Topics: Harry Styles, Emilia Clarke, Music, Film and TV, Florence Pugh, Emma Thompson, Christmas, Rotten Tomatoes, Shia LaBeouf, Money
Harry Styles has revealed there was just one reason he turned down a movie role which starred Emilie Clarke.
The One Directioner isn't camera shy, having landed several movie roles such as Dunkirk, Marvel's Eternals, and Don't Worry Darling.
However, the 30-year-old said he felt compelled to reject one particular call for a major role in Paul Feig's Christmas romantic comedy, Last Christmas, which had a dazzling cast from the likes of Game of Thrones' star, Emilia Clarke.
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The script, written by Bryony Kimmings and Emma Thompson, and named after the 1984 Wham! song of the same name, follows a disillusioned Christmas store worker, played by Clarke, who falls in love with a man, as per a good traditional festive romcom.
But Styles turned down the role of the mysterious man, which was instead played by Henry Golding.
The movie grossed $123 million after its release in 2019 but suffered some rather hit-or-miss reviews, scoring an average 46 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
But it wasn't the script that turned Styles off from taking on the role. Instead, he confirmed he simply felt too 'young' for the part, reports The Mirror.
Director Feig also said he hoped he would work with the 'Watermelon Sugar' hitmaker on the movie.
He said: "I love Harry. We wanted him to play the part that Henry Golding played but he turned it down because he felt he was too young for the role. I've tried to get him in a few movies."
Styles, whose last film role was My Policeman in 2022, allegedly went on to replace another high-profile actor in a different movie just three years after rejecting Feig.
The thriller-mystery, Don't Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Florence Pugh, reportedly had Shia LeBeouf in the lead role until he was sacked, with rumors of an alleged feud between the Transformers star and Wilde.
LaBeouf denied ever being fired from the position but nonetheless, Styles took on the lead role as Jack.
The movie didn't do so well as Last Christmas, grossing $87.6 million and scoring an average 38 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Styles, who happened to be dating Wilde at the time, also admitted during a press conference that he had 'no idea' what he was doing.
He added: "What I like about acting is I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. Making music is a really personal thing. There are aspects of acting where you’re drawing from experiences a bit, but for the most part you’re pretending to play someone else. That’s what I find the most interesting about it.
"They can aid each other in a way. Any time you get to view the world through a different lens, it can help to create whichever way it goes. I find it really different. I think the fun part is that you never know what you’re doing in either one of them."
