Harry Styles says his upcoming film My Policeman highlights what sex is really like between two men.
Based on the acclaimed gay novel of the same name from Bethan Roberts, set in 1950s Brighton, the romantic drama stars Emma Corrin as Marion, a schoolteacher who falls in love with a police officer named Tom (Styles).
After meeting museum curator Patrick (David Dawson), however, Tom finds himself torn between both lovers. Due to social constraints of the era, Tom decides that it is safer to marry Marion.
My Policeman will be told in flashbacks, with older versions of Tom, Patrick and Marion being played by Linus Roache, Rupert Everett and Gina McKee, respectively.
Authentically depicting same-sex love was important for director Michael Grandage, Styles recently revealed in his cover story for Rolling Stone, because “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,” he said.
Styles also said the lack of protections for LGBTQ+ people at the time is “obviously pretty unfathomable,” adding: “I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it.
“It’s not like, ‘This is a gay story about these guys being gay.’ It’s about love and about wasted time to me.”
My Policeman will premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival before its limited release in the US on 21 October. It will then stream worldwide on 4 November on Prime Video.
Styles also stars in the Olivia Wilde-directed psychological thriller, Don’t Worry Darling, alongside Wilde, Florence Pugh, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, Chris Pine, Sydney Chandler, Kate Berlant and Asif Ali.
Due for release on 23 September, the film follows a “1950s housewife (Pugh) living with her husband (Styles) in a utopian experimental community” as she “begins to worry that his glamorous company may be hiding disturbing secrets.”
In his interview with RS, Styles admitted that his foray into acting isn’t permanent.
“I don’t imagine I’d do a movie for a while,” he said. “I think there’ll be a time again when I’ll crave it. 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.”
You can watch the trailer for My Policeman here or below.
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