paular56: "He's going to Dublin"
Saturday, February 28, 2015
'Fifty Shades of Grey' Stunt Coordinator Melissa Stubbs Talks About Filming Process and Mentions Jamie
Esquire - Raiders of the Lost Ark is the pinnacle of blockbuster filmmaking because Steven Spielberg deals in optical illusions. Editing, suggestion creates energy. We see high angles, low angles, villain shots, hero shots, punches in close-up, beads of sweat punched in even tighter, then — boom — a danger-filled stunt packed in a wide frame. It's calculated and thrilling.
There aren't car flips, bare-knuckle brawling or explosions exploding out of explosions in the subdued hit Fifty Shades of Grey, and yet the film's sexual encounters speak the same language as an Indiana Jones movie. The experimental passion that erupts between Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and bondage connoisseur Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) is artful and precise, building sensations out of implication rather than sustained, gratuitous moves. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson comes from the visual art world, where her body of work has been praised for examining "the split between being and appearance, often placing her human subjects – either singly or in groups – in situations where the line between interior and external sense of self is in conflict." That's Fifty Shades too, a meticulous orchestration of portraiture and movement, cobbled together with Spielberg bravado.
Like Raiders, Fifty Shades is a movie where the stunts make or break the action's magnetic quality. To believe Christian and Anastasia's relationship is to buy Dornan and Johnson in the Red Room, ties, floggers, and anything else in play. To execute these physically and emotionally involved sequences, Fifty Shades recruited stunt coordinator Melissa Stubbs, whose resume includes The Last Samurai, the X-Men series, stunt-doubling for Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the upcoming Terminator Genisys and over 25 years executing stunts for jobs big and small. Speaking to Esquire from Los Angeles, Stubbs likened the sex in Fifty Shades to a coordinated fight scene, planned and ingrained in the actors' minds.
"It was a lot of working with Sam Taylor-Johnson and the actors, getting to a place where [Jamie Dornan] could play dominant," Stubbs said. "They wanted it to look realistic and keep it true to the book. So my purpose was helping the actors to get there without hurting them. My job description can be anything to a martial arts teacher to rolling a car. This was a completely different thing. It was about helping the actors getting to where they needed to go."
Stubbs recalled that she and the Fifty Shades team spent two weeks researching and developing a layout for Christian's Red Room, learning what accessories their lead character would keep in his home and weighing each item's visual appeal. In a mock Red Room layout, Stubbs became her own Anastasia stand-in, engaging with various setups to see how they would play on screen. The stuntwoman worked with a bondage tech advisor that instructed the production on tools, devices, and ropes used in regular practice. Stubbs and the design team toiled over the simplest knots. "We played with them, [finding] visual ideas for Sam," she said. "If you look at Sam's work as a visual artist and photographer, you'll see interesting images of human art, physical art, of subjects hanging."
There's only so much that a stunt team can fake when a scene requires two bare actors and a series of rough maneuvers. The rack where Christian hangs Anastasia had few modifications, save for some off-camera comforts. The duo's actual "play" couldn't fake contact. Props had to move like real bondage toys to give Taylor-Johnson options in the editing room. Stubbs worked with prop master Dan Sissons to design whips that had soft leather or rabbit fur tips to avoid hurting Johnson, or leaving a mark on her. Takes involving Dornan and Johnson varied from calm to quite violent (a salaciousness that rarely shows its face in the finished film).
Stubbs couldn't laud Johnson's commitment to the Red Room scenes enough. "She was completely naked and vulnerable," said Stubbs. "It's fine if it's an intimate setting with your actor and director, but you have an entire film crew in the room. There were shots where she was flogged, but in the most gentle, controlled manner possible. It was a tough couple of weeks for her."
While the glimpse of a whip may provoke audience reactions, many of Fifty Shades provocative beats were dependent on Dornan and Johnson's performances. Body language was as important as bodily reactions. Stubbs talked about a scene where Jamie crops Dakota to stage combat. "If someone gets punched, we don't actually punch someone," she said. "It's a swing and a miss, but the use the actor's reaction sells that they were struck." Very little of the sex in Fifty Shades was "blocked," leaving intimate movements up the actors and their character motivations. Stubbs said that there was pre-shoot training, but it was all in preparation to work "freestyle," ingraining this behind-closed-doors acts into the actors' repertoire. "My job is not how to tell Jamie how to move sexually," she said. "It's his decision and a private one."
As a stunt coordinator, Stubbs was on standby throughout the shoot, a pair of eyes who could step in when a move wasn't working. She could offer alternatives, descriptive explanation. "Sometimes you're a fly on the wall and gently get them pointed on the right direction from their character point, from a safety point," she says. Dornan and Johnson's simulated moves had to look convincing, and, even more importantly, they had to be repeatable. Each shot could take four hours.
Despite surface appearances, nothing in the Red Room was as painful for Johnson as one of the film's minor, fully-clothed moments. When she walks into Christian's office for the first time, Anastasia takes a nasty pratfall on to the marble floor — which was completely real. "That's 100 percent Dakota and she probably did 23 takes of falling on her face to the ground." Stubbs thought Dakota was anticipating the fall, losing the spontaneity of the gag. The more takes she did, the more mechanical it became. So, knowing Dakota was committed to making it work, Stubbs hid behind lens, grabbed her foot, and assisted her fall. "It's the little things that can be the most difficult sometimes, and not making things more than they need to be," Stubbs says. "[Dakota] is a trooper. She was fully committed."
