Don’t Worry Darling Harry Styles Accent Explained (it makes sense)

Harry Styles’ role in Don’t Worry Darling has sparked a lot of interest because we know him as a singer, as a pop star, and as a pop culture icon, but we’re not used to seeing him as a dramatic actor. Especially among some of the most professional top-notch actors of our time.  

In Don’t Worry Darling Harry Styles’ accent sparked a lot of discussions.

When the clip of him acting alongside the illustrious Florence Pugh with an accent that you couldn’t quite put a finger on was released, it was immediately assumed that Harry Style’s performance in Don’t Worry Darling would be a train wreck.

As an audience, we expected to see a pitiful performance from Styles as he embarrassingly tries to be taken seriously as an actor on screen. 

I can speak for myself when I say that I brought matches to the movie theatre, ready to roast this film alive. But it wasn’t long before I slowly packed my kerosene away, intrigued by the film’s suspenseful narrative and the surprisingly believable acting. 

I’m not a huge Harry Styles fan, but for someone who’s not a seasoned actor, he actually did a really decent job. Especially being surrounded by greats like Florence Pugh and Chris Pine, he held his ground and maintained a small yet meaningful presence on screen. 

So many people criticized Harry Styles’ acting from a few seconds on screen when in context, EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE.

The film’s director, Olivia Wilde, brilliantly justified Harry Styles British accent, especially considering that the role of Jack was initially created for Shia LaBeouf who is American. 

The role was very cleverly adjusted for the unexpected role substitution. And this is how:

*SPOILERS AHEAD!!!*

Don’t Worry Darling Harry Styles Accent Explained

Don’t Worry Darling follows Jack and Alice Chambers in marital bliss living in a vibrant, orderly utopian suburban neighborhood named Victory. Throughout the film, Alice begins to notice several cracks in their paradisiacal world. 

Several moments of suspense, psychological torment, and oddities finally lead us to the story’s big reveal. What is going on in this crazy world?

So apparently, this perfect world is all a simulation. None of it is real and the physical bodies of the residents of Victory are actually trapped in a laboratory staring at hypnotic images until they enter a dreamlike state where Victory is their new reality. 

The men of Victory know about the false reality of the Victory universe and drug their wives to join them in this world often without their knowledge or consent. 

For Jack, after losing his job, he felt worthless and turned to the soothing, manipulative words of Victory’s cult leader, Frank (Chris Pine). 

In the real world, Jack (aka Harry Styles) doesn’t say too much. He’s an insecure man with little confidence. But the little that he does say is spoken with a convincingly American dialect. 

At this point in the film, I thought – wait a second – there’s an inconsistency in the accent here. He’s been British sounding for most of the film, and now, all of a sudden, he’s able to do an American accent? Is this intentional?

Turns out that it is!

The accent switch is intentional. 

So then the question arises, why does real-world Jack have an American accent while Victory-world Jack has a somewhat British accent?

The explanation comes a few moments later in the movie when we see the doctors configure each participant of the Victory project for how they’d like to be in their virtual world. 

The computer begins to read off Jack’s list of configurations as the computer downloads his new reality into his mind. “Nationality: British,” the computer says, pretty much saying that Jack chose a more suave, confident, “exotic” version of himself to be represented in this dream world. 

In Victory, Jack is tall, handsome, clean-shaven, and British, unlike his frumpy, disheveled, boring American self. 

On the other hand, Alice (Florence Pugh), completely oblivious to this project that Jack has brought her into against her will, is an overworked doctor in the real world. Stressed, but ultimately living a life that she chose. 

Her alternate reality persona in Victory is the exact same as it is in the real world. No changes to the accent because Jack didn’t change a thing about her. 

Shifting back into the Victory world, Harry’s accent is somewhat consistently British, but his contrast to everyone else’s accent makes him seem a bit out of place. 

His questionable British accent still makes sense within the plot because his mind is battling between two different realities. He’s taken on this fictional British dialect but in truth, he’s American. The muddiness of his accent is the result of this psychological battle. 

All in all, keeping the narrative in mind, Harry Styles did exactly what he was supposed to do as Jack and he did it well. Zooming out a bit, the director, Olivia Wilde, cleverly pulled some strings to adapt the storyline to fit the new cast and make the film as a whole, a believable one. 

I think that many people went into Don’t Worry Darling having seen all the drama offscreen, the messy relationships between the cast, and the unpromising glimpse of Harry Styles acting and fully expected to hate the film. I know I did.

However, I watched the credits roll, surprised by how much I enjoyed that suspenseful ride. Mounds and mounds of slow, deliberate tension that built into a satisfying, well-worth-it payoff that mirrored other great films and series such as WandaVision, The Truman Show, and the Matrix. 

Don’t Worry Darling Is It Good? Yes, It Actually Is!

It’s genuinely very well done.

The world-building is phenomenal, the whispery soundtrack gave me chills, and the metaphors of suffocation within each scene are so artistic and beautifully portrayed. 

Even beyond the technical aspects of the film, the deeper themes of power & control brought about by manipulation and gaslighting were so tastefully dosed within the narrative.

Maybe because my expectations were so low, that’s why I actually enjoyed the film. I had no idea what this film was about, didn’t even watch any trailers, all I saw were headlines labeled DRAMA and DON’T WORRY DARLING. So much so to the point where I thought it was going to be a romantic drama film, not a flipping psychological thriller! 

I came to the theatre to revel in the messiness of Don’t Worry Darling and was instead surprised to see a film based on order. Chaos is the enemy of progress after all. 

In Conclusion…

In conclusion, although Florence Pugh carried this film with her presence, emotion, and skill and Chris Pine was terrifyingly mesmerizing in his role as well, Harry Styles’ accent and mannerisms held up adequately among the other actors and elements of the film. 

He really didn’t do badly and his character choices made for a believable and well-executed film.

Rating: 8/10

What did you think about Harry Styles’s accent in Don’t Worry Darling? What are your thoughts on other aspects of the film? Let me know in the comments below!

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Peace, love, and lots of popcorn,

IMO