The Real Reason Harry Styles Isn't In Dunkirk Trailers

If you've kept up with the flood of new Dunkirk trailers that have been released over the past few weeks, you've likely noticed a distinct lack of one of the film's stars: former One Direction member and up-and-coming actor Harry Styles, who plays a solider named Alex. Now, director Christopher Nolan has revealed the reason for his absence. 

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Nolan stated that he kept Styles out of trailers for Dunkirk because he didn't want to accidentally over-exaggerate his presence in the film. 

"We're not trying to oversell Harry [Styles] in the movie for the specific reason that it's an ensemble," Nolan explained. "We don't want people who are huge fans of his being disappointed that he's not in it enough."

The truth of the matter here is that no one actor is at the forefront of Dunkirk, despite it touting major players like Styles, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy, and even newcomer Fionn Whitehead, who promises to impress us all this year. As Nolan stated, Dunkirk is a collaborative effort and weaves together three distinct storylines led by Hardy, Rylance, and Whitehead. Plainly put, Styles as Alex is just a single piece of the puzzle, one that tells the story of the Dunkirk evacuation involving 400,000 soldiers, and it would be silly to heavily feature him in trailers.

Though he doesn't appear much in pre-release footage, Styles has been getting some seriously positive feedback for his work in the upcoming film. Early reactions applaud the singer-songwriter's surprising acting ability, and many critics have stated Styles' performance is amongst the standout ones in the whole of Dunkirk. 

Nolan himself had wonderful things to say about Styles' Alex as well. "I think what Harry does is extremely subtle because it's very real," the director told EW. "It's not cartoonish. It's not obvious. He really taps into the reality of the situation. It's a subtle performance. It almost risks being missed because what it's actually doing. I think it's a great character for him, and I think he did an incredible job."

Audiences can see Styles in all his silver screen glory when Dunkirk is released on July 21. Until then, check out the other movies you won't want to miss this summer.