“I discovered we were the same person – long-lost cousins,” Drew Starkey tells Harris Dickinson. Even though the two have just met, at the ages of 31 and 28, they are actually in the same unusual position: they both play the love interests of more seasoned movie stars. Starkey was best known for the Netflix teen drama “Outer Banks” before stepping into Luca Guadagnino’s surreal love story “Queer” as a quiet war veteran passionately pursued by a kind-hearted heroin addict (Daniel Craig) in 1950s Mexico City. Directed by Halina Reijn, Babygirl imagines Dickinson as an intern for a prominent CEO played by Nicole Kidman. In both films, questions are raised about which lover truly holds the power. In real life, Starkey and Dickinson are finding their strengths, still thinking about the roots of their school play and learning to deal with the anxiety that comes with each new script.
Harris Dickinson: I’m a little full. I ate a lot of pancakes this morning.
Drew Starkey: Are you a pie man?
Dickinson: I was this morning. Are you from North Carolina?
Starkey: Yes, in a rural area. But strangely enough, I was surrounded by art growing up. How did you start?
Dickinson: My mother was thinking of childcare over the summer, and there was a local drama school. We did “grease”. All the boys played Danny, and all the girls played Sandy. How did you get into it?
Alexi Lubomirski for Variety
Starkey: Just being in school plays. Then I went to college, and-(He looks at the table next to him.) Someone left gum on the table.
Dickinson: Someone very famous, probably.
Starkey: I wonder who was here last time.
Dickinson: Put that on eBay. You can pay those college tuition fees.
Starkey: But I went to college, like, “I want to take acting classes. It’s fun.” And the professor was like, “I think you can do it.”
Dickinson: I was a member of the Marine Corps for years as a kid, and they would even say, “Do you want to play the victim that we do our medical training on?” Then one of my acting teachers said, “Don’t join the army. Maybe you can become an actor.”
Starkey: You’re a manager too, though?
Dickinson: I’ve always wanted to direct, but there seem to be two completely different sides of me. When I act, I need direction. I surrender to whatever world I enter.
Starkey: Talk about guidance and submission. Talk to me about “Baby Girl.”
Dickinson: I was sent the script, and I said, “I don’t know if I can do this.” You tend to go to this place where you say “I don’t think I’m right” – perhaps to protect yourself. But Halina and I had a very long conversation, and I learned that Nicole was on the plane, which was scary.
Starkey: You and Nicole do a good job of finding the humor in it. There is something childish about it.
Dickinson: Nicole and I haven’t spent much time together. Not fully understanding each other, there was an element of mystery between us that was helpful.
Starkey: I didn’t meet Daniel until a month before the shoot in Rome, at Cinecittà.
Alexi Lubomirski for Variety
Dickinson: Where was the rest? Actually in the forest?
Starkey: No, the forest was on a back lot. Dude, Luca was like, “I want to these Plants,” and they brought thousands of pounds of dirt and built a forest. Luca was very specific about how he wanted the world to feel. He sent visual references. Some photography; these paintings by Francis Bacon. Between me and Daniel, there wasn’t a lot of talk about the word The smut – “Chemistry” – Between Us It was like that and it had my heart racing on the first day.
Dickinson: Did you ask him about James Bond?
Starkey: He’s just started talking about it. Got a lot of insider trading on that. It was really strange, because I’m watching this performance that’s so beautifully prepared, but also so free of all inhibitions. I’m like, ‘What have I been tapped into? Damn! Let me lock it up again.’
Dickinson: I love the ayahuasca sequence. How long did it take?
Starkey: It was all over the course of one night, but rehearsals for the dance took months. I’m terrible at it.
Dickinson: I love dancing, quite frankly, Drew.
Starkey: I know this about you. “Harris, he’s a dancer,” say several mutual friends.
Dickinson: Daniel is a good dancer, isn’t he? I’ve seen him in clubs.
Starkey: He can move his body.
Dickinson: You have to really fall a few times. There’s a tendency that I’m trying to work on, like, “I’m going to try to do it safe.” And then: “Okay. I’m just going to be an idiot for a second.” Nicole is like that. Will just try it.
Starkey: Daniel is the same way. They take the initiative. You have permission to make a fool of yourself.
Production: Emily Ulrich; Lighting director: Max Bernitz; Setting the trend: Jill Mills