For Harry Styles and Phoebe Waller-Bridge fans, the new year couldn’t have started in a better fashion. Literally. On New Year’s Day, the world was gifted the Treat People With Kindness music video - which saw Phoebe and Harry dancing around the Troxy theatre in east London, dressed in show-stopping Gucci suits and matching argyle sweater vests. ‘You have no idea how heavy that jacket was!’ director Ben Turner tells Grazia. ‘It was like a suit of armour with all those crystals on it.’
The black-and-white video - which was filmed a few months before the first lockdown last year - was directed by brothers Ben and Gabe Turner of Fulwell73 Productions, who have worked with Harry since his days in One Direction, directing everything from perfume and car commercials to the videos for Drag Me Down and Steal My Girl. The pair were also behind the joyous video to previous Fine Line single Golden, where Harry ran around Italy's Amalfi Coast.
For many, the big TPWK questions are: how on Earth did the collaboration between Harry and Phoebe happen? And why were they dancing? Well, the answer is quite simple. Gabe and Harry had been watching videos of iconic old Hollywood dancers like ‘the Nicholas brothers, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’, but it was only after they both went to see Fleabag during its London West End run that the idea of Harry and Phoebe dancing together clicked into place.
‘One day, we were just talking about the videos we were watching. We thought the dance videos were really cool, so I said to Harry, "Well, what about you and Phoebe dancing together?"’ Gabe tells us. ‘And because we'd just been to the Fleabag show, he was like, "Yeah, absolutely."’ The rest is history. Harry then called the Fleabag actress, along with his choreographer Paul Roberts - and the pair were both keen to get involved. The directors say the process was very quick, and the shoot happened within one day.
Their working relationship was apparently ‘fantastic’, too. ‘The atmosphere on screen reflects the dynamic - it was just really good fun,’ Ben says. Gabe adds that he thinks Harry and Phoebe both had a mutual respect for each other. ‘From what I know, and I haven't really talked to either of them about it, I think they were both big fans of each other,’ he says. ‘I don't know how much Fleabag Harry had consumed prior to the day we went to see her, but I know that we both thought she was majestic.’
The song is all about kindness - and it seems Phoebe couldn’t have been a better fit with Harry’s ethos, as Gabe tells us the writer bought cake for those who worked on the video. ‘You know, you're not going to find two people in the industry as kind, thoughtful and welcoming as Harry and Phoebe,’ he says. ‘A lot of the time, as directors, you get a very privileged view of people - but you can see the people who really care about everyone. From Phoebe, buying cupcakes for the entire production crew, to Harry… On every single shoot I've ever been on, Harry has made every person, from the runners upwards, feel 10 foot tall and a part of the process.’
This obviously reflected well on the atmosphere on set. In fact, both directors, who usually don’t bring their children to work, decided to take their kids (at the time, all under the age of five) on set. ‘Everyone there felt like they were involved in something really special, and felt really privileged to be there - including Harry and Phoebe,’ Gabe adds.
As Harry has found a more ‘authentic voice’ since his time in One Direction, the process of working with the star has changed quite a bit. But the directors couldn’t be more positive about the boyband and its breakout star. ‘We started with Harry back in the One Direction days,’ Ben says, ‘so that creative process has blossomed since then.’
‘Harry is on this great vein of form, and to be able to support that is great,’ Ben continues. ‘He's got brilliant tastes, and a sensibility that clearly not many people have. And so helping to [grow] that talent is phenomenal. As directors you tend to take a lot of credit for the creative direction, but a lot of your job is helping [the people you work with] be as brilliant as they can. And when you're starting from that level, with him and Phoebe? It's gratifying.’
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