Harris Dickinson Unpacks ‘Urchin': 'I Wanted to Direct Before I Wanted to Act'

Yahoo

18-05-2025

Harris Dickinson and Frank Dillane can't help but giggle.
The pair are now closely bonded after shooting Dickinson's directorial debut Urchin, which Hollywood 'It' Boy Dickinson — soon set to headline Sam Mendes' Beatles biopics for Sony — describes as a miracle (seven times, in fact).
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The London-set film follows Mike, played by British actor Dillane, whom audiences might know best from Fear the Walking Dead, Renegade Nell or as a young Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Half Blood-Prince. We watch Mike, a drifter, sleep on the city streets and attempt to patch together his life while caught in the throes of addiction. In between working as a chef, litter-picker, and wrestling Dickinson on the ground, Mike relies on meditative tapes and his no-nonsense social worker to get sober.
'I think people's tolerance for stories like this is often low because they don't want to look at the other side of certain social issues,' Dickinson says of his Urchin. His inspiration was an 'amalgamation' of people he's crossed, but some introspective work was done, as well. '[He's] people that I'd worked with in the community and people close to me, and the darkest versions of the things we've encountered within ourselves as well.'
Dickinson, who most recently earned some love for his raunchy ride with Nicole Kidman in A24's Babygirl, recalls his last Cannes Film Festival. 'It was five or six meetings a day of me essentially begging for money and telling the story with my whole heart and trying to convince hungover, tired and bored execs of my wonderful idea,' he says of the time he spent on the Croisette in 2023.
Thankfully, for Dillane, the seemingly disinterested execs finally wavered. 'I was really excited by the prospect of the film and the story that Harris had created,' he tells The Hollywood Reporter. 'It's not necessarily, for want of a better word, a Hollywood story… It's about someone struggling with themselves and trying to own their demons.'
And so, despite the weighty material, began a love story. In conversation with THR, Dickinson and Dillane bro down about their time filming Urchin, which is part of the Un Certain Regard lineup and is being repped in Cannes by Charades. Dillane discusses what he expects from audiences who watch and root for Mike while Dickinson explains balancing Hollywood superstardom with his directing dreams and making a movie about an addict in an ever-precarious film industry and increasingly polarized world: 'I think stories like this are [getting] harder to tell and they're difficult subjects, and that's that still needs to be tackled within cinema.'
Harris, congratulations on Urchin. How far back does this film go for you, what — or who — inspired this character?
HARRIS DICKINSON I started writing it about six years ago. Mike was always a character in it, but originally it was a loose two-hander, a different form, but I really needed it to be Mike's story. And I think Mike, throughout the years, became an amalgamation of all different types of people that had crossed into and out of my life. People that I'd worked with in the community and people close to me and the darkest versions of the things we've encountered within ourselves as well, I guess. I just became really fascinated to try and tell a story about one man ultimately just battling with himself. Despite his and everyone else's best efforts to get out of a cycle. That then became the focus: 'How do we follow Mike and go on a journey with someone that is immoral and badly behaved and unkind, but also lovable and charming and trying to survive?' He constantly evolved up until we were working and then Frank brought him alive.
Had you worked with Frank before? Did he audition for Urchin, or did you always have him in mind?
DICKINSON Yeah, we auditioned Frank. I'd seen Frank years before. I don't know if I ever said this, but I'd seen Frank years before in [The Walking Dead spin-off] Fear the Walking Dead. I was always really fascinated by that performance, because I loved that series. I remember being like, 'Wow, this guy is really fascinating. And then I found out he's from the U.K. But I never encountered Frank at all. And then [casting director] Shaheen Baig had worked with Frank on something else, and she brought him in after a long period of us meeting people and trying to find our actor. I know it sounds like the thing everyone says, but we knew that Frank was the person immediately.
Frank, what was your first reaction reading Harris' script?
FRANK DILLANE I was really excited by the prospect of the film and the story that Harris had created, the themes he had instilled in the script were not the kinds of things you read every day. It's not necessarily, for want of a better word, a Hollywood story in some way. As Harris [said], it's about someone struggling with themselves and trying to own their demons, their humanity and trying to navigate their way through what it's like to be a human being in a difficult situation. So there was a certain amount of trepidation I felt. I felt a great responsibility to do this vulnerable character justice. And I really was just very excited about the prospect of working with Harris. I'd known his work as an actor, and similarly, was intrigued and taken with the way he approached his work. I remember in Triangle of Sadness… I mean, Harris just spoke about Mike [and said] he's a bit immoral at times, does things that are questionable, but ultimately we empathize with him. I remember thinking the similar thing with Harris's performance in Triangle of Sadness. And having seen Harris's [2021] short film 2003, I knew I had the possibility of working with a really serious and good artist.
