115Is a sensitive, delicately boned 23-year-
old from Leytonstone the Disney
prince 2019 needs? The signs are good.
On a grey London morning, Harris
Dickinson – until now, darling of the
independent-film world – is looking
and sounding refreshingly modern. He’s
sitting in a north London café wearing
an ink-black Burberry hoodie and sporting
a kind smile and shy gaze that imply a
welcome antidote to toxic masculinity.
How timely. As Prince Phillip (not that
one), in this month’s megabucks Maleficent:
Mistress of Evil (sequel to 2014’s Maleficent),
the breakout Brit is about to be seared into
the romantic fantasies of millions of tweens
around the globe. Playing the dashing son
of Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer), his
engagement to Princess Aurora (Elle
Fanning) appears to be the stuff of dreams- until the dastardly Maleficent (Angelina
Jolie) and her cheek prosthetics wreak havoc.
Harris is mindful of princely duties
beyond smooching and swashbuckling.
“Role model?” he ponders, in a feather-light
Cockney accent. “I don’t feel very regal, so
I tried to make this character something kids
would look at as realistic, rather than the overly
saturated, society constructed versions of relationships,
and of men.” The worst thing, he says with a grimace,
would have been to play it as a “saviour”.
In fact, future PhDs may be written on Dickinson and
the post-woke evolution of man-on-screen. Thanks to
a rare gift for carrying long solo scenes, he’s earned
comparisons to a young Ryan Gosling, and has a non-
thespy backstory to boot. The son of a hairdresser and a
social worker, for much of his teens he was a devoted
cadet intent on joining the Royal Marines. A foray into
school plays led to youth theatre, an agent and – after
videoing his audition on an iPhone in his bedroom –
being cast in his first lead role. The film was 2017’s indie
smash Beach Rats, in which he played a gay, working-class
teen haunting the boardwalks of New Jersey. He was in
every scene, mostly silent, and received rapturous reviews.
His next trick? The part of a manipulative criminal in
County Lines, a chilling film about urban dealers using
vulnerable children to push drugs in the provinces. Then,
come February, he’ll make his gambit as a bona fide
Hollywood leading man in the Kingsman franchise. “I do
love it,” beams one of our brightest new stars, with a
touching lack of cynicism. “It suits me.” n
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is in cinemas on 18 October
Meet Harris Dickinson, the Disney prince with
a difference. By Giles Hattersley. Photograph
by Nik Hartley. Styling by Julia BrenardCharmed,I’m SUREMR VOGUEDIGITAL ARTWORK: LUCIE SILVEIRACotton shirt,
£790. Mohair
sweater, £455.
Wool trousers,
£640. Belt, from
£280. Patent-
leather shoes,
£675. All Prada.
Ring, Harris’s
own. Grooming:
Kota Suizu11-19-MrVogue.indd 115 09/09/2019 10:47