Stubbs' contributions to Fifty Shades of Grey are hard to trace. She prides herself on it. A move that went too soft could pull a viewer out of the movie and have them questioning the core relationship. Too hard of a hit sends the movie into camp territory, a movie that's about bondage as opposed to challenged by the lifestyle. Like Spielberg's whirlwind car chases, the sex in Fifty Shades just… happens. And, with the film killing it at the box office, it'll likely happen again. Stubbs says, if production sticks the course, cameras will roll on the Fifty Shades sequel in June. Whether the coordinator be on board a second time is uncertain, but she expects the on-set stunt methodology to remain the same: Work safe, work smart, and above all else, sell the illusion.
There aren't car flips, bare-knuckle brawling or explosions exploding out of explosions in the subdued hit Fifty Shades of Grey, and yet the film's sexual encounters speak the same language as an Indiana Jones movie. The experimental passion that erupts between Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and bondage connoisseur Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) is artful and precise, building sensations out of implication rather than sustained, gratuitous moves. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson comes from the visual art world, where her body of work has been praised for examining "the split between being and appearance, often placing her human subjects – either singly or in groups – in situations where the line between interior and external sense of self is in conflict." That's Fifty Shades too, a meticulous orchestration of portraiture and movement, cobbled together with Spielberg bravado.
Like Raiders, Fifty Shades is a movie where the stunts make or break the action's magnetic quality. To believe Christian and Anastasia's relationship is to buy Dornan and Johnson in the Red Room, ties, floggers, and anything else in play. To execute these physically and emotionally involved sequences, Fifty Shades recruited stunt coordinator Melissa Stubbs, whose resume includes The Last Samurai, the X-Men series, stunt-doubling for Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the upcoming Terminator Genisys and over 25 years executing stunts for jobs big and small. Speaking to Esquire from Los Angeles, Stubbs likened the sex in Fifty Shades to a coordinated fight scene, planned and ingrained in the actors' minds.
"It was a lot of working with Sam Taylor-Johnson and the actors, getting to a place where [Jamie Dornan] could play dominant," Stubbs said. "They wanted it to look realistic and keep it true to the book. So my purpose was helping the actors to get there without hurting them. My job description can be anything to a martial arts teacher to rolling a car. This was a completely different thing. It was about helping the actors getting to where they needed to go."
Stubbs recalled that she and the Fifty Shades team spent two weeks researching and developing a layout for Christian's Red Room, learning what accessories their lead character would keep in his home and weighing each item's visual appeal. In a mock Red Room layout, Stubbs became her own Anastasia stand-in, engaging with various setups to see how they would play on screen. The stuntwoman worked with a bondage tech advisor that instructed the production on tools, devices, and ropes used in regular practice. Stubbs and the design team toiled over the simplest knots. "We played with them, [finding] visual ideas for Sam," she said. "If you look at Sam's work as a visual artist and photographer, you'll see interesting images of human art, physical art, of subjects hanging."
There's only so much that a stunt team can fake when a scene requires two bare actors and a series of rough maneuvers. The rack where Christian hangs Anastasia had few modifications, save for some off-camera comforts. The duo's actual "play" couldn't fake contact. Props had to move like real bondage toys to give Taylor-Johnson options in the editing room. Stubbs worked with prop master Dan Sissons to design whips that had soft leather or rabbit fur tips to avoid hurting Johnson, or leaving a mark on her. Takes involving Dornan and Johnson varied from calm to quite violent (a salaciousness that rarely shows its face in the finished film).
Stubbs couldn't laud Johnson's commitment to the Red Room scenes enough. "She was completely naked and vulnerable," said Stubbs. "It's fine if it's an intimate setting with your actor and director, but you have an entire film crew in the room. There were shots where she was flogged, but in the most gentle, controlled manner possible. It was a tough couple of weeks for her."
While the glimpse of a whip may provoke audience reactions, many of Fifty Shades provocative beats were dependent on Dornan and Johnson's performances. Body language was as important as bodily reactions. Stubbs talked about a scene where Jamie crops Dakota to stage combat. "If someone gets punched, we don't actually punch someone," she said. "It's a swing and a miss, but the use the actor's reaction sells that they were struck." Very little of the sex in Fifty Shades was "blocked," leaving intimate movements up the actors and their character motivations. Stubbs said that there was pre-shoot training, but it was all in preparation to work "freestyle," ingraining this behind-closed-doors acts into the actors' repertoire. "My job is not how to tell Jamie how to move sexually," she said. "It's his decision and a private one."
As a stunt coordinator, Stubbs was on standby throughout the shoot, a pair of eyes who could step in when a move wasn't working. She could offer alternatives, descriptive explanation. "Sometimes you're a fly on the wall and gently get them pointed on the right direction from their character point, from a safety point," she says. Dornan and Johnson's simulated moves had to look convincing, and, even more importantly, they had to be repeatable. Each shot could take four hours.
