Fifty Shades of Jamie Dornan (19 page)

As for his part of counsellor-turned-killer in
The Fall
, Jamie was also keen to try to find something within Christian that
he liked, believing that the more he could lose himself in the role, the more believable that character would become to his audience. ‘I’m not like Christian but I understand him perfectly,’ he told
Glamour
magazine. ‘I never thought he was a monster. He is simply woven from his desires as every one of us are.

‘I want to keep an element of myself in every character I play. And maybe that’s connected to finding something that you like in every character,’ he explained further.

On studying Christian, and despite his very dark side, Jamie wouldn’t have been short of qualities to admire. Not only is the ‘difficult’ character a one-woman man who is clearly in love with Anastasia, the entrepreneur was also a philanthropist who liked to give to the needy, sought counselling for his issues and was modest about his attractiveness. ‘[The characters I’ve played do have two sides]. Even Christian has two sides,’ he said. ‘Come to think of it, he has fifty!’

With lines learnt and preparation underway, Jamie was finally ready to take on the challenge of embodying Christian Grey on set in Vancouver. The paparazzi were hot on his heels and in the weeks running up to the start of filming, snaps of Jamie and his heavily pregnant wife Amelia trying to enjoy their last childless days together began cropping up in the press. Drinking coffee, laughing as they strolled down the street, holding hands … even the most mundane of tasks were being lapped up by the photographers and splashed across the press. Ten years since his very public relationship with Keira Knightley, he had become overnight tabloid fodder once again – except this time he was the one the Fleet Street editors were chasing. However, ten years
wiser, protective Jamie was determined not to let it affect him and his much-loved family. ‘There are so many ways to make a living that don’t involve hiding in bushes opposite a house with a camera in your hand, that’s not making a living that’s making a choice to be a perverted f***head,’ Jamie said of the intrusion of the paparazzi in the wake of his
Fifty Shades
role.

For the time being Jamie wasn’t unnerved by the attention. ‘It doesn’t feel mental on the inside,’ he said of his overnight fame. ‘I’m sure from the outside it looks crazy, but I’m lucky I’m on the inside.’ It was indeed fortunate that Jamie had become such a seasoned expert at keeping a cool head because at that time, more than ever, he would need it. Not on the film set, mind you, but in the delivery room. Not long after filming started in Vancouver, the news was confirmed: Jamie Dornan had a daughter.

E
verything was happening at once. Not only was Jamie starting the biggest role of his career, he was knee-deep in nappies. His real-life leading lady Amelia had given birth to a beautiful baby girl and the actor was smitten. Surrounded by their adoring family, the actor and his wife were overjoyed at becoming new parents and were quickly finding their feet, away from the public eye.

Jamie was relishing being a father and not even the sleepless nights which are part and parcel of life with a newborn lessened his enjoyment of being a parent. With his days of drinking long gone, a night in with Amelia watching TV with their daughter happy sleeping upstairs was bliss. ‘I don’t understand people complaining about babies. Sure, I miss a bit of sleep, but look at the rewards – better than not being able to sleep because of a hangover,’ the new dad confided.

Jamie’s proud father Jim was also thrilled with being a grandfather again and was impressed with how well his son was handling his new life-changing job. He said of Jamie after the birth of his baby girl, ‘It’s wonderful watching them interacting and seeing them go on the same learning curves as we did; how to deal with them, how to soothe them, how to cope with all their problems and you do have to watch that you don’t just give constant advice but it’s tempting. It’s interesting that people like to have a little bit of your life but Jamie’s a very private man understandably so yeah, I think, we enjoy people thinking he’s done a good job.’

As the world’s media had kept its eyes focused on every morsel of gossip from the
Fifty Shades of Grey
set, it was amazing that Jamie’s stunning and heavily pregnant wife had managed to go into labour, deliver a baby and enjoy a few precious weeks with her famous husband as a new unit before the press caught wind of it. Indeed, it wasn’t until two weeks after the start of filming in Vancouver on a chilly, autumnal film set that the news of his baby finally broke. ‘Jamie and Amelia Dornan are delighted to announce the birth of their baby daughter born at the end of November,’ his agent said in a statement to the press on 16 December. Jamie had carried out the first task as protective dad perfectly.

His next challenge was working out how to juggle his fatherly duties while taking on the biggest challenge in his acting career to date. Taking inspiration from his doctor father all those years before, who had allowed Jamie to follow him around the hospital on weekend ward rounds, Jamie let his wife and baby daughter
come to his work too. While Amelia and their newborn weren’t permanent fixtures on the film set by any means, they would visit Jamie as often as they could and were quickly welcomed into the
Fifty Shades
family. He had also rented a comfortable family home, complete with Christmas tree, in Vancouver so that they could spend the holiday season together. Although Jamie wouldn’t be enjoying a turkey dinner and present-opening session with his family back in Belfast for the first time in his life, it was at least a chance to make his daughter’s first Christmas special by spending it together as a threesome. A source revealed, ‘Jamie has been relishing his role as daddy and it’s been important to keep his two girls close at hand. They have been living close by and visiting him on set when convenient. He couldn’t be prouder.’