We know Harris Dickinson the actor, but how would you describe Harris Dickinson the director?
DICKINSON Forced manual labor.
DILLANE [Laughs.] Well, first of all, he created a really safe environment for us to play and explore. He always was very clear that he wanted to experiment, and we would try different things. Harris was always very keen to approach the scene differently. He always kept a very close eye on things that I would maybe miss. In terms of one thing that I really struggled with this part, this film, was staying optimistic. The whole thing relies on Mike continually hoping, continually believing. And there were times when I found that difficult to believe and to hope, as the character, and Harris would always come by and instill a little bit of humor in the situation… I think we complemented each other quite well.
High praise indeed. Harris, you are a Hollywood 'It' Boy. You have Sam Mendes' Beatles biopics on your schedule, so how are you balancing the dizzy heights of superstardom with a project like Urchin, a British-produced film with a British cast and crew? Do you want to live in the best of both worlds?
DICKINSON Miley Cyrus, 'The Best of Both Worlds'. Sorry — look, I wanted to direct before I wanted to act. I've been making short films since I was eight, nine years old: skate videos, films in the forest, web series. And I think they've obviously coincided with each other in terms of just making stuff with other people. Once I made my short, I think Urchin took about four or five years to write and get made and get financed, but I was doing that on the side. Writing has always been something that I've quietly been able to do. There is a lot of downtime on set. And so I think it was the perfect complement to being an actor as well and having a desire to do a bit more. I don't think you can give yourself to that many characters at once. I don't you can do project after project after project. Of course, it seems like I've been doing more than I have. [But] I've only really done a project a year for the last few years. I finished Babygirl in February 2024, I came home to London, and then we were in [Urchin] prep from March. We shot in May, June, and I edited all the way until January, and then we were in post until February. So that was a full year of just Urchin, and that was exactly the way I wanted it to be. I made that very clear that that was my sole focus for that period. It's always going to be an adjustment for people who have seen me as an actor and know me as an actor, but for me, that's been my goal. And the dream was to do a full-length film, and hopefully, I get to do it again. If someone lets me, I've got something ready to go.
You've got an idea for your next movie?
DICKINSON Well, I've got the impetus and the passion to do something else. I've got an idea, but it's not worth talking about yet.
What is it that you get from directing that you don't get from acting?
DICKINSON There's a certain amount of collaboration, the early involvement in an idea from start to finish, that acting doesn't always allow. Really, specifically with Urchin, I wanted Frank to be a part of it from early doors. So we started working together from six months or so before we actually went into principal photography, because I wanted Frank's view into the film. But that's not always the case. I think with acting, sometimes you're sort of brought on, you get a couple of weeks beforehand, maybe you do a little rehearsal, you do your job, and then you go.
But a big part of directing is getting to build your own team, which is so satisfying, to surround yourself with amazing artists that support your vision and that look to you for answers. It's a dream because it really means you're exercising creative exploration, and you're getting to dig deep within yourself for ideas. Sometimes with acting, that level of intricate detail isn't always there. You go home and you continue to think about how it's going to work [with directing], whereas sometimes with acting on other jobs, I've had too much time to think, I've had too much time waiting around. I'm so grateful to act and I love it and I continue to do it, but this opportunity to lead, it challenged me in ways I've been looking for.
Though, of course, you are in this film as well, as Nathan. Have you been trying to keep that a little secret and why did you want to play that role?
DILLANE I had to tell him to play Nathan. He didn't want to.
DICKINSON We had an actor drop out and then it was too close to the shoot. We spoke to some other people, we offered it to a few people that didn't work out. And then after a while, I said to Frank, 'Hey, what do you think about me doing it?' Because we'd already been reading it as well, rehearsing a little bit and throwing it around. I never liked the idea of doing it, I never wanted to be in it. So we said, 'Okay, let's just go away and, like, forget about this for a second.' And then the next day, late at night, Frank called me. He was like, 'You have to do it.'
It was definitely fun getting to do Frank. We had a good time, and I think we already had that trust there. It was really crucial for that relationship. The crux of their relationship was the fact that there was history there. They were in it together at some point. And Nathan was supposed to be this example of how low things had got… There were days where we were like, with the big fight scene in the square, rolling around, and I'd be whispering things to Frank as we were rolling around on the floor.
