Ben Hardy Talks ‘Unicorns’ Role, Career Path: ‘Acting Is Very Close to Anthropology’

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran British actor Ben Hardy, whose credits include “X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Netflix’s “Love at First Sight,” is one of the leads in upcoming film “Unicorns.” Co-directed by BAFTA nominee Sally El Hosaini (“The Swimmers”) and her long-standing collaborator James Krishna Floyd, from a script written by Floyd, the film follows a queer South Asian club performer (Jason Patel) living a double life who meets Luke, a straight, single-father mechanic, with whom unexpected sparks begin to fly.

Hardy, who plays Luke in the LGBTQ+ romantic drama, was drawn to the project by the unique story and the opportunity to work with director El Hosaini. “It was a challenging role for me, something I’d never played before,” Hardy said of portraying Luke, a working-class mechanic who enters the world of “gaysian” clubs in London. “We spent hours and hours going through Luke, going through the script and story,” Hardy said. “To the point where we got to day one, I knew this story inside out.

I feel like I really know this world and this story, and I’m ready to play it.” Hardy initially had reservations about the co-directing arrangement, as he had signed on when El Hosaini was the sole director. “I was a bit like, ‘You guys [are] going to be arguing the whole time, how’s this going to work?'” Hardy said.

However, his concerns were quickly dispelled. “They’re a couple in real life and their dynamic just seems to work. They have a good balanced relationship on set and offset.