Harris Dickinson, Lola Campbell’s Big Screen Debut Talks “Fun” “Scrapper” Shoots Ahead of British Indie Drama’s Sundance Debut

EXCLUSIVE: British actor Harris Dickinson’s international star has risen in the past 12 months thanks to his performances at the Cannes Palme d’Or winner triangle of sadness and the crime thriller produced by Reese Witherspoon Where the crayfish sing.

Just weeks after leaving the set of the latest production in New Orleans and Louisiana, the actor was back on the streets of East London where he grew up filming Charlotte Regan’s British indie drama in the summer of 2021. scraper.

Dickinson previously acted in Regan’s 2019 short film Oats & BarleyProduced by longtime collaborator Theo Barrowclough.

“I really wanted to work with these guys again,” Dickinson said. “I read the script and liked the story and saw Lola’s tape and thought it would be an interesting thing.”

The film, which will premiere at Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, stars newcomer Lola Campbell as Georgie, a 12-year-old girl who evades welfare to live alone in the house she shares with her recently deceased mother Splits.

The opposite of his fun model persona triangle of sadnessDickinson plays Georgie’s absentee father, who appears out of nowhere and upsets her carefully nurtured but fragile balance.

Regan identified Campbell as Georgie when she responded to a Facebook call for “some shit” after a friend of her mother pointed it out.

“I sent it off late at night. I talked a lot about how Mom loved [discount store] Home sale. She took me there every day and I love it too and then I scurried on for a long time. I don’t remember,” explains Campbell, who, like her character in the film, exudes an aura of being older than her.

“When I first read the script, I thought it was quite sad, but when we shot the film, I realized that parts of it weren’t sad.”

While the plot and setting suggest a dark social drama, the film has a magical-realist tone.

“It’s not your everyday social drama. It is a universal story about family that sums up what it means to be a child and an adult. I’m not a sentimental father figure who wants to come back… I come back out of necessity rather than desire. There was a lot of nuance to it and it was interesting to play,” says Dickinson.

Working with Campbell and young co-star Alin Azun was liberating, he adds: “It’s so much more fun to work with someone who hasn’t done much, even if Lola sometimes acts like she’s 40.”

Another attraction was the opportunity to work on an independent British film.

“I’ve been privileged to work since I was 20 and I’ve always aspired to be part of good British independent theatre. provincial lines was about the same size as this one and in hindsight was also a very important part of British cinema,” he says.

“It’s hard to find things that resonate with working-class stories. There aren’t many. I always try to find it. It was just perfect after a major American production was completed. It was what I really wanted, so it came at the right time.”

Dickinson is now on the set of Steve McQueen’s World War II drama lightningwhile Campbell is back at school.

“I want to continue acting,” she says. “I really enjoyed it, although I don’t think it will always be as easy as working with Charlotte, Theo, Harris and Alin. It didn’t feel like work, it felt like a waste.”