Harry Styles struggled with harsh realities of war in film debut

Harry Styles nearly buckled from the harsh physical demands of his debut film role in Dunkirk.

The pop singer cut off his trademark long hair to audition for director Christopher Nolan's star-studded war movie, feeling sure it would be a good project to launch his acting career.

But then the cameras started rolling and Harry found himself caught up in the Dunkirk landings with film stars like Sir Kenneth Branagh and Cillian Murphy.

"It was terrible for me physically," he tells WENN. "I think the thing was that everyone on set was incredibly aware of however tough it got for us, it was nothing compared to what really happened.

"In telling the story there wasn't really any room for personal discomfort or complaining. It's also impossible to complain on a set where your director is going through the exact same thing as you.

"He's not in a tent. He's in the water with you, he's in the sand with you, he's cold; he's the first one there and the last one to leave."

Harry admits all the discomfort and the hardships on set were worth it and he's still glad he took a supporting role in a Nolan movie to kickstart his film career.

"When I first heard about Chris making this film I was kind of already excited to watch it," he adds. "It would've been excited had I had absolutely no involvement.

"Being on Chris' set, he's so passionate about it and it's so infectious. He creates this environment where everyone, including cast and crew, has one focus and it's doing the best for him and the best for the film and making it as good as it could possibly be... Chris has this way of not really controlling you, so you feel as natural as you possibly can. I felt really lucky to be on the set."

Castmate Mark Rylance was also impressed with director Nolan's filmmaking: "Sometimes, in modern films, the director is a hundred yards away in a tent, hopefully not playing on their Game Boy," he smiles. "I have been in films where the director doesn't even watch what you're doing. Chris felt very much there with us... You felt him there emotionally with you and he was very observant to what was organically happening."