Jamie Dornan has come a long way since his breakout film, Fifty Shades of Grey. Rated one star on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie drew mixed reactions that almost hurt the actor's career and personal life. Now, he's reclaiming his craft in his new HBO series, The Tourist after starring in the comedy Barb and Star Go To Vista del Mar. In this new show, he plays a character who's going through a deep existential crisis — a challenge that took a toll on the actor's own mental health.
Why Jamie Dornan Decided To Do 'The Tourist'
In a recent interview with Collider, Dornan revealed that the script and some tests got him to join the show. "We did a couple of alternate endings and we played around with stuff, but that was enough to know that it was something I wanted to be involved in," he shared. "I felt like there was just so much going on, and so many exciting and unexpected twists along the way, and things for me to grab a hold of, as an actor, that I was in." When asked how he picked his next project, he said it was "a challenge."
"It's just a challenge. It's simply that. You can never predict where your head is gonna be, in a year or two years or three years," he explained. "I've always said, you cannot plan in this industry. No matter who you are or what's offered to you, whether you can't get an audition for two years or whether you're being offered every single job in the world for your career, you can't really plan in a big way because you can change." True enough, his recent films Belfast and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar are totally different from each other, as well as The Tourist.
Dornan added that his upcoming project with Netflix will be another challenge for him. "The next thing I'm doing, Heart of Stone for Netflix, is a very different world than I've been in before," he said. "And Barb and Star was a very different world, and Belfast is a million different worlds than I've been in before. That's exciting to me. I wanna keep mixing it up and working with cool people that will challenge me. I feel that that's how I've ended up doing what I'm doing next."
Why Filming 'The Tourist' Was Tough For Jamie Dornan
In an exclusive interview with The List, Dornan revealed that he "was going through this crazy state of grief" while filming The Tourist. His dad had just died 10 days before. "I think it's a blessing and a curse to get busy straight after something like that. In a way, it gets your mind off it," he said. "But in a way you're just kicking the can down the road and not dealing with it and lengthening the denial, I will say." He added that despite experiencing "big grief" before, this one was just tough. "It's been a different process ever for me because of having to shoot The Tourist in the immediacy after it," he said.
It didn't help that they were filming in Australia, away from home. "Yeah, I had my family out there with me, but there's a lot of disconnection to what was going on. So, it was a huge uphill challenge," he said. Speaking to Collider, he said it was "the longest shoot" he'd ever done. "I don't think I've ever worked harder, in my life, than I did on this job. It was the longest shoot I've ever done and the hardest shoot, physically and mentally for so many reasons," he admitted.
Having his family with him also got a bit stressful. "As a result of just constantly working, and I had so few days off, when episode six came in finished, it took me a while to be able to find the time," he continued. "I was also coming home to three kids and the madness of home life. They were all out there with me, so my weekends were insane, as well as my weekdays, when I was working."
What Jamie Dornan Feels About His Troubled Character In 'The Tourist'
On top of his grief, Dornan had to get into a mentally unstable character. "I don't know what else to call it, other than just an almighty head f--k. The entire job felt like that, in many respects, but we also had a lot of fun," he confessed. Luckily, he had collaborative co-workers who helped him through. "I felt so supported and trusted by my fellow actors. I just had these great, really funny, up-for-it people around me, who just wanted to go," he shared.
"You needed that energy, honestly, to get through this job because it was tough and there was a lot asked of us," he continued. "We were shooting in really extreme conditions and in hostile environments in the outback, where it was roasting hot at the beginning of the shoot and it was freezing cold at the en. It was just tough, so you needed people with the right attitude and humor and talent to get through it all."
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