Despite surface appearances, nothing in the Red Room was as painful for Johnson as one of the film's minor, fully-clothed moments. When she walks into Christian's office for the first time, Anastasia takes a nasty pratfall on to the marble floor — which was completely real. "That's 100 percent Dakota and she probably did 23 takes of falling on her face to the ground." Stubbs thought Dakota was anticipating the fall, losing the spontaneity of the gag. The more takes she did, the more mechanical it became. So, knowing Dakota was committed to making it work, Stubbs hid behind lens, grabbed her foot, and assisted her fall. "It's the little things that can be the most difficult sometimes, and not making things more than they need to be," Stubbs says. "[Dakota] is a trooper. She was fully committed."
Stubbs' contributions to Fifty Shades of Grey are hard to trace. She prides herself on it. A move that went too soft could pull a viewer out of the movie and have them questioning the core relationship. Too hard of a hit sends the movie into camp territory, a movie that's about bondage as opposed to challenged by the lifestyle. Like Spielberg's whirlwind car chases, the sex in Fifty Shades just… happens. And, with the film killing it at the box office, it'll likely happen again. Stubbs says, if production sticks the course, cameras will roll on the Fifty Shades sequel in June. Whether the coordinator be on board a second time is uncertain, but she expects the on-set stunt methodology to remain the same: Work safe, work smart, and above all else, sell the illusion.
Jennifer Morrison Mentions Jamie on Twitter
@jenmorrisonlive: ". @idie4louis I did. I am so happy for @JamieDornan He is one of my favorite people. so great to see him shine! #askjennifer #OnceUponATime"
@maci_mae_: "@jenmorrisonlive I would honestly bring back Graham. @JamieDornan Just because he's just too HOT!!!"
Friday, February 27, 2015
'Fifty Shades of Grey' Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey Talks About Filming Sex Scenes and Mentions Jamie
New York Times - To hear most actors tell it, filming sex scenes is no turn-on. There are big cameras, of course, and big crew members that come with them. It’s a performance with a stranger-turned-scene-partner, for a director who’s judging every caress and whimper. It’s the antithesis of hot, stars assure us on late-night TV; it’s awkward and tense. Speak to the filmmakers, though, and you get a different take.
“I personally am very excited when we shoot sex scenes,” said Sarah Treem, a creator of the Showtime series “The Affair.” “Because I think they can be transgressive; they can be very, very real.”
When they work, she added, “everybody actually enjoys them.”
Audiences certainly do, if the blockbuster success of “Fifty Shades of Grey” is any measure. But they are delicate moments to capture. “We did actually save the explicit sex to the final week” of shooting, said Seamus McGarvey, the cinematographer of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” based on E. L. James’s S-and-M-centered novel — though on-screen, some of the whipping is created via digital imagery.
To simulate sex, actors employ tricks: pillows between them, prosthetics and body stockings, and push-ups to get their muscles bulging. But the movement is often improvised. “If it’s overly rehearsed or overly thought through, it seems like a bad soft-core porn on Cinemax,” said Judd Apatow, the auteur of raunchy rom-coms (and a producer of “Girls”). In the forthcoming comedy “Trainwreck,” Mr. Apatow directed the writer and comedian Amy Schumer in her first big-screen sex scenes; she pumped herself up by listening to Beyoncé in her trailer.
On “Fatal Attraction,” Michael Douglas and Glenn Close were loosened up with Champagne and margaritas, said Adrian Lyne, the director of that sexually charged classic as well as “Indecent Proposal” and “Unfaithful.”
Naturally, not all steamy scenes are amorous. Some, like those in Jean-Marc Vallée’s “Wild” and “Dallas Buyers Club,” are meant to be uncomfortable, and those are among the most difficult to create.
In individual telephone conversations, these film professionals discussed one of the weirder aspects of their jobs, the logistics of sex on screen.
Write, rehearse and choreograph? Or just let the camera roll?
Seamus McGarvey: We did have rehearsals and to make the actors feel comfortable initially, look at how we might photograph the sex. Also, that suited the first few sex scenes, to have a slight awkwardness to them; the camera would be more at a distance. In the Red Room, when things heat up a little bit, that was less choreographed. Sometimes we would use a remotely operated camerahead so the actors wouldn’t have an operator leaning in.
Do you ask for nudity, and then worry about covering it up afterward?
McGarvey: We were protecting the actors. Jamie [Dornan] had a cover over his penis. Dakota [Johnson] had kind of a patch that went over her pubic area, and right round her whole body. We were in the curious situation, in postproduction, of adding [pubic hair]. I wouldn’t say it was one of the highlights of my career, but it certainly was one of the most surreal scenarios. We did have a butt double for Dakota. I had the pleasure of casting a nontattooed bottom — Surreal Scenario No. 2.
Sex scenes mean a small crew. But how close are the cameras and how many takes?
McGarvey: For the sex, we would always shoot with two cameras, so they wouldn’t have to do numerous takes. I have done sex scenes before that have more abandon, for instance, in “We Need to Talk About Kevin.” When I did that scene with Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly, with a 5D [camera], I was literally under the covers.
