Harris Dickinson has heard ‘deeply inappropriate’ comments from some of his female fans after watching his erotic drama Babygirl.
The 29-year-old actor appeared alongside Nicole Kidman in the boundary-pushing 2024 movie, in which he played an intern who embarks on a messy but hot workplace affair with the Australian star’s tech CEO based around power dynamics.
Since then, his star has gone stratospheric, with his name regularly being mentioned in the conversation as a candidate to be the next James Bond, as well as his casting as John Lennon in Sam Mendes’ ambitious four-part Beatles biopic project.
But Harris has witnessed a dramatic change in the behaviour of some of his fans since Babygirl, which he admitted was ‘a big part of that that I really didn’t enjoy’.
‘Speaking openly, I’m proud to be a part of that film, I love Halina [Rejin, the writer, director and producer] and working with Nicole was the most exciting thing for me,’ he told The Happy Sad Confused Podcast in an episode that dropped on Thursday.
The Iron Claw star, who is about to release his directorial debut with Urchin, which he also wrote, said ‘the way the fans reduced some of it was quite strange’.
‘I think it’s OK to do this to male actors, weirdly. That’s the problem. I think it’s become OK and acceptable to do that to younger male actors,’ he pointed out.
‘For example, I get a lot of women say things to me that are deeply inappropriate.’
One interaction he recalled was a female fan on a plane, inspired by a scene in the film, asking: ‘Can you dance for me?’
‘Then she’s like, “Oh, you won’t believe what I was [doing] when I watched that film. I won’t say the rest.” And it’s like, that is not okay! I don’t want to know about your sexual experience with this story. It is odd,’ he added.
Harris often heard ‘completely unacceptable’ remarks during the Babygirl press tour too, which he says now he had difficulty coping with, including during Q&A sessions after screenings.
He revealed: ‘You’re expected to just laugh it off. And I think that’s why I struggled with that experience.’
Harris added: ‘People could say, “Oh, well, you did a film that you knew was going to be somewhat erotic,” and it’s like, yeah, but the film that we made and the approach that Halina spoke about, for me, it was something way more unique.
‘It wasn’t a reductive thing in my mind. I guess you can’t control the perception of it and the way that people want to talk about it and the narrative. But it is a strange thing, and I feel like I’m constantly rejecting that a little bit.’
Earlier this year, Harris explained that he isn’t very comfortable with ‘being desired’.
Asked if he’s comfortable with ‘rampant objectification’, Harris told The Independent: ‘Not very. That was a very quick answer. I mean, I’ll take it with the right filmmaker.
‘I’m not really afraid of showing my body and stuff. I was raised to, you know, love yourself, love your body, be proud of it.’
But despite this, Harris felt self-conscious about his appearance during his younger years.
The actor shared: ‘I was a really chubby boy, right? And I didn’t shed that until I was in my late teens. So I’ve always got that in my mind, and I don’t think that ever leaves you.’
In terms of Bond, four long years after Daniel Craig’s last adventure as 007, No Time to Die, was released it’s been reported that casting for his replacement will finally get underway in 2026.
Bond 26 director Denis Villeneueve plans to complete work on Dune: Part Three before diving into the process, with a source telling Deadline that he and his collaborators are looking for ‘a fresh face’ for the part.
It is also understood that James Bond will remain male and be played by a British actor, as written by the spy’s creator, Ian Fleming.
Urchin releases in UK cinemas on Friday, October 3.
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