“I grew up with very different male figures in my life. They had a lot of strength and also a lot of vulnerability, which was confusing to witness. Samuel in Babygirl and some of the other roles I’ve played have grappled with that—what it means to be a man and express yourself and your desires in certain ways.”
-Harris Dickinson, episode 398 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
To close out the holidays, our conversation with actor Harris Dickinson.
We discuss his latest role in Halina Reijn’s Babygirl (6:50), Nicole Kidman’s “disarming and generous” quality on set (9:27), and the exploration of masculinity in Harris’ roles— from Beach Rats (12:48) to Triangle of Sadness (13:03) to Babygirl (13:24). Then, we dive into the online discourse about his new performance (15:52), his upbringing in Walthamstow, England (17:10), and the early short films he made with his high school mates (20:20).
On the back-half, Harris unpacks his formative university years (24:45), his post-grad search for purpose, first in the military (30:20) then working at a hotel in east London (33:26), and the inspiration behind his forthcoming directorial debut (34:25). To close, we talk about the parallels between filming fight scenes (43:50) and intimate scenes (44:48) and the Charles Bukowski poem that keeps him creating (52:25).
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].
Show-notes:
- Watch Harris Dickinson in Babygirl, now playing in theaters.
- Stream more of his work in Blitz, The Iron Claw, A Murder at the End of the World, Triangle of Sadness, Where the Crawdads Sing, and Beach Rats.
- See the short film Harris directed 2003.
- Follow him on Instagram.
- Read the poem Air and Light and Time and Space by Charles Bukowski.
- For more talks, hear our conversations with Sebastian Stan, Dev Patel, Brit Marling, Hilton Als, and Nikki Giovanni.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi.
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