Jamie and His Dad Support "Fight on for Annie" Charity
Large
Here is some ways to help "Fight on for Annie" like Jamie and his dad Jim Dornan:
- You can donate to "Fight on for Annie" HERE
- You can order a "Fight on for Annie" wristband by e-mailing info@fightonforannie.com
About "Fight on for Annie" (you can find more info there)
Fight on for Annie was set up in memory of Anne O’Neill who lost her battle to pancreatic cancer on the 30th January 2014, aged 54. Anne was the beloved wife of Tom and mum of three children, Sinéad, Fergal and myself, Gráinne.
Mummy was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer in June 2013 and was given between 4 and 6 months to live. Mummy fought the disease for seven months, she was determined to beat pancreatic cancer and reminded positive throughout her battle.
Unfortunately the cancer was too aggressive as it was stage IV which meant that it had spread from her pancreas to her liver, lungs and back.
I have set up this fund to honour and commemorate my mummy’s life, she was not only a mum but my best friend.
My mummy was such a caring and giving person, always putting her children and others' needs in front of her own. I am forever thankful and blessed to call her my mummy, she is and always will be my inspiration and I want to continue to raise money and campaign in her memory.
I want to help prevent other families from having to experience this horrible disease and heartbreaking statistics. I want the survival rates to give people hope, not to fill them with fear and remove all hope for their loved ones who have pancreatic cancer. This is why I have founded ‘Fight on for Annie’.
You can follow "Fight on for Annie" Charity on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Writer Sarah Rainey Talks About Jamie - Two New/Old Pictures of Young Jamie
Jamie is third from left, front row |
Jamie is second from right, front row |
Telegraph - A tuneless chorus rang out from the assembly hall. Inside, lines of navy-uniformed pupils mumbled their way through the Latin verses of the school song. “Situs in monticulo, callide delectus / Omnibus rivalibus, invide conspectus,” we warbled. He was sitting in the back row of the upper level, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. His brown hair was mussed; his lips pursed. Though shoulder to shoulder with the other boys, somehow he stood apart; his dark eyes staring far beyond that grey Wednesday morning. “Pile of beauty, fitly placed, on a site commanding / On whom thy rivals gaze, envious of thy standing.” The words, I remember thinking, could have been written about him.
The bell rang and the students clambered to their feet. From my perch on the ground floor, I watched him sling his bag over his shoulder, straighten his blazer and line up to leave. His face caught the light; there was a hint of designer stubble even then, artfully shading those sculpted cheekbones. A friend clapped a hand on his shoulder and they shoved each other down the stairs, talking animatedly. As he neared the door, he turned his head and scanned the hall behind him, as if looking for something – or someone. I willed him to look my way – and suddenly, for one brief, fiery moment, our eyes met. And then he was gone into the playground.
I’ll admit it: “met” is a slight exaggeration. As is “fiery”. For the object of my assembly affections was none other than Jamie Dornan, model extraordinaire, hunk of the small screen and star of the film version of Fifty Shades of Grey.
The year was 1999 and the place was Methodist College Belfast, a red-brick grammar school on Belfast’s well-heeled Malone Road. Dornan, then 17, was in sixth form, and I, a pimply first former, was one of umpteen teenage girls drooling over him from afar. That final glance back into the assembly hall probably “met” all of our gazes, and has no doubt been remembered into adulthood as a corny chick-lit fantasy not dissimilar to mine.
As I tell anyone who will listen, Dornan and I grew up together in Belfast. He started at “Methody”, as the school is known to its pupils, in 1993; I in 1998. During our two, delicious years of overlapping education, I didn’t actually know him – but, boy, did I know of him. Dornan was on the 3rd XV rugby team, possessing even then an enviable physique (which he attributed to Big Macs and press-ups), and a drama whizz, starring in countless plays. Though he wasn’t tall for his age, girls – particularly friends of his sister, Liesa – thought he was “cute”. His first kiss, he has admitted, was behind the bike sheds, aged 12, a good five years before I and my moony friends arrived on the scene.
He’s come a long way since then. Few celebrities can claim to have shot to fame quite so suddenly: first, as the famous “Golden Torso” of the Calvin Klein underwear adverts and other half of the actress Keira Knightley; latterly as the rugged serial killer in Northern Ireland-based TV thriller The Fall; and most recently as the S&M-obsessed Christian Grey in EL James’s erotic thriller. Fewer still can claim the dubious accolade of having not one but three unauthorised biographies with almost identical titles (Jamie Dornan: Shades of Desire, Shades of Jamie Dornan and Fifty Shades of Jamie Dornan: The Biography) released about them within a matter of months. This week, Glamour magazine crowned him Sexiest Man of the Year, while advance ticket sales for the upcoming Fifty Shades film number 2.75 million.
His first print appearance was, of course, in our school magazine. Leafing through the 1999 edition, Dornan was far from the centre of attention he is today. He is briefly mentioned in the sports write-ups, for athletics, cricket and “assisting well at half-back” in a hotly-contested rugby match against rivals Coleraine. But he gets no special mention in school prize giving, nor as a member of the drama society. “He was very modest and one of his best subjects was drama,” recalls our former vice-principal, Norma Gallagher. “I remember him making a very good milkman in Blood Brothers and Baby Face in Bugsy Malone.” That face – striking even then – peers out from the back row of the sixth form committee photo, the boys’ tennis club shot, and again in the 3rd XV rugby team picture, where Dornan wears a navy and white collared shirt, shorts and knee-high socks.
