From director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Hanna), the epic love story Cyrano follows Cyrano de Bergerac (Peter Dinklage), a man of “unique physique” whose undeclared love for his hometown friend Roxanne (Haley Bennett) leads him down a path where he finds himself expressing his true feelings through the dashingly handsome Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). The young soldier has caught the eye of the beauty that inspires Cyrano’s poetic words, and Cyrano is so fearful of her reaction that he settles for ensuring her happiness with another.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Harrison talked about not knowing how famous the story of Cyrano actually is, how he got over his nerves to do the film, what it was like to work with Wright as a filmmaker, how he approached finding Christian, and what it was like to perform the songs. He also talked about playing B.B. King for director Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie, and what it feels like to be living the dream with his acting career.

Collider: We last spoke about The High Note, which is a movie I really enjoyed and that music also played a big role in. When you sign on to do a retelling of something like Cyrano, that so many people are familiar with, is there a sense of relief in knowing it’s a story that’s been around so long, or you do get extra nervous about bringing something new to a story that has been around for so long?

KELVIN HARRISON JR.: I actually do get extra nervous. I didn’t know, at first. I was like, “Oh cool, I get to do this character and originate this Christian guy.” And they were like, “No, this is a classic story that they retell all the time, and there are famous scenes.” I didn’t know the balcony seen was as famous as it was. And Joe kept reminding me, so I was like, “You’re making me nervous, Joe.”

With something like that, to get through the nerves, do you just put yourself in the hands of Joe Wright and trust that it’ll be something great because he always makes something great?

HARRISON: Oh yeah, one hundred percent. Anytime you have a director like Joe, you trust their process and you trust the way they wanna structure a scene or the blocking that they wanna use because you know everything is so intentional and so deliberate and specific. He’s mapped out everything, from which candles are lit to which candles aren’t. I was just like, “I don’t even know how you can pay attention to all that.” But that’s the genius of someone who’s in the position that they’re in.

cyrano-haley-bennett-kelvin-harrison-jr

RELATED: 'Cyrano' Featurette Focuses on the Music of the New Adaptation and Unveils Original Song by The National

What surprised you about working with him, as a director?

HARRISON: It was just following his lead. He’s really smart and he really knows and understands character. I loved having rehearsals with him and having these conversations, in depth, about who these people are and where they contradict themselves. Christian really wants to be dignified and noble, in a lot of ways, and be the man his father always imagined him to be, as the son of a soldier. At the same time, he’s a bit of a goofball, a hopeless romantic, and he’s obsessed with fairy tales, and those two don’t always go together. He falls into this trap and goes on this journey with Cyrano, where he’s fighting these two things – this idea of identity versus the actual self. Joe is brilliant when it comes to breaking down those characters in that way, so that we can play them to their full humanity.

To do this, you’re making another version of a story that’s been told over and over, you’re performing songs, you’re shooting during COVID, and you’re the new guy on a set where you’re co-stars had already played these roles together before. What was the first day on set like? Was there a moment where you really felt like you’d hit your groove?

HARRISON: Honestly, it was interesting with this one. There were a couple obstacles to get past. The first one was COVID and everyone feeling a bit rusty. The second one, for me, was the fact that they literally all had worked together. I was working in between the two couples (Peter Dinklage and Erica Schmidt, and Joe Wright and Haley Bennett), so I was trying to navigate that as well. One of the first scenes we shot was me delivering letters to Roxanne. I was trying to find Christian’s rhythm, his humor, and his sincerity. He has this dopey and goofy walk, and a bright-eyed energy. It was a trial and error situation. I don’t know if I really ever felt like I settled into it. I think I was always trying to rediscover what it was, but that was the beauty of Christian. He never really settles into the town. He never really knows what’s going on. He’s always just the new guy that can’t figure it out. That’s the joke.

These songs really are so beautiful and I love how they fit in with the story. What did you enjoy about doing this music?

HARRISON: I love The National. I think that band is fantastic. It was the first time I’d ever heard the music before, or the first time I recognized that I’d heard their music before. I just thought the lyrics were so beautiful and so poetic. It was so fitting for a movie like Cyrano. And being able to record with them and find different nuances in their songs, and find our own individual voices within the music was exciting. They were so open to change and what we wanted to contribute to it. They’re really smart.

cyrano-kelvin-harrison-jr-02

You’re sticking with this music theme with your work, having also done another music-related project, playing B.B. King in a Baz Luhrmann movie about Elvis. What was that like? How was that experience, working with a director like that, who is so visually artistic?

HARRISON: It was so much fun. My favorite thing about Baz is that I love his energy. When you’re on set with him, you literally feel like you’re invincible. You feel like you can do anything, try anything and say anything, and nothing is wrong. I think that’s when art is at it highest, when everyone’s truly playing and giving themselves to the part. Even the background artists, he knows all of their names. Everyone feels special. It was really fun to just get in the ring with Austin Butler and play this icon B.B. King, at this early age, and navigate what that looked like and what that friendship looked like. It was fun. Every day was a new and exciting experience on that set.

How did you approach taking on B.B. King and finding a way to make somebody like that your own?

HARRISON: When you’re in a Baz Luhrmann movie, you already know that there’s gonna be a high reality to it. You’re like, “Okay, I’m playing B.B. King, but this is not a serious and dramatic interpretation of B.B. King. It’s the spirit of B.B. King and the most fun version of himself.” I was in quarantine. To audition, I sent my tape in, when I was filming on Mount Etna. I was in Mount Etna, and that’s when I taped for Elvis. It was so funny because I still had soot and volcano dust all over me. I just researched, watched documentaries, read, and listened to his music. Baz sent me a guitar to my hotel room, so I started plucking around with that and worked on getting the voice down. I just channeled his spirit as best as possible.

What is it like to be in the position that you’re in right now, from the people you’re working with, the directors you’re collaborating with, going from Cyrano to playing B.B. King, to doing a voice for The Lion King prequel? How does it feel to be you right now?

HARRISON: It’s exciting. I’m really happy, and I’m really enjoying this process. My favorite part of it all is to be able to learn from Baz, and to learn from Peter Dinklage and Joe Wright, and to learn from Barry Jenkins, and to do stuff that I’ve never done before, but also stuff that I loved growing up. The Lion King came out in ‘94. That’s when I was born, and it was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid, when I was finally old enough to understand it. It feels like a gift. It really does feel like a dream to me, at times, but I’m actually getting to live it. That’s really beautiful.

Cyrano is now playing in theaters.

cyrano-haley-bennett-peter-dinklage