Perhaps the only thing that could slow down – if only for a few days – the House of the Dragon juggernaut was a sprawling Harry Styles interview, and Rolling Stone duly delivered.

The pop superstar became the magazine’s first-ever global cover star, and the resulting interview has been minutely dissected online since it was published earlier today.

At one point in the profile, the subject of My Policeman, Styles’ forthcoming film about a gay relationship, came up, and the singer-turned-actor had some thoughts on what the film is really about. “It’s not like ‘This is a gay story about these guys being gay’,” he claimed. It’s about love and about wasted time to me.”

My Policeman, based on the 2012 novel of the same name, is about a gay policeman, Tom, who marries a schoolteacher, Marion, despite only being in love with Patrick, a museum curator. Soon their shared secret tears them apart, exposing Patrick’s sexuality.

Styles also added an appraisal of the history of gay cinema. “So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it,” he insisted.

The former One Direction star has been accused of queerbaiting in the past, and he touched on his own sexuality in the Rolling Stone profile. “I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it,” he said.

“Sometimes people say, ‘You’ve only publicly been with women,’ and I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone,” Styles explained elsewhere. “If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something,”

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You can read the full Rolling Stone interview with Styles here.

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Watch the teaser trailer for My Policeman:

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