Harris Dickinson Opens Up About Bringing A 'New Perspective' To Maleficent After Being Recast As Prince Phillip

If you're guessing what it's like to be cast because the lead in a Disney fairy tale, it's just about as magical as it sounds — at least according to Harris Dickinson, the actor who plays Prince Phillip in the upcoming Maleficent sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. For him, getting to work with such a star-studded cast, including Elle Fanning, Angelina Jolie, and Michelle Pfeiffer, among others, was nothing short of a dream come true. And once Dickinson initially noticed out he'd been cast because the kind-hearted, however undeniably naïve prince, he couldn't quite believe it.


"I think I probably laughed a little any time If I got the role," Dickinson told MTV News. "It is quite entertaining, you know? If I'd have mentioned to my 10-year-old self that I could be a Disney prince, I think he probably would've laughed." Still, it took a while for the reality to set in, and Dickinson couldn't quite grasp that he was a Disney prince up until he'd already wrapped filming. Even the movie's premiere was a surreal experience for the 23-year-old star. "It was upset he recalled.


It wasn't just the fact that he was a Disney prince that was surreal; it was also that he was cast alongside some of the world's biggest movie stars. And while some might assume working with Michelle Pfeiffer and Angelina Jolie could be intimidating (especially when dressed as Maleficent), Dickinson's experience was quite the opposite. "I feel like a competition winner," he mentioned. "I'm not sure these are things that surprise me because I try not to have preconceptions of people, nevertheless Angelina and Michelle, they're so welcoming ...  And I think coming into it and categorize kind of beginning out in this game, it's nice to feel like you are appreciated, and it's nice to feel like you belong there."


Despite the kindness he was shown by Jolie and Pfeiffer, Dickinson still felt nervous — and understandably so. Not only is there an inevitable pressure that comes with being Disney royalty, nevertheless he was new to the cast as well. "I think that order kind of weird impostor syndrome is some of the time going to be present with anything you make," he mentioned. And since the cast, for the most part, had already worked with each other on the initial film, which was released in 2014, Dickinson noticed joining the sequel to be a little bit daunting. "They've already been filming, they've already done their thing with each other, so you have to come in and group kind of prove yourself," he said.


Dickinson also had the added responsibility of taking on a role that was previously played by someone else (Brenton Thwaites) in the opening movie. Fortunately, he didn't find taking on a role that had been recast to be particularly complicated. "I approached the script fresh and I attempted to look at it from a new perspective," he mentioned. "I think that there was a lot of creative license due to the time frame that had passed. And in the opening film, there wasn't necessarily an explanation of Phillip's world or Phillip's own order kind of struggles, so this was a chance to expand on that."


Overall, Dickinson really enjoyed the freedom he had with his character, explaining that there was more to Prince Phillip than people might assume of a Disney prince. "The core of the character was there in the script and I just attempted to find other things about him that were interesting, and there was a lot of depth to him," he mentioned. "... You don't necessarily think that with a Disney prince that you're going to get to have a bit of a character study there ... And also you do with this, so it's cool."


However alternatively opposed to just finding something interesting about the Disney prince to run with, Dickinson noticed that they actually had some traits in regular, which he then applied to his efficiency. As an example, both Dickinson and Prince Phillip strive to be usually good people — perhaps to a fault. And while the prince struggled to find his voice at times, the actor was dealing with a similar challenge of finding his place as a young actor. "I certainly noticed regular ground in the sense that he is a young man attempting to identify how to find his voice," he explained. "Maybe one of his weaknesses is that he hasn't spotted certain things or has a naivety to him, nevertheless he certainly tries to be a good person ... He just struggles to get things changed initially and possibly find his voice although that's organic for a young man, like myself. It's something that you have got to calculate, and time gives confidence."


Speaking of confidence, Dickinson definitely noticed his. Not only through accepting roles like Prince Phillip, however by dipping his feet into several different genres with a number of characters. Looking ahead, the actor has a few exhilarating assignments in the works, including Kingsman prequel The King's Man and The Souvenir: Part II, among others. And while neither of these roles are similar in any way to that of a handsome prince, Dickinson's clearly interested in complicated himself with all sorts of roles. Next on his list? "Either a superhero villain or a Disney villain," he mentioned assuredly. "I desire to play a villain."


Maleficient: Mistress of Evil hits theaters on Friday, October 18.