Fifty Shades of Grey: Jamie Dornan knew critics would despise the movies

The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy grossed $1.3 billion worldwide but each film was absolutely trashed by critics, and that’s something Jamie Dornan knew was coming.

While speaking with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Jamie Dornan discussed taking on the role of BDSM-loving businessman Christian Grey for Fifty Shades of Grey. Dornan originally lost out on the role to Charlie Hunnam, but when Hunnam had to drop out due to his commitments to Sons of Anarchy, Dornan was brought back.

“When I didn’t get it, I felt a bit of relief because I knew that guy is going to get wrecked here,” Dornan said. “He 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. I knew that it came with all that baggage… that the realty 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.“

Jamie Dornan’s prediction turned out to be true, with Fifty Shades of Grey scoring 25% on Rotten Tomatoes and the sequels faring even worse, with Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed scoring just 11% each. Despite those rough reviews, it’s clear that the trilogy has more than its fair share of fans. “Movies that are made for the fans that fans love can be seen as a success,” Dornan said. “I’m grateful that Dakota and I have managed to come out [in the years since] and make work that people still like and have had some of those said critics do a bit of a 180.“

Jamie Dornan can currently be seen starring alongside Gal Gadot in Heart of Stone on Netflix. The Wonder Woman actress stars as an intelligence operative for a shadowy global peacekeeping agency that races to stop a hacker from stealing its most valuable and dangerous weapon. The film is now streaming on Netflix and you can check out a review of the action thriller from our own Alex Maidy right here.