Though few beyond his close friendship group knew at the time – and none of his admirers realised what pain lay behind that brooding exterior – his time at school was beset by unimaginable tragedy. Aged 15, he learned that his mother, Lorna, a nurse, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer – and, 18 months later, she died. To make things easier for his father, Jim, an obstetrician, Dornan became a border at school. Then, a year after his mother’s death, four of his classmates were killed in a car crash. It was an horrific blow, and I remember our headmaster, Dr Wilfred Mulryne, breaking the news in assembly. “It’s unbelievable to imagine four boys losing their lives in this way,” he said.
Dornan, a skilled guitar player, threw himself into music as therapy, eventually forming a band with another Methody boy, David Alexander, called Sons of Jim. They played folksy, acoustic sets, inspired by the likes of Bob Dylan and Buddy Holly, and recorded their own music. It was the stuff of teenage daydreams, schmaltzy tracks entitled “Fairytale” and “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”. I remember hearing them play once at Auntie Annie’s, a now-defunct ramshackle pub in the city centre, with a dark, grubby-floored room upstairs for up-and-coming bands. They were good, but not that good. He was, as ever, beautiful beyond belief.
In 2000, Dornan left school with three A-levels, in Classics, English and History of Art. He went off to Teesside University to study marketing, and our paths never crossed again. As I progressed through the awkward teenage years, Dornan’s star rose and rose: his band went on tour with the singer KT Tunstall; he signed with Select models; low-key gigs in TV and film eventually got him noticed – and the rest is history. But memories of our time together – and thoughts of what could have been – remain.
When I get together with old classmates, we still talk about that time the Jamie Dornan passed us in the corridor; how good he looked in his Methody rugby kit; that fabled look in assembly (sigh). And, still, every time I hear the school song, I think of him.
James Corden Mentions Jamie
E! Online - Too bad Corden isn't on the air just yet because we'd love to have seen the fun he would have had with Fifty Shades of Grey.
He hasn't seen the erotic movie yet, but said, "I cannot wait. I'm a huge fan of Jamie Dornan's," he said, before cracking, "And I love bondage. I'm just worried that it won't be dark enough for me. I'm into some quite dark stuff."
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
New Interview of Jamie with UTV
The Co Down star portrays the enigmatic character with “singular” tastes in the bedroom who embarks on a whirlwind and eye opening relationship with “innocent” student Anastasia Steele.
Dornan says of the film’s main characters: “What I think is so powerful is that these people are both making quite big compromises and having to open up a side of them that they aren’t necessarily comfortable with, or have never even explored, to enable them to be with each other.
“A big part of it is two people who know they want to be together but really have to make wild changes in who they are to have that happen.”
The character of Christian Grey is complex at best and Dornan admits he feels the crux of the story is how much Anastasia is able to “unlock” him.
“He wouldn’t expose too much about himself,” he adds. “But Ana unlocks this whole side to him and he breaks so many of his own rules. I think that is quite telling in how taken he is with her. She lets her so far in to his world.”
When it was announced that the bestselling novel from writer EL James would be brought to the big screen, fans of the book both pondered and despaired over which scenes – many of which contained some highly risqué moments – would be put on film.
One of the key scenes in both the novel and the movie is the initial meeting between Christian and Anastasia.
Dornan said: “We actually gave it two days to film it so we could really give it the attention it deserved.
“She gets to meet this guy that everyone wants to know about really and ends up being quite taken by him as he is with her. What ensues is a mad back and forth love story.”
Another pivotal moment from the book is when Anastasia sees Christian’s “playroom” for the first time and gets a sneak peek into his world.
No doubt an important set piece during the film’s production, Dornan admits he took the opportunity to spend quite some time in Christian’s Red Room – all in the name of immersing himself in the character.
“I did want to spend a bit of time in the Red Room, so I was left alone in there a couple of times,” he explained.
“It was really important that Dakota (Johnson, who plays Anastasia) hadn’t seen the red room until we shot the first scene in it. That’s how we did it – we open the door and turn on the lights and that was legitimately the first time that Dakota saw the room – I think that’s really important.”
Of his Fifty Shades co-star, he added: “Dakota is great fun, I consider myself to be funny I guess, which I probably shouldn’t, but we have a thing where we will try to outdo each other sometimes with humour.
“I think that kind of essential going into a job where there are scenes that are quite intense. You need to have that humour to appease the situation.
“And she is also very professional, so when it mattered we were very much in the game.”
Navigating the two actors through the world of Fifty Shades of Grey was director Sam Taylor-Wood.
“I always trusted that Sam was the right person to be in charge of this film,” said Dornan. “I think it is important to have a woman, not that I’m saying that any old woman could have directed this, but because it comes from Anastasia’s perspective, I think it was important to have a woman.
