Fifty Shades of Jamie Dornan (11 page)

It was obvious that their music had taken a turn they weren’t happy with and certainly wasn’t getting the kind of recognition they’d hoped for. Sadly, the closest they got to a Top 40 hit was their single ‘I Heard’ topping the charts in Brunei, covered by local star Hill Zaini. Jamie also had unexpected and amusing success in Malaysia some years after Sons of Jim had disbanded. ‘I was on YouTube and I clicked on a link and it was this Malaysian guy with Faye Dunaway and Kristin Kreuk from the TV show
Smallville
in a video for a song that I wrote,’ he explained. ‘It was number one in Malaysia, so I’m waiting for the cash.’

Apart from there being little chance of them making any real strides in the music industry, while Jamie was able to support himself through extremely profitable one- or two-day modelling jobs, David – who had studied law at university – had his own day job to pursue. It just wasn’t going to work.

Anyone could see that Jamie was now at a crossroads in his life and had clearly suffered from the curse of the ‘all-rounder’. He excelled in so many areas that it was difficult to know which interest he should really be following for the best. ‘I knew I
wanted to act and was always trying to find my way into it. But there were always distractions. I was still involved in modelling contracts, still mucking around being in a band. It’s that thing you do if you’re trying to do something creative and you’re young and you haven’t pinned it down yet. You try to do lots of things and see what floats your boat,’ he said.

It had taken almost a decade since leaving school to have the opportunity to really follow his heart into acting but finally his next acting break was just round the corner. There had been rumours for over a year that Jamie was set to crack it. Initially, there had been the story that Jamie was to present a cookery show for Irish broadcaster UTV. He was supposedly one of a line-up of celebrities, including former Miss World Rosanna Davidson and chef Gary Rhodes, to present
The Fabulous Food Adventure
, a new daytime series. Then there were stories that he was to star in 2007 Bollywood movie
Namastey London.
Apparently, the director Vipul Amrutlal Shah was considering either Jamie or Sean Connery’s son, Jason Connery, to play the second lead in the Indian blockbuster film based in the UK capital.

While the role never materialised, Jamie finally struck it lucky with his first lead part in a movie. Straight-to-internet film
Beyond the Rave
was to be the first Hammer horror movie since 1979 and was going to be directed by Matthias Hoene, who later became famous for his comedy horror
Cockneys vs Zombies
, starring Michelle Ryan, Richard Briers and Honor Blackman.

By lucky coincidence, it was at his sister’s wedding that he met the movie’s producer who started chatting to him about the project and asked if he’d like to be involved. After necking
‘plenty of booze’, Jamie agreed and the deal was sealed. After all, he needed all the acting experience he could get. ‘I met the producer at my sister’s wedding and was very fond of him. I liked what he was trying to do with the project, and after plenty of drink, I said I’d be involved. Then I was involved and it was a mad shoot,’ he admitted some years later.

While it was hardly the most conventional way of landing a role,
Beyond the Rave
had all the hallmarks of being an interesting and well-publicised project, which would have appealed to Jamie, as he wanted to gain as much exposure as possible.

The famous film company Hammer Film Productions, known for its gothic ‘horror’ movies from the mid-1950s to the 1970s – including Dracula and Frankenstein – was revived in 2007 by a Dutch tycoon and the movie was to be its first since
The Lady Vanishes
some twenty-nine years previously.

Simon Oakes, who took over as CEO of Hammer and confirmed that the sum of £20 million was going to be ploughed back into the studio to make new films, said, ‘Hammer is a great British brand – we intend to take it back into production and develop its global potential. The brand is still alive but no one has invested in it for a long time.’

Jamie, in the lead role of Ed, was ‘honoured’ to be at the centre of the studio’s revival and it was an interesting role to say the least. Jamie was to play an English soldier who had to find and win back his girlfriend from the clutches of bloody thirsty vampires, disguised as a group of hard-core ravers, before he flew back to Iraq in the morning. It was a four-night shoot for very little pay but Jamie was more than willing to put his all into
it. ‘The whole shoot was a night shoot. I was sleeping all day, having no life, and then getting up, going to work at six in the evening and coming home at six in the morning – very strange.

‘I don’t remember a great deal about that time. But I made good friends. We were brought together through the lack of sleep,’ he told
Interview
magazine. ‘It was 5 per cent of the budget of a television series, pulled together with string and chewing gum. Jamie wanted to get more into acting. He was committed on set, doing a lot of his own stunts. We spent four nights working together – all-night shoots – and he really got his hands dirty,’ director Matthias remembered some years later.

Although working on the film had been great fun, it never became a cinema release and was instead shown exclusively on internet website MySpace; the experience, however, had proved invaluable for Jamie. Moreover, he was in good company, with a strong cast which included Sebastian Knapp – playing head of the vampires Melech – who had a string of TV credits such as the BBC’s
Silent Witness
and ITV1’s police soap
The Bill
. Irish actress Nora-Jane Noone, famous for the 2002 movie
The Magdalene Sisters
, meanwhile, played opposite Jamie as his girlfriend Jen. ‘The credits are huge for what is an outstanding production and good luck in the future to all those who played even small parts,’ film critic Jaci Stephen wrote in
The Guardian
newspaper. ‘Much of the brilliance lies in some laugh-aloud lines […] For some, it’s a happy ending; others lose their lives fighting tooth and nail for survival. I won’t give it away, but let’s just say that after his last night of leave, if Ed survives, Iraq will be a breeze!’

