When the cast for the new Christopher Nolan movie was first announced, it was not the huge Hollywood stars appearing in Dunkirk who made the headlines, as there was another name on the cast list which raised a lot of eyebrows indeed. When it was confirmed that former One Direction hunk Harry Styles had been cast in a role in Dunkirk, many people questioned whether it was just a stunt to get more bums in seats.
Now though, writer and director Christopher Nolan has been talking about casting Harry Styles in Dunkirk, claiming that he was not all that familiar with who the young star actually was. As well as that, Christopher also went on to compare casting Harry in his new movie, to when he cast Heath Ledger in the role of The Joker in The Dark Knight, and we all know how that turned out.
Nolan explained, "As a director, I have to trust my instincts, my ability to figure out who's the right guy for the part. I'm not too worried about baggage. I was new to Harry. I mean, I've heard his name from my kids, but I wasn't really familiar with him."
He added, "What I was seeing [when he auditioned] was a very charismatic guy who clearly had a truthfulness and a subtlety in his ability to perform as a film actor. When I cast Heath Ledger as The Joker, it raised a lot of eyebrows and caused a lot of comment. I have to trust my instincts, and Harry was perfect for this part."
Dunkirk is set to hit the big screen on July 21 in both the US and the UK.
