Harris Dickinson’s directorial debut Urchin—premièring at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival—marks a kind of homecoming for the British actor. Set in East London, it is a story of precarity and drift that nonetheless brims with hope, humour and style.
A week after I interview Harris Dickinson, I get an amazing tip-off from a girl in a bar. I tell her about Dickinson’s anticipated feature film Urchin, which is set to première in the Un Certain Regard strand at Cannes Film Festival, and tells the story of Mike (Frank Dillane), a young man living on the streets of London. The girl, with bright eyes, responds that not too long ago she had been riding the 38 bus to Clapton Pond and had spotted the actor, discreet and dutiful, handing out food to the homeless community next to Dalston Junction station.
His directorial debut, Urchin is a film that is close to Dickinson’s heart—geographically, spiritually, creatively. Dickinson, who has built his acting career largely by playing Americans— Coney Island kid in Beach Rat, professional wrestler in The Iron Claw, tech intern in Babygirl—was born in East London and Urchin is filmed in its environs, from the streets of Dalston and the wasteland beneath the Dartford Crossing to City View Lodge, an almost-Lynchian hotel where Mike finds a job. Dickinson worked at the hotel himself when he was first auditioning for roles and trying to make it as an actor. “I’ve done a lot of those different jobs, and I wanted to anchor it in things that I knew,” says Dickinson, speaking from the garden of a house in Hackney, where we are shooting him with Dillane. It is the pair’s first interview and shoot—shot on film by our Creative Director Fatima Khan—on a hot afternoon a few weeks before Cannes officially launches the film into the atmosphere.
Harris Dickinson and Frank Dillane. Photo by Fatima Khan.
Urchin’s autobiographical colour does not distract from the main story. A man’s daily struggle to keep afloat, stay sober, find intimacy—make a life that is bearable. Those who have seen Babygirl, may remember seeing the Kes tattoo on Dickinson’s arm, after Ken Loach’s 1969 masterpiece of social realism. Urchin is similarly inked in the traps of poverty, the vicious cycle of precariousness where housing knocks onto employment knocks onto mental and physical health. Urchin, however, dodges any kitchen sink categorization, with regular comic relief (the man who comes down to the hotel lobby in the nude, the probation officer who wheels herself around her office in a wheely chair), Safdie-esque heist scenes, moments of magical realism and dandy-esque styling (charity shop snakeskin loafers and lime shirts, styled by Cobbie Yates). “We have to allow space for humour and levity, because these stories deserve that as well,” says Dickinson. A karaoke and drag racing montage set to Atomic Kitten is a particularly resounding moment of hope, where you might say Mike, however briefly, feels whole again.
A Rabbit’s Foot spoke to Dickinson about making his first film, finding the absurd in the everyday and why he wants to get behind British cinema. (Also: Read our interview with Frank Dillane here).
Kitty Grady
So how does it feel being on the other side of things?
Harris Dickinson
It feels good. It feels right. I’ve been making silly shorts and skate videos and sketches since I was like nine. I feel like directing has always been my first love really, and acting kind of came along and overtook it. I’m beyond grateful for that but I also couldn’t wait to do it properly like this. I’ve been waiting to make a full-length feature film forever. I’m ambivalent about what the film has turned out to be. I love it and I’m proud of it, but I also have no idea. My perspective of it was lost months and months ago. I’m too close to it.
Kitty Grady
Is there a kind of itch that’s scratched in directing that you don’t get from acting?
Harris Dickinson
Well I’d say it’s the start of an itch that I’m scratching, because now I just want to do it again and again because you feel all the mistakes that you make, you just want to do it again and again. The difference is, the sense of overall, not just control, but involvement and autonomy over ideas. Acting is wonderfully collaborative with the right directors, but you also leave your work with other people to handle. This was so heavily involved, which I loved and it challenged me in all the ways I sort of hoped for. It gave me a newfound respect for filmmaking because it takes so much time and commitment and you can’t walk away with it at any point. You can’t hide behind anything.
Kitty Grady
You worked in the same hotel that Mike works in, and you’ve done litter picking jobs like him. Is this an autobiographical film in some ways?
Harris Dickinson
No, but I think I anchored it in that. The film takes part in sections almost, right? So when he gets fired from the hotel, he moves onto the next job. And I’ve done a lot of those different jobs, and I wanted to just anchor it in things that I knew. When I applied for that job at that hotel, I copied someone’s CV and they hired me anyway. It was also someone that also worked at the hotel–they’d take anyone. They were really kind to me because they let me take time off for auditions. When I decided to write it, I thought well, it’s something that I know. It was no longer a hotel, it was temporary accommodation. They kindly let us redecorate it. And same with the litter picking—that exact park in London Bridge was where I used to work. Those bins were in my safe hands. They were my bins! It was a good anchor. Mike is far away from me, of course.
Kitty Grady
And where did that desire to tell this story—which is obviously very socially and politically-driven—come from?
