“Listen,” the director Todd Phillips said to Harry Lawtey before ending one of the most insane Zoom calls of the 27-year-old actor’s life. “Choose five people you can really trust.”
Barely weeks earlier, Harry had shot his self-tape audition with “phoney scripts” for an unknown part in Todd’s new film. Those five people – his agent, his parents and his two best friends – would be the only ones privy to a sworn secret: that Harry had just been cast as the district attorney turned villain Harvey Dent in Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to 2019’s billion-dollar-grossing, Oscar-winning Batman spin-off. The British actor chose wisely, as details on the character he plays in the film only began to trickle online right before the film’s world premiere two years later at the Venice Film Festival.
In Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Aaron Eckhart’s take on Harvey Dent rooted the character’s confidence in superficial things; his looks and charm with women. Harry, however, frames the character as a consummate professional, arriving to the courtroom sharply dressed and with a steely focus. The actor appears in some of the project’s most pivotal scenes, planting the seeds for a meatier part in a potential sequel.
Before he signed on, Harry knew a thing or two about playing a suited-up, power-hungry young professional. He’s currently best known for his role as ambitious Oxford graduate Robert Spearing on HBO’s hit city banker drama Industry. But shooting the new Joker shot Harry right into the eye of Hollywood’s movie-making machine – Los Angeles is a far cry from Cardiff, where Industry is made – as well as brought him toe-to-toe with two of its biggest stars: Joaquin Phoenix as the returning Joker, and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.
Joker: Folie à Deux, out everywhere 4 October, will arrive in cinemas just as Industry wraps its third season on screens (This time around, it’s occupying the coveted HBO Sunday primetime slot given to the likes of Succession and Euphoria.) But Harry bats off the suggestion that a new, more global kind of fame is coming his way. “I want to get better, and that is my only criterion for the future,” he says. “It was the same before as it is now.
“And I swear I am not saying this to be modest – but didn’t think for a second I had a chance of getting a job this big.”
When Todd Phillips first came on Zoom and said you’d been offered the part of Harvey Dent, what came to mind?
Funny thing: my agents knew what the part was, but didn’t tell me because they thought it wouldn’t help. I’m so grateful for that because I went in with a bit more focus and openness rather than anxiety. As for Harvey, I tried to play it as cool as possible. Don’t get me wrong, the name certainly carries weight, but I tried to take on Todd’s approach: that there was no point in [playing Harvey Dent] unless I felt I could take some ownership over it.
He was famously played by Aaron Eckhart in The Dark Knight, which is something of a touchstone for cinema lovers and comic book fans. There will be a generation of young kids that see you as their Harvey Dent.
I actually never thought of that before. That is kind of insane. I hope I haven’t let them down!
What is your most memorable recollection of telling the news to your loved ones?
I told one of my closest friends [I got the part] while we were driving in his car and he cried. I had never seen him [cry] before and I’ve known him since I was 13. I don’t want to make this about how happy everyone was for me, but it is such a moving thing to feel that kind of warmth from people you care about.
Do you recall how you felt before shooting started?
In the weeks leading up to the shoot, I was incredibly nervous, because you don’t want people to think they’ve made a mistake. I knew this was the biggest opportunity I’d had to date, which was pretty terrifying. Then, the day before shooting, I just told myself that this was too big to worry about. If I don’t enjoy this one, then what is the point? I might as well go home.
Did you meet Joaquin on your first day?
When I got to LA, they were already filming. I spent time around the unit base but didn’t even set eyes on Joaquin because he was so busy. Then I went in for my first day and the first time I ever set eyes on him was during my first take, when he walked into the room. It was a close-up of me [watching] him walk through the door. I promise you, I had never even seen him before that. The first time I saw him, I had a camera right on my face, and I just remember thinking: “There he is!”
“Lady Gaga had a presence, like some spirit hovering around us all”
There is a mythology around both Joaquin and Gaga, it must have been surreal to be in their presence.
Joaquin so fervently believes that everyone has a right to do their work and be protected and respected. He’s so popular because everyone can see how much their work is valued in his eyes. That’s what a film set should be. He showed me and my work such respect. He asked questions about how I do my job!
And Gaga was in the room that first day, but her character was watching it all from afar. I had the strange experience of acting while knowing she was watching me, but our paths didn’t cross [that day]. I knew she was there because she had a presence, like some spirit hovering around us all. The next day, she introduced herself and was so warm and generous. You’re meeting a global icon and it’s a bit surreal but she makes it feel very normal. Again, speaking about surreal moments, there were a few occasions when I got to be a metre away from her while she sang. I had a front-row seat to that experience. I kept thinking, how many people would pay loads of money to have that?
When did you first learn Ken Leung, who plays Eric in Industry, was in the film too? It’s an unexpected Industry x Joker crossover!
Oh my god! I only found out the day before because [my Industry co-star] Myha’la told me! My first shots were with Joaquin but my first line of dialogue was [spoken to] Ken. It made such a difference because the stakes were so high. The first time I had to speak on camera, I was speaking to someone I really, really love and have a huge amount of trust and admiration for. They just felt like safe eyes to look into. That’s always the case with Ken.
Was Todd aware of the connection?
No! [laughs] Halfway through the scene, he comes up to me and says: “Apparently you guys are in a show together?”
Tell me one of your favourite memories from the whole process.
Once on my lunch break, I was in my trailer, and the other best friend I chose to tell the news about Joker phoned me to say he just got a huge part in the West End. It had been a real slog for him the past few months. That time it was me who cried.
That was one of my favourite memories of doing the film, because I was in LA, this wonderland place for me, and I just thought: I can’t wait to go back to London and watch my friend in this play. It is nice to have [actor] friends who root for one another and champion each other’s successes, because it all comes back around.
Text: Rafa Sales Ross
Photography: Jake Evans
Fashion: Archie Grant
Grooming: Charlie Cullen