Jamie Dornan discussed his decision to participate in two additional sequels of the Fifty Shades franchise despite negative reviews.
Jamie Dornan disclosed that, following the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, he and his family retreated from the public eye due to the film’s critical reception. In a recent interview on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, the actor shared that they “shut ourselves off from the world” during that challenging period.
In the recent interview, Jamie shared that he had been receiving positive reviews until the release of Fifty Shades of Grey. Following the debut of the erotic romantic drama directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, the feedback took a turn for the worse.
Jamie explained, “[I was] coming off the back of career-altering reviews for The Fall and BAFTA nominations and all the madness The Fall brought to ridicule. I think I hid. [My family] went down to Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s place. They weren’t there. They let us have their place in the country, and we sort of hid there for a while and shut ourselves off from the world a bit.”
Jamie, portraying the role of the affluent Christian Grey, continued with the two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker (2017) and Fifty Shades Freed (2018). Reflecting on the experience, he remarked, “It made so much money so like, films two and three were greenlit overnight.
It was a strange thing because there’s a bit of ridicule here, and I’m now contracted to do two more, knowing that there will be much more damnation to come.
I’ve just had very glowing reviews for recent work. And there won’t be any that don’t mention Fifty Shades in them … A lot of reviews are like: ‘He’s great, but lest we forget when he wasn’t great here.’ Regret that I did them? No.”
Jamie Dornan’s latest appearance was in the Netflix thriller Heart of Stone alongside Gal Gadot and Alia Bhatt. The August release marked Alia Bhatt’s Hollywood debut. He is set to feature in the upcoming season 1 of The Tourist, scheduled to premiere on Netflix on 1 February, 2024.