The Fifty Shades of Grey books were a cultural phenomenon when they were first being published. And adapting a popular series of novels to the screen guarantees a wave of fans both happy and disappointed will follow.
Fifty Shades stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson lucked out, since all three films made the big bucks and they are now each household names. As the stars move on from the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, Dornan recently was asked to reflect on his time as Christian Grey fits into his career moving forward. Here's what he told Vulture:
To speak for myself, and I'll speak for Dakota as well, it's another job on another set. I probably won't ever take a job with this much attention and scrutiny and public opinion directed at it again. And that's fine! From a practical point of view, you just move on to the next and keep your head down. But listen, it's given us so much. The work that I've been doing has been a million miles from that, and not even by choice. You just keep plugging away, doing good work, and trying to better yourself.
So while fans may remember Jamie Dornan best for his role as the erotic billionaire, it was another job of many for the actor. But the franchise certainly had a huge impact on the actor's career, to which he is extremely grateful. In the interview, Dornan said he learned a lot from taking on such a high-profile project and is thankful for the experience. Though since going through it, he is swayed against taking on another role with an established fanbase and at the center of the public eye.
Many young actors have started with huge franchises to establish themselves and then turned to smaller projects they can pour their souls in. Take Jennifer Lawrence's start in The Hunger Games or Robert Pattinson's in Twilight. Perhaps this is the direction Jamie Dornan has ahead of him as he takes on passion projects with potential for high-critical acclaim.
In the past month, two of the actor's recent projects have been released, and in each of which he plays a journalist. HBO's My Dinner with Hervé has Dornan playing opposite Peter Dinklage as an entertainment journalist and in a A Private War beside Rosamund Pike as war photojournalist Paul Conroy. He can also be seen in Robin Hood starring Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx. Dornan is continuing to sign on to different roles than Fifty Shades was, as he will soon be taking on a voice role for Universal's sequel to Trolls coming in 2020.
Robin Hood and A Private War are now playing in theaters, while My Dinner with Hervé is available to watch on HBO.