DILLANE Sweet nothings.
How do you feel about Urchin premiering at a time when people like Mike, people on the fringes of society, are being shown less and less empathy by those around them or even the systems and governments built to protect them? We live in an increasingly polarized world, politically and socially, and Mike's interactions with others aren't always so kind. Is this story getting harder and harder to tell?
DICKINSON I think you're absolutely right. I think there are two sides of it. I think people's tolerance for stories like this is often low because they don't want to look at the other side of certain social issues. I don't see this film as a force-feeding of moral explanation or political judgment on how people should be. This is about the individual. This is about Mike's character and us gaining some insight into someone going through that. I think stories like this are [getting] harder to tell, and they're difficult subjects, and that's that still needs to be tackled within cinema, but the brutality of it is, and the confrontational elements of these themes are, always going to be difficult for people. They're always going to be precarious and harder to stomach. But that doesn't mean we can't tell these kinds of stories, and it gives us more responsibility to tell them with a full, human approach with humility and empathy around the rough edges.
Do you think Hollywood is becoming more risk-averse when it comes to telling stories like this, with such an emphasis on IP over original tales like Mike's?
DICKINSON I don't know. I think cinema is still pushing boundaries and still pushing the envelope of what's possible. If you're looking to bigger, tentpole cinema, that's not gonna break the boundaries of cinema, but I don't think anyone expects that of a certain kind of film. You have to look to different genres. I don't know. Maybe. It's a much bigger conversation, but it's also such a broad question. Because I still watch cinema that is confrontational and provocative and challenging, but maybe those sorts of films aren't in many theaters. It's weighing up the scale of what people want… And what people go and actually watch. It's a hard one.
Frank, what do you think Mike and Urchin might evoke in Cannes audiences?
DILLANE Well, I hope he makes people feel. I hope that people feel for him. And also, Harris alluded to this idea that Mike is ambiguous. At times, you may like him, or you might hate him. You may dislike the things that he does or the ways he behaves. But you know that there is a humanity to Mike that I think we all share. You take away from a human being certain essentials, like somewhere to live, or a family or a community that supports you — if you strip these things away and you're struggling with your own demons, anyone can end up in Mike's position. Mike is not a particular person. We all have a Mike inside us. There is the want to be loved, to be understood, to be accepted, the want of friends. We also have inside us feelings of being rejected, feeling upset, feeling hurt, maybe behaving in ways you wish you hadn't behaved. These are universal human traits, and I hope that the film humanizes us and, I'm worried about using this word, people who are maybe sleeping a little bit rough. People in worse situations than you. One thing that's very dangerous that we, as human beings, have to look out for is when we start to dehumanize people and start to imagine people don't have feelings, or people are not hurting or trying. It's much easier to sideline people if they are not human, but we are all human, and I hope that this story reminds me of our humanity.
Very eloquently put. And when you got the call that you'd be showing Urchin in Cannes, what was that like?
DICKINSON What's so wild is that we were at this festival two years ago [with] our producer, two other producers and taking meetings, trying to get the film financed. It was five or six meetings a day of me essentially begging for money and telling the story with my whole heart and trying to convince hungover, tired and bored execs of my wonderful idea. And at some point, you think, 'Okay, well, this film probably won't get made.' So then it's a miracle that it did. It's a miracle that we got through the shit every day. It felt like a miracle that we'd gotten it made, got it done, that Frank was alive and well and hadn't fainted yet. And then it was a miracle that we finished it. It's now a miracle that we get asked to present it at one of the most prestigious festivals where cinema is celebrated so widely and beautifully. made today, and we'd got, got it done, and that we'd, you know, Frank was alive and well. And that wasn't, you know, you know, it wasn't fainted yet. You know it was. And then, and then, of course, it's a miracle that we finish it. It's a miracle that, you know, we then get asked to present at one of the most prestigious festivals [that] celebrates cinema so widely and so beautifully.
Frank, have you been to Cannes before? Has anyone warned you on what to expect?
DILLANE I've never been. Yes, I've been warned of the overwhelmingness of it and the pressure and excitement. I don't really know what to expect. I've seen pictures and interviews and it's, as Harris says, it's a dream come true. I just can't wait to be there amongst all our peers and selling a film that I believe in.
Would you work together again?
DICKINSON Never!
DILLANE [Laughs.]
DICKINSON In a heartbeat.
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