JKING/FAMEFLYNET PICTURESJamie Dornan makes for a convincing serial killer and sadomasochist onscreen (in The Fall and Fifty Shades of Grey, respectively), but in real life, he's a nice guy—really!
"I consider myself quite light-hearted, pretty easy-going, and I keep playing sick psychopath bastards!" he told the U.K.'s Guardian in an interview published Wednesday. "It kinda worries me sometimes how comfortable I am in that zone."
From the get-go, the Northern Irish actor has made it pretty clear he's not anything like Christian Grey, the S&M-obsessed bad boy he brought to life on the big screen. In fact, he finds it all somewhat comical. "There are times when I'll be like: ‘Huh, someone made a Fifty Shades movie, that's funny,'" he said. "And then I'll be like: 'Wait, I'm the guy?!'"
But he did sign up for Those Jeans and the Red Room of Pain. Why? "You know, I'm not naive as to why people would think it was a bad [career] choice, or why there is a snobbery about it," he told the Guardian. "But I'm also not stupid, and I knew with [director] Sam [Taylor-Johnson], and [cinematographer] Seamus McGarvey, the film would be in safe hands. And, you know, it does no harm to be in a film that makes half a billion dollars."
That said, neither Dornan nor co-star Dakota Johnson have publicly confirmed yet that they'll be returning for Fifty Shades Darker or Fifty Shades Freed. The Hollywood Reporter recently reported that negotiations are ongoing as both actors are angling for substantial pay increases.
And with all this up in the air, you have to wonder: Is Jamie even on board for the next two Fifty Shades films? "That was always the plan," he told the Guardian. As for whether the first film's acclaimed director will return for No. 2 and 3? "The plan was always for her [Sam] to do them, so hopefully that will happen," he said. "But I don't think it's going to be imminent."
The wait, no doubt, will be torturous.
(E! and Universal Pictures are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)