And while it was a difficult task indeed flitting from doting dad off screen to domineering sex master on camera, Jamie seemed able to juggle the roles expertly. Moreover, playing Daddy in between takes also had the additional benefit that it put any female stars who may have been intimidated by his good looks completely at ease. Although for twenty-three-year-old singer Rita Ora, who played Jamie’s adopted sister, it had the opposite effect. ‘Jamie is gorgeous. And he had his wife and kid on set a lot. But that makes him hotter … an unavailable guy for me is a bit like – woohoo!’

Thanks to his good-natured and friendly co-stars and crew, with whom he immediately struck a rapport, life on set was shaping up to be good fun. As soon as Jamie had touched down in Canada and been introduced to everyone, it was clear that the
cast couldn’t have been better picked and bonds were quickly established. They were all there to work hard but also to have fun, and everyone got stuck into the action. ‘We had a ball – a good craic. Sometimes you don’t luck out with the cast – you end up with people who aren’t really on your wavelength and who don’t approach the game the same way but we got genuinely lucky on this,’ Jamie said. ‘Obviously we’re getting the work done but you’re allowed to have fun at work – I’d stop if I wasn’t allowed to have fun.’

Filming was taking place in a variety of locations across the Canadian city, including North Shore Studios, which has played host to a string of Hollywood blockbusters as well as hit TV series
The X Files
. Additionally, the stately buildings of the University of British Columbia would provide the backdrop for college girls Anastasia and Kate’s Washington State University. The impressive Bentall 5 skyscraper – the eighth tallest building in Vancouver – was used for Christian’s ‘Grey Enterprises’ office, while the historic and flag-adorned Fairmont Hotel was used for the book’s Heathman Hotel. Despite such very public film locations, everything was being done to keep the movie under wraps. Security surrounding the filming was tight with ten undercover guards reportedly hired to circle the actors and open umbrellas whenever a snapper was spotted lifting their camera to take a shot.

Despite the precautionary measures, though, sly photographs of the action on set had started to appear in newspapers and magazines across the world, including some of Jamie and Dakota dancing on the street in between takes to keep warm. The
camaraderie between the pair, just two weeks into filming, was palpable. Games and japes between the two of them were a daily occurrence and included playing a street version of basketball to stave off boredom as they waited for filming to resume. ‘They were very playful on set. At one point Dakota turned to Jamie and held out her hand to dance and Jamie pulled her in and put her hand on his shoulder. They weren’t doing a scene they were just trying to keep warm,’ an insider revealed. ‘The pair would also play games, like trashketball, when you treat the trashcan as a basketball hoop. Dakota missed her shot, but Jamie made his, which caused everyone to cheer. Dakota also tried to juggle but she dropped everything and Jamie laughed at her,’ they added.

It may have looked like fun and games but, behind the scenes, novice actor Jamie had his work cut out. Not only did he have thousands of lines to remember, but he had some problem areas which needed to be whipped into shape. One of these – much to his embarrassment – was his walk. Having been assigned a dance coach to teach him how to foxtrot for Christian’s dance scene with Anastasia, the teacher noticed he had an odd gait. Instead of the powerful strides he needed to pull off as dynamic Christian, Jamie had a bounce to his step. This was not news to Jamie, who had been turned away from the runways in Milan when he was trying to earn a crust as a young model because of his walk.

Therefore, despite being thirty-one years old, in a bizarre turn of events Jamie was for the first time in his life being taught how to walk properly. ‘I always had a complex about the way I walked and people would comment on it. I walked on my toes
and when I did
The Fall
the director asked, “Is that part of the character or the way you walk?” My wife tried to help by making me lean back and then in
Fifty Shades
my character has to dance the foxtrot.’

In a bid to try to get Jamie moving more fluidly, the teacher suggested that the handsome star should try walking ‘heel to toe’, something most people learn as a toddler. In an eureka moment, Jamie was finally walking the way he should have done three decades ago. ‘No one had ever told me that was how you walk!’ he told TV talkshow host Graham Norton. ‘Now I am applying it every day!’

And as filming started, there was more choreography in store for the star in the form of Jamie’s endless – and intense – sex scenes with Dakota. Although scenes in the novel were graphic, X-rated and described as pornographic, the scriptwriters adapting it for a film audience needed to tone things down somewhat for a cinema release. So while they were determined to include flavours of Christian’s hard-core sexual habits, his sensual romantic side was also going to be brought to the fore. ‘Regardless of what you may think of [James’s] writing, this is a modern love story, involving two complex characters, and that’s what I’m interested in,’ screenwriter Kelly Marcel said. ‘I don’t care what anybody says, there is something about Christian Grey that is old-fashioned and romantic.’