“Sam has dealt with sex in her past work in a very classy way and in a very dignified and demure way, but kept it sexy without it being gratuitous or over the top.
“We always trusted that Sam had our back in that and was there to protect us and those scenes would be handled correctly in a way that we were all comfortable with.”
Source
Dornan says of the film’s main characters: “What I think is so powerful is that these people are both making quite big compromises and having to open up a side of them that they aren’t necessarily comfortable with, or have never even explored, to enable them to be with each other.
“A big part of it is two people who know they want to be together but really have to make wild changes in who they are to have that happen.”
The character of Christian Grey is complex at best and Dornan admits he feels the crux of the story is how much Anastasia is able to “unlock” him.
“He wouldn’t expose too much about himself,” he adds. “But Ana unlocks this whole side to him and he breaks so many of his own rules. I think that is quite telling in how taken he is with her. She lets her so far in to his world.”
When it was announced that the bestselling novel from writer EL James would be brought to the big screen, fans of the book both pondered and despaired over which scenes – many of which contained some highly risqué moments – would be put on film.
One of the key scenes in both the novel and the movie is the initial meeting between Christian and Anastasia.
Dornan said: “We actually gave it two days to film it so we could really give it the attention it deserved.
“She gets to meet this guy that everyone wants to know about really and ends up being quite taken by him as he is with her. What ensues is a mad back and forth love story.”
Another pivotal moment from the book is when Anastasia sees Christian’s “playroom” for the first time and gets a sneak peek into his world.
No doubt an important set piece during the film’s production, Dornan admits he took the opportunity to spend quite some time in Christian’s Red Room – all in the name of immersing himself in the character.
“I did want to spend a bit of time in the Red Room, so I was left alone in there a couple of times,” he explained.
“It was really important that Dakota (Johnson, who plays Anastasia) hadn’t seen the red room until we shot the first scene in it. That’s how we did it – we open the door and turn on the lights and that was legitimately the first time that Dakota saw the room – I think that’s really important.”
Of his Fifty Shades co-star, he added: “Dakota is great fun, I consider myself to be funny I guess, which I probably shouldn’t, but we have a thing where we will try to outdo each other sometimes with humour.
“I think that kind of essential going into a job where there are scenes that are quite intense. You need to have that humour to appease the situation.
“And she is also very professional, so when it mattered we were very much in the game.”
Navigating the two actors through the world of Fifty Shades of Grey was director Sam Taylor-Wood.
“I always trusted that Sam was the right person to be in charge of this film,” said Dornan. “I think it is important to have a woman, not that I’m saying that any old woman could have directed this, but because it comes from Anastasia’s perspective, I think it was important to have a woman.
“Sam has dealt with sex in her past work in a very classy way and in a very dignified and demure way, but kept it sexy without it being gratuitous or over the top.
“We always trusted that Sam had our back in that and was there to protect us and those scenes would be handled correctly in a way that we were all comfortable with.”
Source
'Once Upon a Time' Producers Talk About Jamie
No suprise, Jamie Dornan won't be returning to "Once Upon a Time" any time soon.
On Tuesday, during a Q&A with press to promote the ABC show's midseason return, Executive Producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis fielded a question about whether there was a chance the "Fifty Shades of Grey" actor could come back as Sheriff Graham/The Huntsman.
"Uh… no," Eddy said, making the press chuckle with the way he delivered his answer.
"I would love to have Christian Grey back, in fact, when we were up there filming [Episode] 13 [of Season 4], we got to hang out with him… but I don't know if you know this, he's a huge movie star," Eddy continued, adding a little more humor in. "And his schedule is such that flying him back to Vancouver -- we'd love to have him and if the schedules ever worked out, everyone would be thrilled to have The Huntsman back."
Just to prove there was no possibility presently, Eddy pointed to Jamie's workload.
"I can tell you that his schedule this year is non-stop," Eddy said.
"The character lives on -- on DVD," Adam added.
Jamie returned to the show in Seasons 1 and 2, following his character's death, the last time in a Storybrooke origins plotline.
"Jamie's a great friend of us and he's like family to the show," Eddy said on Tuesday.
Source
On Tuesday, during a Q&A with press to promote the ABC show's midseason return, Executive Producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis fielded a question about whether there was a chance the "Fifty Shades of Grey" actor could come back as Sheriff Graham/The Huntsman.
"Uh… no," Eddy said, making the press chuckle with the way he delivered his answer.
"I would love to have Christian Grey back, in fact, when we were up there filming [Episode] 13 [of Season 4], we got to hang out with him… but I don't know if you know this, he's a huge movie star," Eddy continued, adding a little more humor in. "And his schedule is such that flying him back to Vancouver -- we'd love to have him and if the schedules ever worked out, everyone would be thrilled to have The Huntsman back."
Just to prove there was no possibility presently, Eddy pointed to Jamie's workload.
"I can tell you that his schedule this year is non-stop," Eddy said.
"The character lives on -- on DVD," Adam added.
Jamie returned to the show in Seasons 1 and 2, following his character's death, the last time in a Storybrooke origins plotline.
"Jamie's a great friend of us and he's like family to the show," Eddy said on Tuesday.
