the French port after being encircled by enemy forces – Harry filmed in cold, dark and wet conditions alongside thousands of extras.

There was nothing glamorous about it, so to sign up for that and all the hardships that he would have had to endure shows somebody who is committed to being an actor. There was definitely no room for star treatment.

Audiences made it a smash-hit and multiple critics hailed it as the best film of the year, which certainly made sure all that hard work wasn’t for nothing.

Blink and you’ll miss him, but Harry Styles also starred in the end credits of Marvel’s Eternals (Image: Walt Disney Co/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

Stylish and daring

A bit part in the end credits of Marvel’s Eternals followed, but Harry’s next major role was in 2022’s thriller Don’t Worry Darling. The film generated a lot of headlines after its debut at the Venice Film Festival, all concerning supposed behind-the-scenes spats and Harry’s relationship with the film’s director, Olivia Wilde.

As soon as we saw the end result though, those rumours meant very little, since Don’t Worry Darling was way more enjoyable than the whispering had us believe. Here was a stylish and daring drama that gave Harry another chance to prove himself artistically, taking on a part originally meant for controversial method actor Shia LaBeouf.

As “ideal” husband Jack Chambers, living with wife Alice (Florence Pugh) in a picture-perfect 1950s desert town, Harry was at his charming best. Even better, he also delivered the goods when Jack was shown to be not quite all he seemed.

Beautifully understated

My own favourite Harry performance though, was in his second film of 2022, the sadly overlooked My Policeman. In an intimate and heartbreaking story, he plays PC Tom Burgess, a young cop in 1950s Brighton who – controversially for the time – falls for museum curator Patrick (David Dawson).

What follows is a tale that jumps between the post-war years and the present day, with Harry giving a beautifully understated performance as a young man coming to terms with his sexuality. This was no role for anyone unwilling to lay themselves bare and Harry’s turn was a delightful mix of confused, passionate and caring. Its ultimate message? Treat people with kindness.

I spoke to My Policeman’s director, Michael Grandage – a very experienced theatrical director and hugely respected in the industry. If he’s casting you, you know you’re doing something right. Michael spoke about how much Harry wanted to know about his character in My Policeman and wanted to discuss ideas. It was much more than just showing up on set, saying your lines and then going home.

Within the industry, you hear about Harry’s politeness and how humble he is. He’s clearly someone who has been well brought up and he doesn’t play “the star”. He understands that as big a name as he is, movies are not his main field so when acting, he’s not the same mega star that appears on stage.

Stylish and professional, Harry Styles played the part as husband in Don’t Worry Darling incredibly, beating controversial method actor Shia LaBeouf to the role (Image: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

The picture-perfect 1950s set movie was the perfect grounds for Harry Styles to showcase his charming personality (Image: Warner Bros/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

Proving his worth

So where next for Harry Styles the movie star? Really, the sky’s the limit. He’s already proved himself more than so many other boyband pin-ups who’ve tried acting – Justin Timberlake is probably the only other such singer who’s successfully crossed over into movies.

What he’s shown so far is an impressive reluctance to do just any old thing that’s thrown at him and I, for one, hope that pickiness long continues. In fact, he seems to be forging an acting career more akin to one of his heroes – the always groundbreaking David Bowie – rather than regular pop stars, since Bowie’s handful of acting turns were also brilliantly varied, often experimental and fabulously unpredictable.

As runner-up to Austin Butler when auditioning for Baz Luhrmann’s blockbuster Elvis, we almost saw Harry the pop star playing perhaps the ultimate pop star on the big screen. I’m sure he’d have been great too. But it’s also encouraging to see him sign up to roles that are a million miles away from his life as a musician, taking on dowdy and fragile characters which push him out of any comfort zone.

I remember interviewing Baz for Elvis and he arrived playing Harry’s As It Was on his phone, so he’s obviously a fan. Austin was incredible in that movie, but Harry being a close second meant he was very much in the running, it was a close call.

Harry admitted to Harper’s Bazaar that “it’s fun to play in worlds that aren’t necessarily your own”. He added, “What I like about acting is I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.”

If what we’ve seen so far is someone who has “no idea” what they’re doing, here’s hoping he never finds out.