Jamie Dornan “Hid” After ‘50 Shades Of Grey’ Reviews Came Out & Dreaded The “Damnation To Come” With The Sequels

If you look at it on paper, “50 Shades of Grey” was a massive hit. The film earned $571 million worldwide, off of a budget of only $40 million. Studios would kill for that type of success. You can see why the sequels were quickly made (they earned $381 million and $372 million worldwide, respectively). But box office doesn’t always translate to acclaim. And in the case of “50 Shades of Grey,” there was no denying the reviews didn’t match up to the box office receipts. And that was something that hit star Jamie Dornan hard.

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For those that don’t remember, “50 Shades of Grey” is the film based on the novel of the same name. The novel series is hugely popular, so there was little doubt that the film would do well. The story follows Christian Grey (Dornan), a massively rich, handsome man, who seduces a young lady (Dakota Johnson) and lures her into the world of BDSM. The film, which was directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, is often criticized for its really rough writing and not-so-great acting (which was hindered by the terrible dialogue). 

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As of this writing (and basically when the film was released), “50 Shades of Grey” has a 25% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means the vast majority of critics didn’t like the movie. So, at a time when Jamie Dornan should be celebrating the biggest box office of his career, and perhaps the film that would launch him into the A-list, he had to contend with reviewers shitting all over his movie. So what did Dornan do? In an interview with BBC’s Desert Island Discs, he explained.

“I think I hid,” Dornan said. “I was coming off the back of career-altering reviews for ‘The Fall’ and BAFTA nominations and all the madness ‘The Fall’ brought… to ridicule.”

He added, “We went down to Sam and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s place. They weren’t there. They let us have their place in the country and we sort of hid there for a while and shut ourselves off from the world a little bit… It made so much money so like… films two and three were greenlit overnight. It was a strange thing because there’s a bit of ridicule here and I’m now contracted to do two more, knowing that there will be much more damnation to come.”

That really is a strange position to be in. To be simultaneously excited by the prospects of making two additional blockbusters, but also knowing that if critics hated the first film, they’re likely going to destroy the next two. (Which they did, with “50 Shades Darker” and “50 Shades Freed” both earning 11% on Rotten tomatoes.)

Ultimately, as much as it must have been rough for Dornan at the time, the massive success of ‘50 Shades’ led to him getting a number of high–profile roles. And he continues to be an actor who gets some coveted gigs. His most recent work is the second season of “The Tourist,” a TV series that is headed to Netflix. He also was in last year’s “A Haunting in Venice,” which earned much better reviews than ‘50 Shades.’