Jamie Dornan Said ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Review Comparing Him to Oatmeal ‘Stuck With Me’
Jamie Dornan is well known to pop culture fans thanks to his high-profile role in the Fifty Shades movies. Dornan, who had worked as a successful model before landing the role of Christian Grey, shot to fame after news of his casting was announced. He went on to appear in two sequels, achieving an impressive level of superstardom. Though fans loved Dornan’s work in the titillating series, critics were tougher on the Irish-born actor. In a 2020 interview, he opened up about one particularly scathing review that stuck with him.
Jamie Dornan opened up about a harsh critical review
In 2020, Jamie Dornan was fresh off the success of the Fifty Shades franchise and eager to prove his range and versatility in other acting projects. In a revealing interview with Vanity Fair, Dornan admitted he struggled with bad reviews after playing Christian Grey in the controversial film series.
“I went through a bad stage with Fifty Shades of reading a couple of really bad ones but then just finding them funny and letting them drive me,” Dornan admitted.
“One of them was ‘Jamie Dornan has the charisma of oatmeal,’ which — some people like oatmeal, so I thought it was kind of harsh. I remember that stuck with me, and I don’t entirely disagree with it either,” Dornan revealed.
He also noted he generally doesn’t make a habit out of reading reviews of his work, but his “bad stage” involved seeking out what critics had to say about his performance as Christian Grey.
What did Jamie Dornan say about the criticism for ‘Fifty Shades’?
The Fifty Shades franchise is based on a series of popular books, which also received their fair share of bad press. Still, Dornan maintains that doing the movies was a boon to his career, even if many critics didn’t have good things to say.
“The thing that I’m probably most famous for is a monsterly successful franchise that was not critically loved,” Dornan said. “It’s a strange thing going into those films knowing that you’re going to be in a franchise that will probably make so much money and get negatively reviewed because those books made so much money and were really negatively reviewed.”
In the end, Dornan noted, it all comes back to the quality of his work. “I want to try to do as much great work as I can — diverse and interesting work,” the actor explained.
In a separate interview with GQ, Dornan said that, if anything, the bad reviews and criticism he received encouraged him to try harder.
“Look, I get it, and, to be honest with you, it spurs me on. It lights a fire in me,” he revealed.
What is the actor doing now?
Though many fans still know Jamie Dornan best as Christian Grey, he’s made many interesting career decisions in recent years. From the 2018 biographical drama A Private War to the 2021 Kenneth Branagh project Belfast, the actor has proven he’s capable of tackling any role that comes his way.
For his work in Belfast, Dornan received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor, according to IMDb. Though critics lambasted his acting in the Fifty Shades franchise, Dornan has won over any reticent parties at this stage in the game.
