It’s been a busy week for our favourite Irishman Jamie Dornan, who landed in the United States earlier this week for press and film work. The Untogether star made some appearances throughout Hollywood and LA this week to promote The Fall, Fifty Shades Darker and to commence his new film.
A busy husband and doting daddy to two precious girls, the star took part in the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Conversational Series on November 2nd, where he spoke to host Jenelle Riley (and an enthusiastic audience) about his role as Paul Spector in BBC Two’s chilling series, The Fall.
The audience was responsive and enthusiastic, laughing and joking along with Jamie and Jenelle, no doubt succumbing to Dornan’s ever charming personality. But things soon got serious as we started to delve into the mind of Paul Spector and Jamie’s perspective relevant to the character.
He spoke incredibly about the series and credits his success as the actor he is today to Spector. He’s built strong relationships with both co-star Gillian Anderson and creator Allan Cubitt, citing that they both believed in his ability as an actor.
Paul Spector’s life came to an unexpected and abrupt end last Friday, leaving fans dismayed and with so many unanswered questions. But how Jamie felt about it was more important. During the interview, Dornan said of leaving the show “It’s sort of, bereft that it’s over to be honest. I get quite emotional,” bearing the same emotions as fans of the show. “There was discussions of continuing it but the reality is, you can’t sustain audience interest with this particular case (…) as much I was all ‘Don’t kill me, don’t kill me,'” which unfortunately, was the outcome.
This isn’t the first time Jamie has had to die in a movie or series either. He’s done so in quite a few, actually. His first major role found him on ABC’s Once Upon A Time as Sheriff Graham who met his demise at the hands of the Evil Queen, and once more as Jan Kubis in Anthropoid; based on the true story of the assassination plot against Reinhardt Heinrich, Hitler’s third in command. “I die in everything… I kill myself at the end of (Anthropoid,)” Jamie explains, as if it’s almost second nature for his characters to die.
Dornan also shed light on a topic that most of us, if not all, are familiar with; that Spector was not the original role he auditioned for in The Fall. Detective Sergeant James Olson had a two episode part and that was the role that Dornan auditioned for; someone who (coincidentally) gets shot and ultimately dies, in the second episode. Dornan joked about how he went from auditioning for the good guy, to being the bad guy. When he got the call, he was dumbfounded. “I was called back from LA,” (to audition for the part) two days after he got engaged to now wife Amelia. “This role would change my life. I just knew it.” Dornan didn’t think twice about it and was on a flight back to the UK two days later. “I had a seven hour audition. I was knackered,” explaining how he performed an array of scenes for the part. It wasn’t long until it became apparent that Cubitt was onto something with Dornan. When Allan asked Gillian what she thought of the actor’s audition, she modestly replied “He’s the guy,” and once Allan had her support, (Cubitt) was convinced a lot easier.
Spector isn’t exactly an easy role to play, or an easy character to escape. When asked, Dornan explained how he gets out of Paul’s head and the struggle he sometime faces doing so. “I like to get out of his head because I find it a very unhealthy place to sustain myself.”
Jamie had nothing but positive and eloquent things to say regarding co-star Gillian Anderson. “She’s a dream,” Dornan proclaims, vocalizing his adoration for the X Files star. He recalls Season 2, Episode 6 of The Fall, where he and Anderson exchanged 14 pages of dialogue between them in a single scene. “It was the most satisfying day of my life,” (filming a record breaking scene with Anderson.) The pair have an incredible bond shared forever by the series which he’s sure will continue beyond the series end.
Jamie can’t offer much advice in terms of auditioning however. He’s had a few that haven’t gone over so well, as has any actor trying to make it big. Jamie auditioned for several roles in Hollywood musicals including Rock of Ages starring Tom Cruise. Of one specific musical audition, he says he sang the song (he was told to audition with) “the whole fucking way there. I brought a little quarter bottle of Jameson whiskey, and I was like, ‘OK I’m gonna drink this, it’s gonna give me a bit of Dutch courage and warm my vocal chords.” He ended up getting sick (from both nerves and whiskey combined) prior to the audition and explains bombing it in the end. He ended up apologizing for the audition and left on his own accord, embarrassed by the audition itself.
Jamie is in town not only for The Fall press, but to also begin filming on his new project Untogether. “I start filming this Friday. I get to hopefully be quite funny (…) I’ve wanted to do more comedic things for a long time,” whilst his fans agree. Jamie is charming, funny and comedic in his own way and we’ve been waiting to see that side of him portrayed on screen. About the Untogether cast, Jamie explains “It’s a really, cool group of people. Jemima Kirke, Lola Kirke, Billy Crystal…” You can’t get any more epic than that!
Jamie is also set to start filming Robin Hood: Origins in early 2017. “I start (Robin Hood) in January. I hope its bearded. It’s very cool. It’s fun to do, not those huge budget (OK, nineteen million is a lot of money), films. It’s not one of those (Avatar) movies (with a huge budget)” Jamie will play Will Scarlet, a prominent member of Robin’s Merry Men.
Watch Jamie’s full interview with the SAG-AFTRA Conversational Series here.
Check out stunning portraits of Jamie in our gallery from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversational Series below, and keep checking the site for relevant and up to date news on Jamie’s upcoming and current projects.