With filming underway, Jamie admitted that the movie was shaping up to be more like a romantic Mills & Boon novel than an S&M porn movie. ‘When it comes to this movie, so much emphasis is on one thing [sex] whereas love is actually more
important. It’s a universal thing. Everyone has experienced it in some way and people forget that’s what is at the heart of this film. It’s the classic star-crossed lover situation that’s been written about over and over down the years. Just with a modern element,’ he told
The Sun.
‘Love will always be necessary to tell a story. Personally I think it’s more important to focus on that than sex.’

Keen to keep E.L. James’s sex-hungry fans happy, the infamous steamy sessions between Christian and Anastasia were still going to feature in the ‘bonkbuster’ and the screenwriters had been working round the clock to ensure that no one would be disappointed. The reworked script was incredibly detailed and written to incorporate every thrust, lick and flick of the whip to guide Jamie and Dakota through the process. It was more sex-by-numbers than unbridled passion, with every detail of a bedroom scene scrupulously written out with as much specification as possible. ‘I couldn’t just write “they made love”,’ screenwriter Kelly explained. ‘I had to actually describe everything! It was really embarrassing when you’re doing studio notes around the table with twelve people,’ she added. ‘There is going to be a lot of sex in the film. It’s going to be raunchy. We are 100 per cent going there. We did go through and decide which are our favourite moments and which are not. Most of them are in there.’

Keeping as much of the novel’s much-loved lines in the script was also crucial, as was ensuring that the sex scenes were played out as close to how the book’s readers would have envisioned them as possible. A choreographer was also on hand to guide
Jamie through every seductive move he made on his co-star; it was undeniably the least romantic situation the married actor could have found himself in. Naked and surrounded by cameras, hot lights, sound-men, the director and a scurry of helpers – including hair and make-up assistants – it was a wonder he could lose himself in the moment at all. ‘The reality is that burly men who you don’t know very well are three feet from your face, which isn’t usually the way you have sex,’ he explained. ‘Well me, anyway!’

However, Jamie’s expertise, likely gained after years of performing for the camera in a variety of muscle-flexing sexual positions for advertising campaigns, was admirable. Often requiring enviable upper-body strength to hold a sensual pose or sexual position while his on-screen lover moved into place, Jamie described his performance as ‘sexual acrobatics’. The key to Jamie’s success in playing the kinky role seemed to be the ability to accept that this was work – a way to earn a crust – and he was there to entertain. ‘It’s strange work for sure. But it’s still just work. I just get on with it,’ he explained.

His co-star Dakota seemed to be equally turned off by performing the titillating scenes. ‘It definitely wasn’t a romantic situation. It’s more like technical and choreographed and more of a task!’ she explained. ‘It’s [less about having sex and] more about visually what our bodies look like in what we’re doing, so it’s more like a dance, it’s like acrobatics.’

The results, however, were staggeringly convincing and powerfully sexy to all those witnessing the two actors in motion. E.L. James, sitting on the sidelines and watching Jamie act out
her once-secret fantasies in front of her eyes, was also clearly impressed. Denying the red-hot passionate scenes had been axed from the movie, she said, ‘[The sex] is happening. Oh yeah it’s happening. The bit I was seeing, it wasn’t being watered down and so that’s all I’ll say about that!’

Talented Jamie was also an expert in ‘acting out’ the more unusual lines in the book including the line by Anastasia: ‘Mmmm … he’s soft and hard at once, like steel encased in velvet, surprisingly tasty, salty and smooth. He’s my own Christian Grey-flavoured popsicle.’ Scriptwriter Marcel said, ‘“You are my popsicle”. That line went in, it’s genius. They apparently did that scene great. Apparently Jamie is great at being soft and hard at the same time. Which is hard to do for an actor! He’s going to get an Oscar!’

The sex scenes weren’t without risk, and balancing, thrusting, curling and whipping left Jamie riddled with bruises all over his body. ‘I made sure we stuck to the book. I was a walking bruise. It was a lot of fun and I’ve had time to heal,’ he said some weeks after filming finished.

The intense three-month production had been fast and furious, and with whispers that the star could win a host of accolades for his performance, Jamie was stunned by how differently the public and press were treating him when he finally came up for air once filming was over. It was hard to fathom that just six months previously he could have walked down the road virtually unrecognised, yet now photographers and fans were trailing him. It was certainly going to take some getting used to. ‘The whole thing’s ridiculous. It’s just all a bit silly the way it
works. I think I could lose my mind,’ he said a few short weeks after filming wrapped up.

Having flown back to his cosy London town house with his wife and baby, he was then determined to have some normal family time before filming began in Belfast on the second series of
The Fall.
Although he had experienced the life of a top-notch high-flying actor with all the glitz and glamour of being on a multimillion-dollar film set, Jamie was determined to remain grounded. ‘You can become a conceited a***hole or do something good in the world, the latter being much more difficult. I don’t try to be cool or trendy. I’m an individualist. Mostly in life, I want to be myself,’ he told Polish
Glamour
magazine.