Harry Styles’ new movie My Policeman stars Harry as Tom, a gay policeman in 1950s England, who marries a woman, played by Emma Corrin, while carrying on an affair with a man. Director Michael Grandage tells ABC Audio that Harry impressed him with his reasons for wanting the part.

“I think a few years ago he made a decision with Dunkirk, that he did want to take advantage of becoming a screen actor wherever possible, and finding roles that would be part of that evolutionary development,” Grandage tells ABC Audio. “And he, interestingly enough, reached out to us.”

Grandage says when he heard Harry felt the role of Tom would be a good one for him, “I wanted to hear why. And he was incredibly articulate about why.”

Grandage says he and Harry agreed on how to portray Tom, who must keep his affair with a museum curator, played by David Dawson, under wraps. “He saw Tom very much as as I did…which is, you know, a man who keeps his cards very close to his chest, gives very, very little away, is almost sometimes monosyllabic, is shy, is not wanting to let anything out at all about his true feelings.”

And yet, says Grandage, “We know two people fall in love with him, so he must be pretty charismatic and beautiful.”

Grandage says Harry and his co-stars were also interested in the “the whole sociopolitical messaging of this film,” which he felt was “important for people…of their generation.”  The message concerns the fact that during the time My Policeman takes place, homosexuality was outlawed in the U.K. and could earn you a multi-year prison sentence.

My Policeman is now streaming on Prime Video.

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