In his upcoming film, My Policeman, Harry Styles plays a closeted police officer named Tom, who is married to a teacher named Marion (Emma Corrin), and balancing a relationship with a museum curator named Patrick (David Dawson). The movie, which is based on a novel by Bethan Roberts, premiered this weekend at Toronto International Film Festival.
At a press conference, Styles detailed the process of getting into the character of a gay man and how he was able to tap into that headspace, as reported by Variety He also shared what his character means to him.
“I think he’s very curious,” said Styles. “I think he’s someone who is born into a very small world and, if you’re born into that kind of environment, you feel like you know where the edge of the world is. Slowly throughout the story, I think he’s realizing that it is a little further away than Brighton. I think people live entire lives in very small bubbles like that, and if that’s how you’ve been brought up, and everyone around you and generations before you, your parents, etc. have all lived within their kind of small bubble, it’s obviously very difficult to even picture the world outside of that.”
Styles continued, saying that Tom is a sheltered, curious man, who finds himself able to explore various worlds with Patrick, while maintaining a genuine platonic love for Marion.
“It’s feeding his curiosity, it’s kind of strange for him to be curious about stuff,” said Styles. “And then I think with Marion he also finds ultimately a friend who is the most accepting of him, and I think that’s why, kind of regardless of whichever way you think on their relationship, I think their friendship is incredibly real and loving and tender.”
During TIFF 2022, Styles, Corrin, and Dawson won the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance as a collective unit, marking the first time an ensemble has received this honor.
My Policeman arrives to theaters on 10/21 and premieres on Amazon Prime Video on 11/4.