Source
Jamie's Rep Debunks Recent Rumors
From People
Fifty Shades of Grey will not be losing its original Christian Grey, despite recent rumors that Jamie Dornan would be leaving the blockbuster franchise.
"Jamie is delighted that the film is breaking box office records worldwide and whilst the studio has not made any formal announcements about sequels, he is looking forward to making the next film," Dornan's rep confirmed to PEOPLE Wednesday, adding that the actor will not be making further statements for the time being.
From Gossip Cop
Dornan has NOT quit the film franchise. His rep tells Gossip Cop exclusively that talk of Dornan bailing on Fifty Shades of Grey is “pure conjecture as the studio has not committed to a sequel as yet.” We also reached out to Focus Features, the film company behind the movie, and were told that they hadn’t heard anything about Dornan dropping out. Focus Features similarly reiterated that there’s no news yet about a second film. Gossip Cop will continue to follow the story.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Jamie on the cover of InStyle Men Germany (March 2015)
Update: Added non-scan picture and UHQ scans
Original Cover - HQ
Source | @FiftyShadesEN | The50ShadesWorld
New/Old Picture of Jamie with Photographers Hunter & Gatti
Click for full size |
Hunter & Gatti: "Jamie Dornan with Hunter & Gatti #fiftyshadesofgrey #manoftheyear"
Monday, February 23, 2015
Sam Taylor-Johnson Talks About Jamie and Dakota
JANE CAMPION: When I met you, I was really struck by how beautiful you are. You have a curious strength and humanity, kindness, and vulnerability. I know you must be ambitious, but there's nothing of the male-directed machine about you. Clearly you have your opinions, but you're not at all aggressive in your manner. Is that how things work with you on the set with your collaborators, as a director? How do you get what you want?
SAM TAYLOR-JOHNSON: With a movie like this, I had to build trust and make Dakota and Jamie feel secure that they'd never be violated or put in a position where I was going to take advantage. I had just a few weeks to build an enormous security blanket around the three of us. Whatever we did was a discussion and a place of love and safety. Not too far from what we were talking about, really.
JANE CAMPION: With Dakota, it's easy to understand, because women are so used to being objectified sexually, but for Jamie, was that a struggle for him at all?
TAYLOR-JOHNSON: I think Jamie was definitely a little shy. His wife, Millie, just had a baby about four days, I think, before we started shooting. To be in the head space of a new father, very protective of the world, and then to step into this role of powerful dominant—it took enormous courage for him to be able to do that and be naked and be sexual at a time when he was feeling very different. I think both of them struggled with the nudity and the sex. They were both fully aware that that was what they signed on for, but when it comes to that moment, both of them were terrified of where we were going to go. Everyone said, "What was the chemistry like? Was it powerful?" As you well know, when you're shooting an incredibly erotic scene, you've got your gaffers and your grips and your lighting and your sound. [Campion laughs] It's hard to create that intimacy.
Read full interview HERE
via @Shades_Blog
Eddie Redmayne Talks About Jamie and 'Fifty Shades of Grey'
Long before his Oscar glory, Eddie Redmayne was roommates with another actor whose career was then on the rise – Jamie Dornan.
"We used to come to LA and we'd go and we'd sort of rent somewhere or stay on friends' floors and go to auditions and fail to get parts," Eddie told Access Hollywood's Billy Bush on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday night.
Eddie – who won the Oscar for Best Actor – said the "Fifty Shades of Grey" star is one of his "best mates," but he admitted he hasn't had the opportunity to see his pal's blockbuster film.
"I haven't seen the film yet because I've been shooting a film in London, but of course we've spoken about it," he explained. "I think it was quite an extraordinary experience for him."
Newlywed Eddie – who married Hannah Bagshawe in December – told Billy he's unsure if his wife will see "Fifty Shades."
"I'd have to ask her," he said. "I think it's a bit weird when it's your friend."
"We used to come to LA and we'd go and we'd sort of rent somewhere or stay on friends' floors and go to auditions and fail to get parts," Eddie told Access Hollywood's Billy Bush on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday night.
Eddie – who won the Oscar for Best Actor – said the "Fifty Shades of Grey" star is one of his "best mates," but he admitted he hasn't had the opportunity to see his pal's blockbuster film.
"I haven't seen the film yet because I've been shooting a film in London, but of course we've spoken about it," he explained. "I think it was quite an extraordinary experience for him."
Newlywed Eddie – who married Hannah Bagshawe in December – told Billy he's unsure if his wife will see "Fifty Shades."
"I'd have to ask her," he said. "I think it's a bit weird when it's your friend."
Sunday, February 22, 2015
New Interview of Jamie with Huffington Post UK
Jamie Dornan could be forgiven for keeping quiet on the subject of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. With so much hype around the film in general, and his enigmatic character Christian Grey in particular, every word he utters has been jumped on dissected, with some critics of the film saying it advocates sexual abuse, and others complaining it doesn’t reflect the world of submission and dominance.
However, when he sat down with HuffPost UK last week for his very, very last interview for the film, he put up a passionate defence of the world that many cinema-goers will be witnessing for the first time.
