Fifty Shades Freed hunk Jamie Dornan: I never feel sexy
Fifty Shades Freed star Jamie Dornan takes a look back at his role as Christian Grey in the erotic trilogy
Jamie Dornan is going to tell his two little girls when they grow up that daddy is an actor who does all kinds of weird and wonderful roles, and he hopes they will be smart enough to know it is all make-believe and just a job.
The 35-year-old Irishman, whose daughters with English actress-singer Amelia Warner are aged four and two, said: "In some people's eyes, a controversial job, I guess, and maybe an embarrassing job for them that daddy did that. But I don't waste my life worrying about s*** like that."
We are talking about his role as Christian Grey in Fifty Shades Freed, the final chapter of the erotic romance trilogy that has smashed box-office records for R-rated movies.
As diehard fans know, the movies detail his billionaire sado-masochist character's complicated relationship with naive girlfriend Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), who learns to explore the dark side of her sexuality while he learns to get in touch with his feelings.
Currently showing here, Fifty Shades Freed follows the newly-weds as they deal with Ana's former boss (Eric Johnson), who begins to stalk her.
While acting in two television series, as the sheriff in fantasy drama Once Upon A Time and a serial killer in crime drama The Fall, Dornan, a former Dior and Calvin Klein model, got the part that changed his career.
At the offices of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in Los Angeles, we look back on the Fifty Shades films that made him an international star.
Having done these movies, what will you miss from the experience?
Every film you do, you create your little family within it, on set and with cast and crew. I think that is all the more if you do a trilogy of films.
I will miss the cast, I will miss Dakota and yeah, I will miss that experience of going through something as monumental as this trilogy has been.
What kind of research did you have to do to play Christian?
Before the first one, I went to watch a dominant with his submissive, just to experience first-hand what it is like.
It is so different for everybody, and everybody has their own approach, how they like to create that world. Some of it is quite serious and feels quite dangerous at times, and then some of it is frivolous and giggly and fun.
People feel it is sadistic, but what I saw was literally the opposite.They were having so much fun and laughing a lot.
I am an open-minded person, and if that is what floats your boat, then more power to you. It doesn't for me personally, but I think the world is fine.
Did you know anything about sex toys or did you have to get training?
I didn't know a great deal about it, no. We had, I think his official name was 'kink adviser', on the set with us. And he was able to fill me in on a lot of the apparatus, so I would look like I knew what I was doing.
I had a few sort of interesting sessions with him.
And yeah, it was an eye-opening experience learning that stuff.
Fifty Shades Freed is advertised as a climax and moviegoers are promised a sexy experience. When did you feel sexiest?
(Laughs.) Well, I never feel sexy, I just don't. So it is a really hard question to answer. Usually if I am in any way naked, I feel kind of awkward and exposed.
What was the best part of the shoot then?
The fun, most romantic moments for me were all the honeymoon stuff we did. And there is something nice about that because we filmed that at the end of the shoot.
Over the course of two weeks in France, Dakota and I had eight lines or something. A lot of it was sort of montage stuff, of us on jet skis and swimming around in the water.
It was a telling of a part of the story that was going to mean so much to the fans, that they never would think would happen from the first bit, down on this amazing honeymoon together.
These books are not literary classics, so how did you ground yourself in the story?
With a subject matter like this, it is a bit harder, but you have to just try to draw the human aspect of it and make it relatable to something that you have experienced or that can resonate with the audience.
It is tricky because there is also the pressure with the fans, who are opinionated and passionate. There are a lot of lines in the book that are fan-favourite lines. Particularly in the first movie, we talked about whether they best serve the story and should they stay in, and they have to stay in because of the fans. I guess Dakota's and my job was to tell the truth the best we can.
What kind of reactions do you get when you are out in your regular life? From the parents in your kids' schools, for instance?
Our oldest starts "big school" in September, so I will be able to give you a far better answer then.
But even at nursery school, I am aware of that a little bit and that is the giggly aspect of it. I giggle too, I just find it kind of funny. Part of me can't really believe that I did these films (laughs).
I sort of feel like I still have this element going, 'Why did they make movies out of those books?' But they did and I am in them.
Anything about you that we don't know?
I am a frustrated sportsman. I wanted to play sport professionally and wasn't quite good enough and ended up acting. Rugby, when I was a kid.
But I am obsessed with golf. I played golf this morning before I came here, just to calm my mind. But it had the opposite effect (laughs). I played terribly.
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