Harris Dickinson & Drew Starkey Talk Developing Chemistry With Nicole Kidman & Daniel Craig
Harris Dicksinson and Drew Starkey opened up about their experiences working with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig on their new movies.
The 28-year-old Where the Crawdads Sing star shares the screen with Nicole in Babygirl, and the 31-year-old Outer Banks actor develops a romance with Daniel in Queer.
With their dramatic plots and intimate scenes, the movies are two of the buzziest projects at the moment.
While participating in Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, Drew and Harris shared and compared their experiences working with their A-list costars.
Keep reading to find out more…
Harris revealed his initial response to getting the script for Babygirl, explaining that he had some hesitations at first.
“You tend to go to that place of ‘I don’t think I’m right’ — to protect yourself, maybe. But Halina [Reijn, the movie's director] and I had a really long chat, and I knew that Nicole was on board, which was intimidating.”
He continued, confirming that Nicole was already confirmed for the project, saying, “Which is always nice to read it with that in mind.”
Once he accepted the role, he and his costar didn’t have a lot of time to bond before cameras started rolling.
“Nicole and I didn’t have a ton of time together. In a way, I think that was quite helpful actually. To not fully understand each other — there was an element of mystery between us that was helpful,” he said.
He added, “It’s really two people playing and trying things out, and I think it needs that because there’s a lot of tension in it as well. And there’s a lot of tension around the idea of restraint and lack of liberation. SO you need that humor to sort of undercut it and find a way in that is truthful.”
Drew shared a similar experience.
“I didn’t meet Daniel until we were in New York, probably a month before we shot. I met him at the table read, and it was kind of the meeting and then we just jumped into reading it out loud,” he recalled.
How did they work out their scenes?
“There wasn’t a lot of conversation about how we wanted it to feel, or you know the dirty word… the chemistry between the two of us,” he said. “It was just kind of exercising and going for it.”
He stressed that Daniel was very inspiring to share a scene with, saying, “It’s amazing how open and inviting he is. And he looks at you as an equal, and he’s ready to share his own insecurities and fears about what we’re about to do. So you’re like, ‘Oh great, he’s in it with me.’”
If you missed it, Daniel recently explained why he would not have starred in Queer during his days playing James Bond.