Jamie Dornan was an actor before his career-making role in Fifty Shades of Grey and he’ll be an actor for long after. However, it’s his role as Christian Grey that cemented his name in Hollywood and has led him to have a fanbase that continues to follow his newer endeavors. But if you ask Dornan himself, the actor would say that everything he does now gets compared to his work opposite Dakota Johnson. Instead of bringing him down, though, that sort of commentary has lit a fire under his rear.
Right now, Dornan has been a major part of the awards circuit, having done festivals and more press in support of Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, which has earned rave reviews (including CinemaBlend's own Belfast review) and an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score. The Fifty Shades actor is aware the film is fresh on peoples’ minds right now, but it’s still getting a lot of comparisons to the trilogy he filmed before.
Whether A Private War, Anthropoid or Belfast, or whatever comes next, the line in the press is always, ‘It’s the best thing he’s done since Fifty Shades.’ As if I am still needing to prove myself; I am still paying penance for that choice to get me back to where I was beforehand. Look, I get it, and, to be honest with you, it spurs me on. It lights a fire in me. If that means people saying, ‘Oh, actually he’s not that bad,’ well, so be it.
While the actor does mention "penance" here, instead of getting down about his place in Hollywood, Jamie Dornan told GQ it’s actually the type of thing that “spurs” him on. While Dornan has already said goodbye to playing Christian Grey and that period in his life, he is starting to come to terms with the complicated legacy a role like Fifty Shades of Grey brings.
- Does Jamie Dornan Regret Starring In The Fifty Shades Of Grey Franchise? Here’s What He Says
- Fifty Shades Of Grey’s Jamie Dornan Opens Up About How He ‘Struggled’ With Playing Christian Grey
Intriguingly, it’s a big year for both Dornan and his former co-star Dakota Johnson. She’s also been out and about at festivals and on red carpets in support of her own movie The Lost Daughter. And Jamie Dornan said earlier this year that he finally had the chance to reconnect with Johnson for the first time in a few years, as Fifty Shades Freed and Fifty Shades Darker shot back-to-back eons ago.
When someone is a part of a major fandom, it can be difficult to break free in some ways. After all, people are still doing things like celebrating Christian Grey's birthday each year and I doubt that will change anytime soon. That fanbase also can mean that more attention may be paid to your roles then may have otherwise, so for some it can be an equally useful tool. In Dornan's case, it seems he uses his popularity as a Fifty Shades star to spur him on and help him to attain new and interesting heights in his acting career.
It's an interesting way for a person to look at their place in a fandom and I can't wait to see what else he adds to his resume in the coming years. For now, you can catch Belfast in theaters right now or see him back on the small screen in upcoming project The Tourist next.
