My Policeman cast get standing ovation at Toronto premiere

Styles plays a 1950s police officer married to a woman while having an affair with a male museum curator in the film

Harry Styles and the cast of My Policeman got a standing ovation for their performances after the film premiered the Toronto International Film Festival.

The period drama, directed by Michael Grandage and starring Styles, Emma Corrin and David Dawson, follows the secret and illicit romance between a policeman and a museum curator in 1950s Brighton.

It was shown at TIFF on Sunday (11 September) and received standing ovations from the audience.

The film also received the ensemble award, which Styles accepted on behalf of the cast and crew.

“Thank you so much to everyone here, on behalf of all of us, for this wonderful, wonderful award,” Styles said. “We all loved working on this film so much. And we hope you enjoy it.”

The reception of this film follows the highly publicised promotion of Don’t Worry Darling last week, which included bizarre allegations of Styles spitting on co-star Chris Pine at the Venice Film Festival.

Styles has previously spoken out about the portrayal of sex between men in My Policeman. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he noted: “So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it.

“There will be, I would imagine, some people who watch it who were very much alive during this time when it was illegal to be gay, and [Director Michael Grandage] wanted to show that it’s tender and loving and sensitive.”

My Policeman is released in cinemas on 21 October, followed by a Prime Video launch on 4 November.