This article contains spoilers for Don’t Worry Darling.
Whether you liked it or not, 2022 was the year of Harry Styles. He was everywhere: a new album on high rotation, an immensely popular world tour, and his new beauty and lifestyle brand Pleasing launched global pop-up boutiques that had queues snaking around the block. But nothing made a smash quite like Movie Harry, and The Drama™ surrounding Don’t Worry Darling. It spanned from post-production all the way through to festival season, where tabloid fodder gave way to a full on did-he-or-didn’t-he scandal involving spit and Chris Pine. Needless to say, for a pop star having a banner year, it was a bit of a wrench in the mix where both his personal life and his first leading role were concerned.
To be fair, there’s a moment or two where it’s hard not to see how green Harry is Don’t Worry Darling, but it’s not in any of the moments you’ve seen ridiculed online. In the lead-up to the thriller’s release in early autumn, Warner Brothers released a clip of Harry’s character, Jack, bitching out Florence Pugh’s character, Alice, his wife. You would have thought he single-handedly killed the craft of acting by the response. The musician became the butt of jokes, the subject of even the most minor and unnecessary criticisms. Folks hung onto what they considered his muddled accent in the clip, claiming he didn’t know how to do an American accent or an English one (despite having a track record for a pretty solid American accent, if you’ve seen any One Direction videos).
No, the moments where the audience is reminded of Harry’s novice status lie in the few instances where you can tell by his rote tone of response that he isn’t exactly listening, but instead waiting for the moment where he should say his line. It puts a spotlight on his newness to the craft, but only for a few seconds until his charm takes over again. Look, there are way more excellent scenes than misstep moments from him in his 2022 film entries — particularly Don’t Worry Darling — and while it might take time to really absorb them, it’s hard to dispute that they’re there.
You see, Harry nails each key element of the complex puzzle that makes up Jack. He’s charismatic and alluring with a bit of a golden retriever personality, but at the same time, he’s cunning and driven — an excellent example of someone indoctrinated and desperate. Plus, the character isn’t the type of person to truly see what’s wrong with this combination; a stark contrast to the loving, idyllic husband he presents himself as.
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What makes Harry so good for this role is the kind of person he’s known to be in real life. That charisma and allure is all part of his personality and public presentation. He’s an intriguing person, one who invites observation and connection. Anyone who knows his music career has seen all of this, and is familiar with his professional and creative drive.
Interestingly enough, Harry’s performance excels in the place you wouldn’t expect it to: being an incel. He doesn’t align himself in the real world with the kind of ideologies his character holds close — in fact, he represents the opposite — but he nails the self-righteous monologue where he tells Alice that he essentially enslaved her against her will for her own good and, what’s more, that he’s a saint for doing so. It’s exactly the kind of reverse psychology this type of character would pull proudly. In the same vein, Jack latches onto this deranged version of love he has to settle for to have the life he feels he deserves. In choosing this route, it’s clear he was able to find a truth within — and connection to — his character’s darkest side.
If this is where Harry’s leading man era begins, it says a lot about the actor he will most likely grow into. Between Don’t Worry Darling and My Policeman, he’s already tackling different genres and the complexities within the types of characters that inhabit those worlds, and he’s only three (four, if you count his Eternals cameo) roles deep into a fresh career. But his layered and emotionally grounded performances show not only a solid foundation to build off of, but a clear trajectory of positive developments down the line.
There’s faith to be had in Harry, because he’s done this sort of thing before. Just look at his music career. When he auditioned for X-Factor some twelve years ago, he could carry a tune, but it was clear his voice was going to need work; he was only the third strongest vocally in the group of five he was placed with. Fast forward to today: his vocal range is far beyond anything he could do then and he reigns supreme as the most popular solo member of that boyband. Hell, he’s one of the most popular artists on the planet today. He’s a hard worker, and if good scripts keep coming across his desk, Harry is going to work his way into becoming a really solid actor. So pass me the popcorn, I couldn’t be more ready for his rise.