IN CONVERSATION WITH HARRIS DICKINSON
Harris Dickinson makes his feature film debut with, URCHIN, a movie that follows Mike, a rough sleeper in London who's been trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around. We spoke to Harris via zoom about his Prada ambassadorship, working with Ruben Östlund and Halina Reijn, discovering Little Tokyo Table Tennis, growing up with skate culture, and so much more.
Hagop Kourounian: Harris, welcome to In Conversation with Director Fits.
Harris Dickinson: Hi, man. What's up?
Hagop Kourounian: Excited to be talking to you. Thank you for taking the time. I’d love to start off by asking you about your own personal style and your relationship with clothing. How much time do you spend thinking about clothes? How did you develop your personal style?
Harris Dickinson: I guess skate culture has played a big role in my style. That was important to me when I was younger. I guess it still is. I don't know, but now it's interesting, I'm in a position where I'm fortunate enough to be dressed and get clothes made for me. It makes me explore different avenues of fashion. I like it. I think it's an art form and I think it's an expression. I think it's also like a shield for people and it represents communities and pockets. I think that my own consideration of clothes in general is probably not ultra-considered. I tend to wear the same things over and over like I've been wearing this hoodie for like six months. I'll probably then get a new hoodie and wear that for a year. When you're a kid and you get a new pair of jeans and then you rock them until they're so old, I think that's kind of my vibe. But I don't know man, I'm not necessarily someone who keeps up with fashion. I don't think I'm in with trends and shit. Not to sound like Steve Jobs here or whatever, but I like the fact that I have somewhat of a uniform and I don't really have to think about what to wear every morning because that much thinking is a bit too much for me. Yeah, it takes decision out of it.
Hagop Kourounian: I kind of grew up around the skate world a little bit as well. I'm curious if there are any brands in the UK that you were influenced by growing up?
Harris Dickinson: I mean, honestly, when I was like 11 or 12, there was nothing cooler than a pair of black skinny jeans and a pair of Vans. You know what I mean? That was the era where that was really fucking popping. Then it started to get a bit baggier and you started to get into the chunky DC's. They were skate shoes, but they were also fashionable. Slam City Skates in central London was the melting pot of different streetwear brands and skate brands. I remember going in there always and never being able to afford stuff. I love what Palace is doing. I love what Stüssy is doing. I love what Yardsale is doing. Martine Rose too. I have appreciation for it. I wouldn't necessarily wear some of it, but I can still appreciate it from afar as a medium. So I think that is kind of where I'm at with it.
Hagop Kourounian: A large part of this page is focused on looking at BTS photos of our favorite film sets. These photos are a big part of establishing the myth of a film and keeping its legacy alive in cinema history. With that being said… How did you typically get dressed for a day on set? Wardrobe wise, was there any added pressure with this being your directorial debut?
Harris Dickinson: I honestly think I was just dressing practically. I was wearing whatever. I knew that I was going to be hunched down on the floor in the street, so I wasn't wearing things I cared about too much. I was wearing comfortable trainers, always a good coat. London was kind of chilly at the time so I had a coat with lots of pockets and I could keep all my shit in. I don't know if I was ever presenting as a choice. It was really just like wake up early, throw shit on and then make sure it's kind of practical in a way.
Hagop Kourounian: From Ruben Östlund to Halina Reijn to Joanna Hogg to Danny Boyle to Sean Durkin you’ve worked with an incredible list of directors in your career so far. Have you taken away anything from your experiences on their sets that you’ve applied to your own set?
Harris Dickinson: I learned a lot from all of those jobs. Starting with Joanna Hogg, she's someone who does a lot of improvisation. That's not necessarily how we worked, but she's really collaborative and free in her approach. She lets the cameras roll for a long time. I think a lot of great stuff can come from that. We did it a little bit on URCHIN, but we were more scripted and it was more structured. But there were times where we had sort of openness and time to play. So that's something that was interesting. Ruben's someone who I learned a lot from, he's so considered and he fights hard to get the right take no matter what. I think that resilience is something I took away from that experience. The idea that you don't settle and keep going until you've got the right thing. Halina was the same. Halina is kind of an actor director as well. She's someone who was really important in my development as a director as well, because I was finishing Babygirl as I was about to start on my film. So yeah, Halina’s been really helpful to me. She still is. So yeah, I'm lucky, man. I've been really fortunate to have crossed paths with really incredible artists working at the top of the game, you know.
Hagop Kourounian: I read something that Halina was getting kind of emotional at the Cannes premiere of your film. So that's very cool to hear you say that about her. I think between her and Joanna, they're some of the best dressed directors we have right now. I love their style. Halina especially looked so good while making Babygirl, all The North Face stuff she was wearing and the snow boots were so cool. I've been trying to get her on this interview series. Maybe for the next one…
Harris Dickinson: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm going to tell her about it.
(At this point Harris immediately proceeds to take his phone out and record a message for Halina Reijn from me…)
“Halina, I'm doing a Director Fits interview and the guy wants to tell you about your swag.”
