Today, director Olivia Wilde posted an incredible black and white image of Harry Styles on Instagram. No, it wasn’t a confirmation of the rumours they’re dating… unfortunately. In fact, her caption offered a searing glimpse into how bleakly misogynistic Hollywood still is – all through a tribute to Harry.
Harry has just wrapped production of Don’t Worry Darling, a psychological thriller directed by Olivia starring Florence Pugh as the lead. It’s said to centre on the life of an unhappy housewife in the 1950s, and quite frankly, we can’t wait to watch it. We’re waiting with baited-breath for Florence’s performance, the award-ceremony speeches that will likely come after it too. But according to Olivia, films like Don’t Worry Darling are rarely made without men like Harry. That is, men who embrace playing smaller roles in films about the female experience.
‘Little known fact: most male actors don’t want to play supporting roles in female-led films,’ Olivia wrote on Instagram. ‘The industry has raised them to believe it lessens their power (i.e financial value) to accept these roles, which is one of the reasons it’s so hard to get financing for movies focusing on female stories. No joke, it is harrrrrd to find actors who recognize why it might be worth it to allow for a woman to hold the spotlight.’
Harry taking on the role with ‘humility and grace’ is a rare occurrence in Hollywood then, and for Olivia it’s cause for celebration. Of course, any woman reading this has likely rolled their eyes by now. Really? Is a man happily taking a supporting role, without throwing a tantrum or demanding larger pay, really cause for celebration? Is the bar that bloody low?
Well, roll those eyes right back into place ladies because yes, it clearly is. The reaction to Olivia’s post has been mixed. Harry’s ever-obsessed fans have relished in yet another example of his brilliance, while over on the other end of the ‘omg-have-we-not-moved-past-this’ camp women are screaming that it we shouldn’t be handing out cookies for bare minimum behaviour.
But frankly, there’s validity in both. Yes, it’s absolutely disheartening that we’re still celebrating men (as amazing as Harry styles is) for doing the bare minimum– excruciating even, for those of us that fight against misogyny every day and are crying out for drastic change – but if a director like Olivia Wilde is doing it, we don’t need to cancel her, we need to sit up and listen harder.
Olivia being impressed by Harry says more about men in Hollywood than her.
Olivia has been active in Hollywood for near 20 years, directing for the last few, and if she’s still wildly impressed by a man accepting a supporting role without throwing his toys out the pram – that says more about men in Hollywood than it does about her. Particularly, since a supporting role is exactly what one would expect of Harry given it’s only his second stab at acting, no matter how excellent he was in 2017’s Dunkirk.
What this tells us that men in Harry’s position, with global fame and devoted fans, are typically… awful. One can only imagine what Olivia has seen from others like him to be so impressed by a man that simply respects women. Because that’s really what she’s saying isn’t she, that Harry is actually the blueprint.
In part, it’s because he is Harry that it’s likely she posted the tribute without thinking of how it might appear to women tired of sexism. We know Harry is a feminist, we know he goes out of his way to correct misogynists – as far back as his early One Direction interviews – and we know he constantly goes above and beyond to raise awareness (and more importantly, money) for a number of different causes that help women, minorities and beyond. He doesn't just talk the talk, he's proven he walks the walk, rewriting the rules of masculinity as he goes.
Yes, in this instance, her wording may be annoying, her celebration of him being a respectful human being might be frustrating, but all in all, pointing to him as an example of how men SHOULD behave is completely valid. We should be lauding Harry as someone our sons should look up to, he should be the one fellow Hollywood celebrities see as an example. His actions alone should be changing the way people work on set, changing people’s expectations of male celebrities in general. We need not praise all men for doing the bare minimum, but when it comes to creating positive male models – the mere example of his existence could be the difference between a man being an arsehole or… a Harry.
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