Harris Dickinson
I really wanted to tell a story—a character study—of someone who was struggling, ultimately against themselves and against that very common cyclical behaviour that humans are capable of falling back into things really easily despite their best efforts, or despite support. It’s the story of how someone so vulnerable can so easily fall between the cracks. The film starts off in the world of homelessness—it travels beyond that—but my involvement in that community goes back five or six years. I was working at an outreach project in Walthamstow that I still work with, called Under One Sky. It’s a volunteer-led grassroots organization that goes out all over London and they do welfare checks and provide hot food and drinks and different services. We relied on advisors and invited people to scrutinize [the film] and that was key. But then certain things we let go, because this is cinema right? So there are certain things you have a responsibility to tell correctly, and then there are other things that we don’t have to. Like what’s the colour of a probation room. We’re not documentary. But the things that counted and mattered, we really investigated and brought on the right people to inform us.
Kitty Grady
I was quite surprised as a viewer at how joyful and funny the film felt. I loved the costumes and music. Can you talk about those elements in bringing the Urchin world to life?
Harris Dickinson
The main thing when we started this film—and I kept saying it to Frank and the crew—is that we had to allow space for humour and levity, because these stories deserve that as well. Like this doesn’t just have to be a tragedy or drama. We can allow space for a fuller, more humane depiction of this journey, and invite humour in because it was also a display of someone who is living fast, and trying to enjoy themself—even if that is to their detriment as well. Going full force at life, but ultimately that’s his pitfall as well you know. Comedy is important. The absurd in the everyday is also what interests me, as well, and I think we were trying to make each character imperfect as well. The probation officer who heats up her soup mid-meeting. There’s got to be an element where we are all kind of doing it wrong.
Kitty Grady
Do you think being an actor makes you a more empathetic director? I guess you worked with Halina Reijn on Babygirl, who is also an actor-turned-director.
Harris Dickinson
I’ve done it a few times. I worked with Xavier Dolan, who was an actor as well, and Henry Blake on Country Lines. He was also an actor many moons ago—I shouldn’t say moons ago, he’s not that old, but it’s been a while, I think. It makes you aware of what an actor needs. The foundation of it is making sure it’s a good environment for them to thrive in. That’s all I ever ask for. To feel safe. It’s a vulnerable job. So I just want to feel safe. I want to feel like I can try stuff and make mistakes. That was valuable to me as a director, having been on sets where that was working and where it wasn’t. What are the things that throw things off balance? What are the weak links?
“We had to allow space for humour and levity, because these stories deserve that as well. Like this doesn’t just have to be a tragedy or drama. We can allow space for a fuller, more humane depiction of this journey, and invite humour in because it was also a display of someone who is living fast, and trying to enjoy themself—even if that is to their detriment as well.”
Harris Dickinson
Kitty Grady
Now you are almost known for playing American characters. And this film, in a way, couldn’t be more different from the kind of Hollywood thing. It’s a very British film. Is this where your heart lies creatively?
Harris Dickinson
Particularly with a first film, and even with my short [2003 (2021)], I made it intentionally small and localised and very much contained because I didn’t want to overstretch. And same with the feature. It’s where I grew up. I love it here. I live here. I think I want to stay here and I want to get behind British cinema. I have a care and an interest in Britain. That’s not me saying I’m only going to make films in England, but this one happened to be that. Of course my life is different now. I live a very different life to the life I lived five or six years ago. But I’ll always make things—if anyone lets me make another one—about what I know and what’s close to me.
Kitty Grady
There’s obviously a lot of red tape in the industry. And especially, as someone from a working class background, what advice would you give to young filmmakers?
Harris Dickinson
It sounds obvious, but perseverance and patience. It took us a long time to get this financed. Every project is different and sometimes it’s about the way you speak about it. What is your intention with it? You have to really get behind it and convince people, you have to sell your idea. We had to go to Cannes and sell this idea over and over again. Six meetings a day. And if you don’t know what your film is, no one is going to make it. You’ve got to go in and be like this is what it is. Know the heart and know the message of it.
Urchin is premiering at Cannes Film Festival on 17th May. Read our interview with lead actor Frank Dillane here.
Credits
Creative direction and photography by Fatima Khan
Creative assistant: Kitty Spicer
Lighting: Laurence Hills
Styling: Karen Clarkson
Grooming: Sky Cripps-Jackson
Videography: Nathalie Ryan and Simao Baroseiro
Additional videography: Luke Georgiades
Special thanks to Molly Baker at Rapid Eye, London. Romilly Morgan, Lauren Southcott, Donna Mills, Emma Jackson
Frank styling: Outfit 1: Shirt, trousers and shoes by Bottega Veneta. Socks by Pantherella. Outfit 2: Leather tshirt, jeans and trainers by Bottega Veneta. Socks by Pantherella. Outfit 3: Shirt, tie, belt, trousers and shoes by Celine. Socks by Pantherella
