“I hid myself !” Jamie Dornan talks ‘damnation’ on 50 Shades of Gray
The Irish actor talks about how badly he dealt with the bad reviews of the 2015 film.
Money doesn’t always buy happiness. Jamie Dornan knows something about it. If the saga 50 Shades of Gray grossed $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office, making him a star, the Irish actor admits today, to the BBC Sounds podcast Desert Island Discs, that he had a hard time dealing with the horrible reviews that accompanied the release of the three films.
“I went into hiding at that time if I remember correctly… You know, I had just done The Fall, which had taken off my career, the reviews were excellent, I had gotten a BAFTA nomination. And all that was ridiculed at the time of 50 Shades. I went to see Sam Taylor-Johnson (the director), but she wasn’t at home. She let me squat in her country house. I hid there, sort of, for a while. I cut myself off from the world. And then somehow I managed to get through it.”
The interpreter of the dominant Christian Gray – opposite Dakota Johnson in Anastasia Steele – recounts the paradox of the success of the saga, in the face of criticism: “The first part made so much money that the day after its release, the studio approved one or two sequels! It was strange, because you see the ridiculousness of the situation. But at the same time, I have to, by contract, to make two more! I already knew there would be more damnation to come…”
Jamie Dornan still knew how to bounce back. Star of the series The Tourist or seen in Belfast by Kenneth Branagh recently at the cinema, he took a step back: “You know, I’ve just received some very glowing reviews on my latest jobs and yet there aren’t many that don’t mention Fifty Shades. A lot of critics say, ‘He’s great, but let’s not forget when he wasn’t great in those films…’ Too bad, I don’t regret doing them!”
