Jamie Dornan was reluctant when the cult-classic Fifty Shades of Grey lead part was offered to him.
In a chat on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor reflected on his initial reaction to the 2015 film, noting that he felt “a bit of relief” after initially losing the part to Hunnam “because I knew that guy is going to get wrecked here.”
The 41-year-old continued. “[Hunnam] maybe felt the same … suddenly there I was, but with way less time to make a decision. I got cast five weeks before we started filming.”
The Irish actor also added the decision to come on board the erotic drama was not easy as he sought counsel from a large number of people, including friends, families, and co-actors.
“It wasn’t an instant yes by any means,” Dornan added. “It needed to be talked through. I sought counsel from friends, family, a lot of actors.”
Revealing his original reluctance cause, the star explained, “I knew that it came with all that baggage.”
“That the reality was it would make a ton of money and the fans would love and the critics would despise it. That’s what happened with the books and that’s what we were making. We were staying truthful to the books, and we knew what that would be.”
As Dornan expected, Fifty Shades of Grey raked in $1.3 billion worldwide but fared horribly on critics’ scores, registering only 24% on Rotten Tomatoes.
