By AJW
Having recently rewatched Challengers for the third time, I found myself admiring Josh O’Connor’s performance in comparison with what I first watched him in years ago: God’s Own Country. Both are racy but have significantly different levels of energy. Between the two films, he appears as two entirely different people, and it’s more than the time between they were filmed. He knows how to hold himself. He can appear smug or ashamed. He is weird and lovely, and his thighs captivate me.
While noting all this I was reminded of another actor who also happened to have humble beginnings in a fantastic indie film, one whose career I’ve watched closely for the sincere absurdity in it. Yes, Nick Galitzine, of that one weird Camila Cabello Cinderella movie and Anne Hathaway’s MILF Amazon film, was once in a little and truly well-done movie.
The year? 2016. The film? Handsome Devil. The soundtrack? My personal favorite. Handsome Devil takes place at an all-boys school in a place and time where different is bad and bad means outcast. Galitzine’s character becomes good friends with his new roommate, who embodies all that is different. Meanwhile, Galitzine juggles trying to keep his good standing on the school rugby team by covering up why he was kicked out of his old school. The movie is fantastic and I cannot recommend it enough (I quote “the ting, the ting!” probably daily). It’s a coming-of-age story with a great color palette, fantastic acting, and little praise.
But where Galitzine went from there has confounded me for years. Why had he not followed the path of Josh O’Connor? He too brought a unique character to life. First, it should be said that Handsome Devil was not his first film. That happened to be The Beat Beneath My Feet, a silly little movie about a rockstar. While avoiding tax fraud the musician pretends to be dead and teaches a kid to play rock music. Silly, but original.
Moving forward, in 2016 another movie comes out called High Strung – the first of many romances for our man Galitzine. Between 2016 and 2024 he will not miss a single year of projects.
2017 is a strange year as he is in his first two horror films, The Changeover and The Watcher in the Woods. This is a theme that will end quickly genre-wise, but if you’ve seen the 2021 Cinderella, anything could be argued. The Changeover is rated significantly better than the latter, though they both seem to really believe in their own sauce. I think the actors definitely know the kind of movie they’re in—one that appears low-budget and that the majority of the world won’t know about—but they pump some life into it nevertheless.
2018 is slow, with a sequel called High Strung Free Dance, though Galitzine does not reappear as a main character. The following year brings Chambers. This is the first TV show Galitzine is part of, and the genre is also horror. There is also Share, an internet-based thriller. In 2020 he is in The Craft: Legacy, a sequel to the 1996 movie The Craft.
The next few years are when he really starts to make headway into the public’s eye. 2021 comes with Cinderella. 2022 has the utterly confounding Purple Hearts. 2023 is a well-known and classic year with a double feature of Bottoms and Red, White, and Royal Blue. Finally, just this year, comes The Idea of You. Amazon just cannot get enough of this guy.
All of these films are odd for their own reasons, and all had a moment in the spotlight. Cinderella got attention not only for being yet another rendition of the fairytale, but came with an insane star-studded cast including Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan, Minnie Driver, and more. Purple Hearts was another Netflix attempt at enemies-to-lovers fanfiction with the odd twist of being weirdly political. In a PR decision worthy of Johnny Depp, this is followed by a raunchy and silly coming-of-age movie, followed by literal foreign affairs fanfiction. Finally, in the most confusing turn of events, with The Idea of You, he’s in fake One Direction and dating the Devil Wearing Prada herself. Like, huh?
But why do I care? Why have I kept an eye on every project I know this man is in? Because I don’t get it. When I say I think he’s talented I don’t mean I think he’s hot and can memorize lines. I think he knows how to act. But how much more does Amazon pay him to make heart eyes at attractive costars than John Butler did to attempt to make some real statement? I bet it’s a lot more. And capitalizing on a symmetrical bone structure is probably a safer bet at some point. Isn’t that what Margot Robbie started a career on? My only hope is that he is able to make a real career out of it as she had done because I struggle to believe that someone who worked on something so lovely early on is willing to sell his likeness for any paycheck. Entertainment doesn’t have to be found in Harry Styles Wattpad stories, I promise.