Culture 3 min read By Lauren Baxter
Harry Styles MSG Residency Documentary in the Works From John Wilson
John Wilson, director of HBO's «How To with John Wilson,» has been filming Harry Styles at Madison Square Garden since August for a tour documentary backed by Universal Pictures Content Group.
Harry Styles has invited documentary filmmaker John Wilson behind the scenes of his Madison Square Garden residency, with cameras rolling on the singer at the New York arena since August, according to two people familiar with the project. The film, titled «Together, Together,» is being made with Universal Pictures Content Group.
Wilson is known for HBO's «How To with John Wilson,» a wry, first-person series that turned everyday New York encounters into comic and philosophical observations, and for the indie box-office surprise «The History of Concrete.» His move into a pop-star tour documentary marks an unusual pairing of sensibilities: a filmmaker celebrated for finding strangeness in ordinary street life, now training his lens on one of the most closely watched performers in music.
Styles' Madison Square Garden residency was a historic run, making him one of the few artists to play a sustained series of shows at the famed Manhattan venue. The residency became a cultural fixture in New York, drawing celebrity guests and devoted fans night after night, and it gives the documentary an unusually concentrated setting: rather than following a global stadium trek, the film appears anchored to a single room and the rituals that built up around it.
Details about the documentary remain limited. It is not yet clear when the film will be released, whether it will receive a theatrical launch or a streaming debut, or how much of the residency's backstage life it will show. Universal Pictures Content Group's involvement suggests a major commercial release is planned, but no timeline has been announced.
The project arrives as concert films and music documentaries have become a robust corner of the entertainment business, with artists using behind-the-scenes footage to extend the life of a tour and reach fans who could not attend in person. Styles, who has moved between music and acting in recent years, has a large and highly engaged fan base that has followed the residency closely, making the film a natural fit for both cinema audiences and streaming viewers.
Wilson's participation is likely to be a selling point in its own right. His HBO series developed a cult following for its deadpan narration and its attention to the small, odd details of city life, and «The History of Concrete» became an unexpected indie hit. How that sensibility translates to a portrait of a pop star at the height of his fame is one of the open questions surrounding the project.
For now, the film remains in production, with no confirmed release date. Fans of Styles and of Wilson alike will be watching for the first footage to see how the director's distinctive eye meets the spectacle of a Madison Square Garden residency.
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