Nearly four years removed from his last day on the set of a major studio franchise, Jamie Dornan has quickly amassed an intriguing slate of film and TV credits that suit his sensibilities like never before. Whether it’s Wild Mountain Thyme, a romantic drama co-starring Emily Blunt, or a return to his comedic roots alongside Kristin Wiig in Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Dornan has found his comfort zone.
This is especially true of Drake Doremus’ Endings, Beginnings, Dornan’s latest independent film that was completely improvised alongside Shailene Woodley and Sebastian Stan. The Irish actor, most known for Universal’s Fifty Shades franchise and BBC Two’s The Fall, admits that he’s most comfortable in the indie space.
“That is where I feel like I am the most comfortable,” Dornan tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It brings you closer, rather than a big studio movie where there’s four different setups and a guy on a crane that you’re never going to meet. It’s a much more close-knit environment, and I would try to do that my whole career if I can.”
For Dornan, the upcoming Wild Mountain Thyme was a dream come true since he got to perform a John Patrick Shanley script in his homeland of Ireland, opposite an actor like Blunt, whom he greatly admires.
“It was incredible. It happens sometimes where you work with someone and you just know they’re going to be a friend for life,” Dornan says of Blunt. “She’s one of those people where you’re like, ‘God, if you could do every movie with Emily Blunt, it’d be a great career.’ She’s such a force and a great actor above everything else. Yeah, to be able to say John Patrick Shanley’s words, which are magical, and to do it with the likes of Emily and Christopher Walken, while shooting in Ireland where I’m from, was one of those dream scenarios.”
In a recent conversation with THR, Dornan discusses improvising throughout Endings, Beginnings, working with Blunt in Wild Mountain Thyme and the differences between his dark characters on The Fall and his upcoming Peacock limited series, Dr. Death.
First things first, how’s everything with you and yours?
That’s very kind of you to ask. Everything is okay, I think. Like everyone else, we’re just like, “What the fuck is happening and how is long is it happening for?” I’ve got it better than most, I think. I know a few people who’ve had coronavirus, but they got through it and are okay. I know some people haven’t been great with it, but I don’t know anyone closely connected to me who’s died or anything. There’s people way worse off than us, and I’ve got my whole family with me; we’re all getting through this together. I guess that’s as much as you can really ask for in this situation.
Endings, Beginnings is so intimate that I felt like I was eavesdropping or invading the characters’ privacy. Did it feel just as intimate for you as a performer?
That’s a really lovely way of breaking it down, actually, and if you said those words to Drake, I think he’d be so happy. I feel like that is what he’s trying to create, often, in all of his work. He’s trying to drop you in the lives of his subjects, make you feel like they feel and get as close to something you can relate to as possible. I think he does that with the efficacy of the way he shoots, the lighting, the liberty of the dialogue and giving us the freedom to improvise with his words. All of that adds to making it feel like a more intimate thing than we’re used to seeing on a silver screen. Although, this won’t be on a silver screen, but you know what I mean. (Laughs.) So, I think that is definitely something he’s trying to achieve, and it’s cool to hear you say that.
