Jamie Dornan is arguably having the biggest year of his career in 2015. The Northern Irish actor got attention for his turn in shows like Once Upon A Time and BBC's The Fall, his notoriety took a major step up thanks to his starring role in Fifty Shades of Grey. But if you were hoping that you'd next be able to see Dornan in the upcoming cooking drama Burnt, I have some bad news: his scenes have been left out of the final cut.
Entertainment Weekly has the scoop on this story, having gotten confirmation from director John Wells that all of Dornan's screentime in Burnt has been removed. To explain why the actor no longer appears in the movie, Wells released an official statement, saying,
In making every film, cuts and adjustments in storylines inevitably occur. In the case of Burnt, Jamie’s role was a small cameo that he was kind enough to do for us and was part of Sienna Miller’s character’s backstory. We ultimately decided to focus on Adam Jones’ redemption story.
There is a sad irony that comes with this story, and it stems from the fact that this is the second time that Sienna Miller has been involved with a story about axed screentime. It was just three weeks ago that director Scott Cooper went on the record explaining why the actress had been entirely cut out of the crime drama Black Mass (citing "narrative choices"). Obviously the headline here is that Jamie Dornan's performance got cut entirely, but I'm sure that Miller isn't too happy about a chunk of her character's backstory disappearing from what will be the final cut of the movie.
Based on a story by Michael Kalesniko, and a screenplay by Steven Knight, Burnt tells the story of a chef named Adam Jones, who winds up destroying his career with drugs, horrible behavior and a terrible attitude. After putting himself back together, however, he makes a mission for himself to go to London, start a new restaurant, and earn the coveted three Michelin stars. Sienna Miller plays a character named Helene, and while the trailer suggests that she will wind up being Jones' romantic interest, not much else is known about her. As such, it's hard to say exactly how Jamie Dornan would have fit into her narrative.
Burnt looks like it could be positioned to be a part of this year's Academy Award conversation, but whether or not it actually will be is unclear at the moment. The movie is skipping all of the big fall festivals - including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Venice Festival - so nobody has gotten a chance to get a look at it just yet. Instead, it looks like we'll have to wait for it to arrive in theaters - which will happen on October 23rd.
