“I’m finding out we’re the same person — long-lost cousins,” Drew Starkey says to Harris Dickinson. Though the two have just met, at 31 and 28, they are indeed in the same unusual position: Both play the love interests of far more seasoned movie stars. Starkey was best known for Netflix’s teen drama “Outer Banks” before stepping into Luca Guadagnino’s surreal love story “Queer” as a quiet veteran who’s passionately pursued by a tenderhearted heroin addict (Daniel Craig) in 1950s Mexico City. And, directed by Halina Reijn, “Babygirl” imagines Dickinson as the intern of a prominent CEO played by Nicole Kidman. In both films, questions arise about which lover really holds the power. In real life, Starkey and Dickinson are finding their power, still reflecting on their school-play roots and learning to deal with the anxiety that comes with each new script.
HARRIS DICKINSON: I’m a bit full up. I had a lot of pancakes this morning.
DREW STARKEY: You’re a pancake guy?
DICKINSON: I was this morning. You’re from North Carolina?
STARKEY: Yeah, in a rural area. But strangely, I was surrounded by art growing up. How did you start?
DICKINSON: My mum was figuring out child care during summer, and there was a local drama school. We did “Grease.” All of the boys played Danny, and all of the girls played Sandy. How did you get into it?
Alexi Lubomirski for Variety
STARKEY: Just being in school plays. And then I went to college, and — [He looks at the table beside him.] Someone left their gum on the table.
DICKINSON: Someone very famous, probably.
STARKEY: I wonder who was in here last.
DICKINSON: Put that on eBay. You could pay off that college tuition.
STARKEY: But I went to college, like, “I want to take an acting class. It’s fun.” And a professor was like, “I think you could do this.”
DICKINSON: I was in the Marine Cadets for years as a kid, and even they were like, “Do you want to play the victim that we do our medical training on?” Then an acting teacher said, “Don’t join the military. You can probably be an actor.”
STARKEY: You’re a director as well, though?
DICKINSON: I’ve always wanted to direct, but it feels like two very different sides of me. When I’m acting, I need to be guided. I succumb to whatever world I step into.
STARKEY: Talking about guidance and submission, tell me about “Babygirl.”
DICKINSON: The script got sent to me, and I was like, “I don’t know if I can do this.” You tend to go to that place of “I don’t think I’m right” — to protect yourself, maybe. But Halina and I had a really long chat, and I knew that Nicole was on board, which was intimidating.
STARKEY: You and Nicole do such a good job of finding the humor in it. There’s something childlike about it.
DICKINSON: Nicole and I didn’t have a ton of time together. To not fully understand each other — there was an element of mystery between us that was helpful.
STARKEY: I didn’t meet Daniel until a month before we shot in Rome, at Cinecittà.
Alexi Lubomirski for Variety
DICKINSON: Where was the rest of it? Actually in the jungle?
STARKEY: No, the jungle was in a back lot. Dude, Luca was like, “I want these plants,” and they brought in thousands of pounds of dirt and built a jungle. Luca was very specific about how he wanted the world to feel. He sent visual references. Some photography; these paintings by Francis Bacon. With Daniel and I, there wasn’t a lot of conversation about the dirty word — “chemistry” — between us. It was just going for it. My heart was racing on the first day.
DICKINSON: Did you ask him about James Bond?
STARKEY: He just started talking about it. I got a lot of insider trading on that. It was really strange, because I’m watching this beautifully crafted, prepared performance, but also free of all inhibitions. I’m like, “What is he tapped into? Fuck! Let me lock back in.”
DICKINSON: I love the ayahuasca sequence. How long did it take?
STARKEY: It was over the course of a night, but the rehearsals for the dance, that was months. I’m terrible at it.
DICKINSON: I love to dance, quite frankly, Drew.
STARKEY: I know this about you. Many mutual friends, they all say, “Harris, he’s a dancer.”
DICKINSON: Daniel’s a good dancer, isn’t he? I’ve seen him at the clubs.
STARKEY: He can move his body.
DICKINSON: You have to really fall a few times. There’s a tendency, which I’m trying to work on, like, “I’ll just try and do it safe.” And then, “All right. I’m going to just be an idiot for a second.” Nicole’s like that. She’ll just try it.
STARKEY: Daniel’s the same way. They take the lead. You have permission to make a fool of yourself.