“The thing about it is, it’s very legit,” he exclaims, admitting that he knew nothing about the world of BDSM before he had to do his research for the film, and ended up in someone else’s red room – “an interesting Tuesday night” he remembers.
“My whole thing about that world is that no one’s dragging you into it, it’s not prostitution, there’s no pimps involved,” he goes on.
“There are as many men as women who are submissives. They’ve chosen it, they want it that’s what they’ve asked for, that’s what they’re into, and we can’t bemoan them for being into that.”
Beautiful word that, bemoan. He’s still pondering…
“Some people like that, and it’s often very powerful people, and it’s often people like Christian Grey who are submissives actually. He was a submissive in the story for a long time. So, it’s people who exert power all day at work, and work finishes and they want to release themselves of all power, and I understand that.”
Jamie’s frowning now, removing his baseball cap and ruffling his hair in concentration.
“I’m having to defend it a lot,” he looks sheepish suddenly, about having such a strong opinion of something he's so new to. “I’m not into it, I play a character who’s into it, it wouldn’t do it for me either way, but I can understand people who are into it.
“The whole movement of S&M is built around trust, and if it goes beyond, if a man or woman is too close to it becoming pain rather than pleasure, there’s a word, that’s what safe words are for, and then if it goes too far, there’s a word and it stops.
“And they’re really serious about that, there’s no sense of saying the safe word but keeping going, the whole thing is built around that. I’m so defensive of it, because no one’s doing it against their will, it’s all consensual, that’s all I can say about it.”
What about all those people set on judgement of the film, before it even came out? He shrugs.
“Of course, but fucking hell, people are… idiots.”
And there you have it. Meanwhile, of his own role, following that of serial killer Paul Spector in BBC drama ‘The Fall’, he says he’s not that worried about typecasting… yet.
“I consider Spector and Christian Grey to be very different characters and hopefully I haven’t given the same performance twice,” he ruminates.
“I get why people make comparisons, but for me they’re both very intriguing, complicated characters who are tortured, but for very different reasons.
“Of course, but playing sexual sadists for life? Probably not, I don’t want to, but I’m very happy exploring characters who are hard to get inside the mind of, and to understand, and that will always appeal to me, but I also think I have something a little bit lighter in there, and I would like to play somebody at some stage who’s not fucked up.”
Source
However, when he sat down with HuffPost UK last week for his very, very last interview for the film, he put up a passionate defence of the world that many cinema-goers will be witnessing for the first time.
“The thing about it is, it’s very legit,” he exclaims, admitting that he knew nothing about the world of BDSM before he had to do his research for the film, and ended up in someone else’s red room – “an interesting Tuesday night” he remembers.
“My whole thing about that world is that no one’s dragging you into it, it’s not prostitution, there’s no pimps involved,” he goes on.
“There are as many men as women who are submissives. They’ve chosen it, they want it that’s what they’ve asked for, that’s what they’re into, and we can’t bemoan them for being into that.”
Beautiful word that, bemoan. He’s still pondering…
“Some people like that, and it’s often very powerful people, and it’s often people like Christian Grey who are submissives actually. He was a submissive in the story for a long time. So, it’s people who exert power all day at work, and work finishes and they want to release themselves of all power, and I understand that.”
Jamie’s frowning now, removing his baseball cap and ruffling his hair in concentration.
“I’m having to defend it a lot,” he looks sheepish suddenly, about having such a strong opinion of something he's so new to. “I’m not into it, I play a character who’s into it, it wouldn’t do it for me either way, but I can understand people who are into it.
“The whole movement of S&M is built around trust, and if it goes beyond, if a man or woman is too close to it becoming pain rather than pleasure, there’s a word, that’s what safe words are for, and then if it goes too far, there’s a word and it stops.
“And they’re really serious about that, there’s no sense of saying the safe word but keeping going, the whole thing is built around that. I’m so defensive of it, because no one’s doing it against their will, it’s all consensual, that’s all I can say about it.”
What about all those people set on judgement of the film, before it even came out? He shrugs.
“Of course, but fucking hell, people are… idiots.”
And there you have it. Meanwhile, of his own role, following that of serial killer Paul Spector in BBC drama ‘The Fall’, he says he’s not that worried about typecasting… yet.
“I consider Spector and Christian Grey to be very different characters and hopefully I haven’t given the same performance twice,” he ruminates.
“I get why people make comparisons, but for me they’re both very intriguing, complicated characters who are tortured, but for very different reasons.
“Of course, but playing sexual sadists for life? Probably not, I don’t want to, but I’m very happy exploring characters who are hard to get inside the mind of, and to understand, and that will always appeal to me, but I also think I have something a little bit lighter in there, and I would like to play somebody at some stage who’s not fucked up.”
Source
Dakota Mentions Jamie
Q: What was your experience working with Jamie Dornan?
JOHNSON: Jamie was awesome! He was always very supporting and protective of me. We were able to laugh a lot while we were on the set and that made everything so much easier. He was very kind and gentle and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to be working with while we were doing those scenes and making the film.
Source
New Pictures of Jamie from Today (February 22)
canerdaywood: "Omg. Life. Made. Lovely, sweet bloke. Met him at the @fishwifestudio launch at #frenchhouse #jamiedornan"
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