Jamie Dornan Interview on ‘The Fall,’ Sex Appeal, and ‘Once Upon a Time’

Jamie Dornan Interview on The Fall, Fifty Shades, and Once Upon a Time
Jamie Dorman in ‘The Fall’ season 2 (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

The Fall star Jamie Dornan’s poised to have very a huge 2015 career-wise. He’s got the lead role in the much-anticipated sexy film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey opening in theaters this Valentine’s Day and he’s also keeping busy doing other feature films including the dramatic film The 9th Life of Louis Drax based on the novel by Liz Jensen. But it was for Netflix’s second season of The Fall that I had the opportunity to grab a few minutes with Dornan along with a couple of other journalists.

Season two of the thriller is set to arrive on January 16, 2015 and during the winter TCA event, he talked about The Fall and his character as well as little on Fifty Shades and whether he’d like to reprise his role on Once Upon a Time.

The Fall Season 2 Plot: “Set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, season two picks up immediately from where series one left off, with Gibson in pursuit of Spector. A personal link from Spector’s past opens up some clues for Gibson but provokes Spector in a way that threatens to jeopardize the whole investigation. Gibson is forced to take greater risks, but the closer she comes to capturing him, the more Spector trespasses into her private world, delighting in taunting and provoking her. As the net gradually tightens around him, he becomes psychologically ever more dangerous and destructive.”

Jamie Dornan Interview

Are you prepared for how crazy this year is going to get for you or has it already begun?

Jamie Dornan: “Yeah, I don’t really know yet to be honest. I’m really only here to talk about The Fall so I guess so far this year feels pretty normal.”

Do you think Spector as a grief counselor understands that he is causing a lot of the trauma that he councils people for or has he completely compartmentalized it?

Jamie Dornan: “No, I think you’re dead-on. He’s all too aware of the damage he’s doing and I think that makes him all the more sinister, that he has an understanding of grief and how people deal with it and how to get people out of it. I think that makes it all the more sickening.”

Given your character and what’s in store, do you have a sense of how The Fall could continue past this season?

Jamie Dornan: “Yes, it’s something that I’ve spoken to Allan [Cubitt, writer/producer/director] about. I think he’s got different ideas about how it will continue either with me or if it will continue without me. That’s all sort of open. But, yeah, it’s whether there’s an appetite to have Gillian’s character try to track down another.”

What have you are the differences between shooting in Britain and America on TV shows?

Jamie Dornan: “I just think it’s a privilege to be able to do both, to work – for the start. Like, how many people do this for a living and don’t work, so I’m just so privileged to work at all. I agree with Gillian [Anderson] that there’s a very different feel to doing something in the U.K. to something here. I don’t think it’s as drastic as [Gillian] has said; I haven’t found it to be that black and white. I’ve had great experiences doing both and if I can I would like to continue doing both. I feel very tied to Ireland and the U.K. and that side of the world, so of course I want to keep doing stuff that’s sort of bedded there. But it’s fun to do America stuff as well.”

You’ve said in the past you want to do a role where you can keep your shirt on. What would be the ideal role for you?

Jamie Dornan: “The thing is you get like… [Laughing] Spector spends a lot of time with his shirt off but then I’ve sort of discovered that that is a kind of a thing as actors, they spend a lot of time with their shirt off. What did I watch recently? James Bond. I watched Skyfall again recently and Daniel Craig had his top off consistently. So yeah, maybe it’s just a thing that actors end up doing.”

So maybe a James Bond film would be something you’d like to do in the future?

Jamie Dornan: [Laughing] “I mean, what kid doesn’t grow up sort of pretending they’re James Bond. But that’s something I certainly don’t have control over.”

Is there any chance you might want to revisit Sheriff Graham in Once Upon a Time?

Jamie Dornan: “You know, I love those guys. They’re like family to me. I was actually filming something on the same lot as them just before Christmas. But, yeah, I don’t know. [Laughing] He’s kind of dead.”

But they do go back in time.

Jamie Dornan: “Yeah, I know, there are ways and means but that’s something that I’m not privy to.”

If you’re on the lot it doesn’t seem like it would be that tough to hop over and do a cameo or something. They wanted you last season and the fans really want you back.

Jamie Dornan: [Laughing] “Yeah, they’re hardcore fans as well.”

In addition to Fifty Shades of Grey you have a few films you’ve been working on. What can you say about them?

Jamie Dornan: “Yeah, I just finished in the middle of December this film called The 9th Life of Louis Drax directed by Alex Aja. It’s me and Aaron Paul, who’s obviously got big ties to Netflix, and Sarah Gadon. I think it’s going to come out this year. It’s a totally different departure. It’s kind of a suspense, almost supernatural thriller I would say, that’s how I would categorize it. But I’m so wary to categorize it because it’s kind of a hard film to pitch. I think that’s it… Oh, I did a very small part in a John Wells film.”

How do you handle roles that call for “sex appeal”?

Jamie Dornan: “It’s not something I think about, it’s written in.”

My female friends tell me it’s the scruff.

Jamie Dornan: “The beard? [Laughing] You’ve got the same.”

Speaking of sex appeal, Fifty Shades comes out on Valentine’s Day. Do you normally celebrate Valentine’s Day and what will you be doing on this particular one?

Jamie Dornan: “I’m not sure what I’m going to be doing. I’m probably going to be working, promoting stuff. I don’t really have a huge opinion about Valentine’s Day.”