Jamie Dornan has said that he knew film critics would ridicule his role in Fifty Shades of Grey.
The Irish actor, 41, rose to fame after playing Christian Grey, a businessman with an interest in BDSM, opposite Dakota Johnson in the Fifty Shades franchise.
The films, which were adapted from of EL James’s erotic novels of the same name, were poorly received by both audiences and critics. The average Rotten Tomatoes score of the trilogy is 15 per cent.
The franchise did, however, perform well at the box office, grossing $1.32bn (£1.04bn) worldwide. It came to an end with the third entry in the series Fifty Shades Freed (2017).
Appearing on an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Dornan opened up about the role and his initial hesitance in accepting it.
“It wasn’t an instant yes by any means,” Dornan said about accepting the role. “It needed to be talked through. I sought counsel from friends, family, a lot of actors.”
Dornan has initially lost the role to Charlie Hunnam (best known for his role as Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy). When Hunnam pulled out at the last minute, Dornan stepped in to replace him.
The actor said that he had felt “a bit of relief” after he found out he had not landed the part “because I knew that guy is going to get wrecked here”.
