Warning: SPOILERS are ahead for Wild Mountain Thyme.
Two years removed from Fifty Shades of Grey’s Christian Grey, Jamie Dornan has had no shortage of exciting opportunities to work with some incredible talents and filmmakers. The 38-year-old actor most recently starred alongside Emily Blunt in Wild Mountain Thyme, in which the two neighboring farmers whose awkward relationship gets challenged by some family farm drama. And Christopher Walken’s role as Dornan’s grumpy father fuels this conflict, though it ultimately led to a pretty emotional experience that left Dornan crying during a day on set.
Wild Mountain Thyme has an all-star cast, and Jamie Dornan is a pro by now. However, getting to play off an actor as legendary as Christopher Walken was an especially memorable experience for him. When gushing about the 77-year-old Catch Me If You Can actor, Dornan shared how genuinely emotional it became on set between the two:
He’s the sweetest guy, and he just broke my heart in that scene where he’s on his deathbed. I honestly cried all day. I didn’t stop crying that day, and it didn’t help that it was pouring. He was breaking my heart with the way he was delivering those words, and by the time we came around to my coverage, I was just this big, red, inflamed beetroot thing with tears in my eyes. I just couldn’t keep it together anymore. It was just all day of crying because he was just brilliant.
Jamie Dornan and Christopher Walken’s relationship in the film is a key emotional part of Wild Mountain Thyme, as Walken’s character blatantly announces in the beginning that he wouldn’t be leaving his Northern Ireland farm to his son. Dornan’s Anthony Reilly is a bumbling farmer who has some awkward tendencies. It sets the scene for an interesting conflict when Father Reilly ships in their American cousin, played by Jon Hamm.
According to Dornan’s words to The Hollywood Reporter, shooting Walken’s death scene on set was a big sob fest for him due to Walken’s convincing acting. Apparently, he just cried all day. It sounds like Dornan really loved his time working with the legendary actor, and Emily Blunt shared similar sentiments. When CinemaBlend spoke to Blunt and Dornan for the movie about her music number in the film, she shared her own emotional moment with Walken:
It certainly sounds like Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan had a blast on Wild Mountain Thyme, even if they were covered in hives for most of the shoot thanks to their allergies to livestock. The movie was written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, who previously made Doubt and Joe Versus the Volcano. However, the movie, which is based on his play Outside Mullingar, did not connect with audiences. CinemaBlend gave the film two out of five stars across an overall dismal reception from audiences.
The ending of Wild Mountain Thyme has especially been a topic of conversation since its release in December. Whether it swept you away or not, it was great to see Jamie Dornan and Christopher Walken get emotional as father and son. Wild Mountain Thyme is currently in select theaters and is also available to rent.
