Harry Styles took Don't Worry Darling "to another level", says director Olivia Wilde

Harry Styles and Florence Pugh in Don't Worry Darling

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

One scene in Don't Worry Darling got Harry Styles so amped up that he started delivering his lines in a "primal roar", director Olivia Wilde has recalled.

In the upcoming mystery flick, the Watermelon Sugar singer plays Jack, who, along with his wife Alice (Florence Pugh), lives in a utopian experimental community. The pair's relationship is threatened, however, when Alice starts to discover that her idyllic 1950s-esque existence isn't quite as perfect as it seems.

As part of a recent profile on Styles, Wilde remembered when they were filming a sequence that sees Jack get promoted by the his boss, Victory Project leader Frank (Chris Pine). "It's a strange scene, full of fascist references, and a disturbing amount of male rage," she noted in the new Rolling Stones interview. "The scene called for him to stand onstage with Frank and chant their creepy slogan, 'Whose world is it? Ours!' over and over again. Dark as hell. But Harry took it to another level. He was so fully in the moment, he began screaming the lines to the crowd. That was way more intense than anything we expected from the scene."

"The camera operator followed him as he paced around the stage like a kind of wild animal," Wilde continued. "We were all gobsmacked at the monitor. I think even Harry was surprised by it. Those are the best moments for an actor — when you're completely outside your body."

In the same piece, Styles suggested that he'll probably go back to concentrating on music for a while following the releases of Don't Worry Darling and My Policeman, as he's not a fan of the moments in between shooting when it comes to acting. "If that's the worst part, then it's a pretty good job," said the pop star. "I think there'll be a time again when I’ll crave it, but I don't find that section of it to be that fulfilling. I like doing it in the moment, but I don't think I'll do it a lot."

Don't Worry Darling also features Kiki Layne, Nick Kroll, Gemma Chan, and Wilde. It arrives on the big screen on September 23. While we wait, why not fill out your watch list with our picks of the best Netflix thrillers.

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.