It is a flawless LA morning, the sun already high enough to fill a sixth-floor suite of the legendary Chateau Marmont hotel. Yet despite the glow streaming through the windows, Jamie Dornan seems worried. The Northern Irish actor (who is also one of the highest-paid male models in the world) has the expression of a man about to leap out of a plane. It is the first day of a press junket marathon for the movie release of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, the sure-to-be-divisive adaptation of the global erotic phenomenon. And the film’s relatively unknown star senses he might be thrown to the lions.
At 32, Dornan has only just begun his ascent to the A list. As a brooding serial killer in BBC crime drama ‘The Fall’, he established himself as an acting force to be reckoned with, but with ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, Dornan has been thrust at hyperspeed into the limelight. Playing the lead character of Christian Grey, he’s gone from being a torso to swoon over in the occasional Calvin Klein ad to being an icon woven for ever into the silky fabric of female fantasy.
In case you’ve been living in an Amish village, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is a romantic novel with lots of sex – lots of rough, masochistic sex. When it was published in 2011, it was just what the reading public had been breathlessly waiting for. With the book garnering legions of fans, the movie has been hotly debated. And under the unexpected direction of artist Sam Taylor-Johnson, it’s predicted to be either sheer genius or pure junk.
At the centre of the debate is Dornan: gorgeous, mysterious, not yet that famous – and cast at astonishingly short notice. The question is: will ‘Fifty Shades’ make him man of the moment or the critics’ whipping boy?
This isn’t your everyday Hollywood starring role.
‘No. People are… well, let’s just say if you’re into it, it seems you’re really into it.’And if they hate it, they’ll hate you?
‘I think for this series of books particularly, people have very strong opinions about who their Christian Grey is and who their Anastasia Steele is. Some people will be happy enough with the film. And some will be rabidly disappointed.’How did you land the part? People must have fantasised about all kinds of big stars playing Christian Grey.
‘It was very peculiar. I auditioned, then they cast someone else [English actor Charlie Hunnam] and I moved on. But then it came around again. From the day I got cast to the day we started shooting was only a month. Which is insane.’Wow, that must have been intense.
‘I hope I never have to go into a job like that again. My wife was very heavily pregnant at the time. We had our daughter three days before we started filming. In a way, I didn’t have enough time to overthink things. I just had to grin and bear it and be like: Right, this is happening. It’s quite a big deal. I have to make sure I’m as ready as I can be in the allotted time.’
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Jamie Dornan is featured for a cover story for Variety. You can read the interview at Variety.com. Below is behind the scenes video from the shoot. And outtakes from the photoshoot have been added to the gallery!
I have added more stills from “Fifty Shades of Grey” to the gallery!
A new still from “The 9th Life of Louis Drax” has recently been released! I have added the high quality still to the gallery!
