Harris Dickinson on making the move behind the camera with Urchin, playing John Lennon and persistent Bond rumours

The film was partly inspired by Dickinson's community work – he's continually worked with the volunteer-led charity Under One Sky – but speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com the star reveals that other aspects of it were also based on some of his own experiences.

"[It] came from my own sort of proximity to people that were dealing with cyclical behaviour – rather than just addiction and homelessness," he explains. "It was a lot about trauma for me and how we navigate things when we've been through something quite extreme.

"So I guess that work was coinciding with a script that was already being developed and the idea evolved into something more specific."

The plan had originally been for Mike's story to be one half of a dual narrative, but Dickinson eventually decided that it worked better to put the entire focus on this one character – exploring "someone [who is a] similar age to me, kind of battling against themselves and testing the audience's level of tolerance for someone who's making difficult decisions and isn't always likeable".

"Just trying to build a full human picture of someone going through that, really," he says. "Then homelessness is the backdrop, rather than the main point for me."

Although on the one hand the film very much fits into the strand of social realism associated with iconic British filmmakers such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, Dickinson's film also takes a more experimental approach at times.

Throughout its runtime, we see several surrealist flourishes, and this was something he was partly emboldened to do after his experiences working with a number of skilled filmmakers as an actor.

" I feel like I've been lucky with all the directors that I've worked with and enjoyed," he says. "You know, Halina Reijn, Sean Durkin, Ruben Östlund, Joanna Hogg – all of them are directors that embrace the more surreal side of cinema.

"And I think I've always been interested in that as a viewer as well. So maybe it just feels like an extension of what I'm interested in and what I like to watch and how I like to experience stories. I think there's a certain naivety that gets you through it when you make it for the first time – like you don't have rules or expectations in place, so you kind of just go for it!"

Still, leaning into surrealism did also lead to some of the more challenging aspects of the filmmaking process for Dickinson. "Trying to get your vision across to a group of people is hard," he says. "It's like a really strange thing to have to try and convey something that is so lucid and un-concrete."

Clearly, it worked. The film was included in the Un Certain Regard section of this year's edition of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered to an extremely positive reception and even an acting prize for Dillane's central performance. It wasn't Dickinson's first time on the Croisette – but how different was it being there with a film that he'd created from scratch?

" I mean, being there with Triangle was overwhelming and special in so many ways," he recalls. "And then we went back the next year to look for financing for this film and had to do a lot of meetings where I was trying to convince people of the film.

"And then to be back there showing the film in such a prestigious way... yeah, it was special. For Frank to get the recognition he so deserved, that was a really meaningful experience and overwhelming. It kind of took me a while to fully understand what that meant!"

So where does Dickinson go from here? Well if you believe some internet rumours, he's one of Amazon's top choices to take on the long-vacant 007 gig – with his name frequently mentioned on lists of those most likely to take on the mantle in Denis Villeneuve's upcoming entry in the iconic spy franchise.

But when we ask him about this speculation, he – perhaps fairly – doesn't seem especially keen to be drawn on the subject. "I think there's probably about 50 to 100 people that get asked this question," he says. "So it doesn't feel necessarily unique or honourable to be asked it anymore."

There is one iconic Brit that Dickinson will be playing, however. It was announced earlier this year that he is starring as none other than John Lennon in Sam Mendes's ambitious quartet of films about the Beatles – with Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn and Barry Keoghan playing the other members of the Fab Four.

Filming has recently begun on the project, and Dickinson is certainly enjoying the process so far.

“ It's been amazing, man," he says. "It's such a unique experience to play someone of that calibre. I mean, it's intimidating, but it’s enriching. It's an opportunity to delve into something incredibly complex and challenging, which I've loved. I feel really lucky to go to work every day and get to attempt to dig into who and what that is."

The choice to make four different films – one from the perspective of each Beatle – has been met with criticism from some quarters, but for Dickinson this only adds to the appeal.

"[ It’s] inevitably longer, but I think that's what you want as an actor," he explains. "You wanna be able to spend a good amount of time on something and get a good opportunity to really invest in it properly. That's kind of the dream."

Interestingly, Dickinson did also give himself a small acting role in Urchin, playing Mike's somewhat unreliable friend Nathan. But this hadn't always been his plan: an actor had been lined up, only to drop out for personal reasons and – given he'd already been running lines and had a built-in dynamic with Dillane – he ended up taking the role.

Still, he can't imagine that future directorial efforts will see him double up in a main role.

" No, I don't think so," he says when asked about the possibility. "I admire people that can, I admire, the Fassbinders, Cassavetes, Bradley Cooper even. I just don't know if I've got it in me to do that."

So what can we expect from future Dickinson-directed features? "I think the tone of [this] film is probably something I want to carry across," he explains. "The level of humour and drama and sort of high stakes. But I don't know what that means for genre, really."

Of course, he'll have to balance any writing and directing efforts with an acting career that only seems likely to rise further. And on that note, there's plenty of filmmakers he's hoping he'll manage to collaborate with going forwards.

"I've got a long list that kind of changes and I'm adding to it," he says. He picks out Julia Ducornau (Titane), Justine Triet (The Anatomy of a Fall), Lynne Ramsey (Die My Love) and Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) as just a few of the names he'd like to tick off. "It's a long, long old list!"

If he can build on the promise shown with Urchin, it probably won't be too long until other actors are adding Dickinson's name to their own lists.

Urchin is now showing in UK cinemas.

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