Hagop Kourounian: Hi, Halina, you're one of the best dressed directors we have working today. We got Harris on the interview series, your next! I'd love to have you! All love from LA!”
That was so awesome, thank you… I wanted to touch on Triangle of Sadness for a second. I know it's been a couple of years or whatever but there's a scene in that film that I always think about. It’s towards the beginning where we're looking into your character's career as a model for a second. There's a photographer taking photos of him and he's kind of directing you to go between this Balenciaga type mogging face to an H&M type smile. I'm curious how you as an actor differentiated the looks between those brands or if Ruben mentioned anything specific.
Harris Dickinson: Ruben spoke a lot about luxury fashion brands historically wanting to present a version of inaccessibility in clothing and modeling and the way that H&M is more broadly commercial. It was kind of a satirical thing around high fashion and the kind of moodiness of a lot of those campaigns, you know.
Hagop Kourounian: Touching back on fashion for a second. You’re now an ambassador for Prada, a GQ Man of the Year, front row at Calvin Klein. Raf Simons has taken a liking to you, you've been following him around a bit with the brands he's been jumping between. But I'm curious what it's like to kind of be embraced by the fashion world as somebody who identifies as someone who doesn't wear that kind of high fashion all the time. Even when you're dressing for Prada, it's a little bit more reserved of a look.
Harris Dickinson: I think I've been lucky with the brands that I've worked with. Prada has always allowed me to choose the clothes I like. I think it's about comfortability as much as anything because you can see when actors or performers get dressed in things they're not comfortable in. For me, it has to be that way. I'm grateful for it, man. I'm grateful for those kinds of relationships. It all feeds back into film as well. Those things are kind of expected to be linked. There's so many times you see people styled in things that just don't suit their personality and it kind of makes them look a bit goofy or just a little weird. But I’m about authenticity. I'm not a garish person. So I can't try and represent that within clothes because they would feel inauthentic.
Hagop Kourounian: In your new film, the main character, Mike, is invited to a night out with coworkers and the dress code is deemed as “sexy.” He then goes to a thrift shop to pick out some clothes and is drawn to a pair of snakeskin loafers. I even saw you posted those loafers in your BTS recap on Instagram. But I'm curious why those loafers, what was that decision process like? And how can something like a pair of snake skin loafers uplift your mood and make you feel sexy or confident for a night out?
Harris Dickinson: Well, my stepdad used to wear a pair of snake skin loafers exactly like those when he first met my mom. I remember thinking, God, they're really cool but I never ever would have had the confidence to wear them myself. Now I think a lot of brands are kind of embracing that style. So when we spoke about the costume design with Cobbie Yates, who's incredible, who designed the film, we were just talking about how much knowledge Mike had around clothing and how did he understand his own taste and did he have any kind of preference? Or was he just happy to try anything? I think when the woman brings them out, he thinks, oh, yeah, great. I'll give them a go. And they are actually kind of iconic. But in the film, his idea of what it means to look good is still being discovered. His vanity is very much a new thing. And it's getting in touch with his body again and getting in touch with his sexuality again.
Hagop Kourounian: It's a wonderful scene, man. I really loved it. Maybe one day you could pull off the snakeskin loafers yourself.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I have to, man. I have to.
Hagop Kourounian: I'm curious if you've ever looked at the way other filmmakers dress and if you think any of them dress particularly well or have inspired your wardrobe, maybe even while directing or on the red carpet.
Harris Dickinson: Sofia Coppola is always looking pretty swaggy. John Cassavetes was always dressed very well. Who else? Benny Safdie has got a good swag. He's got cool trainers on. PTA's had pretty good swag.
Hagop Kourounian: Cool, man. I have to ask one more question and being from LA I have to ask this one. There's a photo of you with Werner Herzog at the Telluride Film Festival just from a few months ago and you're wearing a Little Tokyo Table Tennis hat. I went to the first ever iteration of LTTT and have watched it turn into what it is today. I've watched that hat go from something that Tuesday night LTTT regulars would wear to now it's become somewhat of a statement fashion piece. I'm so curious how that hat got on your radar. Where'd you get it from? Where'd you hear about it from?
Harris Dickinson: I just got it from their website, man. My mate, Dan, who is very much tuned in to street wear and fashion was wearing the hat and I was like, bro, where's that from? Tell me right now. Then he sent me the website and I bought two. My girlfriend always steals one of them. I didn't know they had a shop in LA.
Hagop Kourounian: Yeah, next time you're in LA check out the shop. It's in a great part of Little Tokyo and then on Tuesdays they host the actual table tennis nights.
Harris Dickinson: I’ll be in LA tomorrow so maybe I'll do that.
Hagop Kourounian: The people that make the LTTT merch also run a great brand called Poche Studios, which is why the hat is so well designed and so beautiful.
Harris Dickinson: I’m looking it up now, I got it.
Hagop Kourounian: Thank you so much for the time, Harris. I really appreciate it. Big fan of the film, can't wait to see what you direct next, and good luck with your John Lennon role. I'm excited to see that as well.
Harris Dickinson: Thank you, brother. I appreciate you.
