My Policeman star David Dawson is opening up about all that went into making him and co-star Harry Styles comfortable while preparing for the actors’ already-buzzy sex scenes together. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly at the movie’s Toronto International Film Festival premiere, the British theater veteran opened up about the intimate scenes in the movie, which follows his character Patrick, a young gay man, who falls in love with Styles’ Tom in 1950s Britain.ย
“[Director] Michael Grandage was wonderful in that respect,” Dawson shared. “He created a space that was full of nothing but support, and brought on a wonderful intimacy coordinator, and the four of us explored what we wanted those scenes to be, together.” Cast to work so closely together, Dawson said he and Styles had to get over the Grammy winner’s superstardom to build the trust they needed.
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“Me and Harry promised each other we would always look out for each other during it,” said Dawson. “I can’t emphasize the importance of an intimacy coordinator enough.” Meeting Styles for the first time was another important moment for Dawson, even if their introduction had to be virtual. “Because of COVID, we had to do our meet and greet on Zoom,” Dawson recalled, “The day Michael says ‘You’re going to be meeting Harry Styles on Zoom,’ [you think], How strange is life. Very quickly you have to get rid of the musician you knew him as before.”
Dawson said Styles and he connected easily, praising the One Direction alum’s down-to-earth nature. “He’s a good Northern lad like myself,” the actor says. “And we had the luxury of a three-week rehearsal process to build on that friendship and chemistry.” Styles has previously spoken out about filming My Policeman in a Rolling Stones interview, saying how important it was to the entire team to bring a kind of intimacy to the sex scenes. “So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it,” Styles said, noting that he and Dawson were attempting to create scenes that were “tender and loving and sensitive.” My Policeman will be in theaters Oct. 21 before debuting on Prime Video Nov. 4.