Jamie twice now had had the taste of working on a movie
and absolutely loved it. He was in no doubt that being a film star was his destiny and jokingly admitted that he felt primed to appear opposite Hollywood beauty Angelina Jolie in a romantic comedy – although he wasn’t sure that he could outdo British actors Colin Firth and Hugh Grant who were legendary in playing those kinds of roles. ‘I’d love to do a romantic comedy with Angelina; she’s kind of flawless to me,’ he said. ‘Sometimes I think it’s harder to be a leading man in a romantic comedy if you’re not English. I think the English do that really well that sort of slightly camp, pathetic thing. I’m not sure Angelina would want to do a romantic comedy with me though. I’m not saying Colin Firth or Hugh Grant are pathetic, far from it! I think they are both great but I would like to have a crack at it.’

Although Jamie was grateful to have had the opportunity to star in the movie, he was the first to admit the genre of film didn’t appeal to him at all. ‘I’m not a horror fan at all. It’s just not really my scene,’ he said. Hard-hearted horror devotees weren’t fans of the movie either and as soon as it hit the web, film bible IMDb. com was flooded with negative reviews. ‘I managed to get a look at this and it was cheap, cheap, cheap, a low rent, throwaway cash-in on the Horror name,’ one viewer wrote.

‘It’s really depressing that the Hammer name is being associated with him and that a new generation of filmgoers will associate this with the once great horror studio.’

Although within a week the
IMDb.com
critical rating had shot up to nine-point seven out of a possible ten points – which led to one critic quipping, ‘Jamie Dornan shouldn’t let his mum loose on the internet’ – it later slunk back to a five out of ten.

Jamie was now on the lookout for larger roles and although his comments on now looking to act opposite Angelina Jolie in a blockbuster were taken as a joke, there was truth in what he said. He was dreaming big.

It was, however, back to the drawing board for the time being – at least back to the modelling studio where Jamie continued to carve out a top-notch career. Jamie continued to be the face of Dior, and his Aquascutum adverts with Gisele Bündchen were seemingly everywhere, which led to an ever-increasing number of fashionistas and teenage girls joining the Jamie Dornan fan club.

He had also been welcomed wholeheartedly into London’s society scene and could be said to count model Agyness Deyn, Radio One DJ Nick Grimshaw, Daisy Lowe and Sienna Miller among his circle of friends. Of course, he had known many of them from his relationship with Keira, but Jamie was now part of the celebrity in-crowd in his own right. ‘Aggy, as she likes to be known, is the Alpha leader of this tribe, which includes It-girl Daisy Lowe and Keira Knightley’s ex Jamie Dornan,’ the
Daily Mail
reported. ‘Their style is a mixture of feminine and masculine; a combination of ballerina and biker all teamed with a strong sense of irony. They all hang out in Pink nightclub in Soho and exclusive private members club Shoreditch House in London’s East End.’

Jamie also boasted a number of Hollywood actor pals, including Mischa Barton and film star Josh Hartnett, who dated old friend Sienna Miller in 2007. ‘Josh Hartnett is a great friend, but I’ve learnt not to stand next to him. He’s way too tall and handsome,’ Jamie said at the time.

The twenty-five-year-old model’s name had started cropping up in the society pages of newspapers and magazines, and much to his delight, Jamie was now more commonly referred to as an actor rather than model – or worse still ‘Keira Knightley’s ex’. ‘Spotted! Actors Josh Hartnett and Jamie Dornan sheltering from the rain in the Prince Regent pub Marylebone,’ the
Daily Mirror
’s 3AM column printed in late 2008.

A gossip piece in the
Daily Mail
a few weeks later under the headline ‘Talk Of The Town’ also noted that Jamie had been seen dining in swanky Thai restaurant Diep le Shaker in Dublin alongside a host of famous faces including Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood’s ex-wife, Jo Wood. ‘Causing more of a stir at table number 12 though,’ it read, ‘was male model of the moment and actor Jamie Dornan. Jamie the face of Dior is currently single and very much in demand. We spotted owner Alex Farrell hanging out with him at the end of the bar … perhaps he was going to serenade her?’

Ever ambitious Jamie was riding high with his modelling career but his job as a clothes horse, in reality, continued to give him modest satisfaction. The problem was that he knew he could do so much more and he felt he was already acting, albeit under a different guise. ‘These images are trying to attain the unattainable,’ he explained of him acting out the strong, brooding male on another billboard or magazine page. ‘They’re trying to take a picture of something that isn’t there.’

To the uninitiated, Jamie – the handsome model who could sell a million pants – looked self-confident, brooding, in control and in lust with the gorgeous woman he posed next to on the
page. In reality, he was single, terrified of losing his father and desperate to be an actor. He had done incredibly well but true job satisfaction and finding the woman of his dreams seemed, for the time, completely out of his grasp.

J
amie the supermodel wasn’t ungrateful for his career in fashion; he knew only too well what a fickle industry it was. What made him feel extra fortunate was that his strange walk had been a blessing in disguise, as it meant that he had no chance of being forced to enter the excruciatingly competitive world of the runway model.

Luckier still was his trademark ‘look’, which was keeping him in business and had become so famous that it even had a name all of its own: the ‘Dornan Furrow’. Although new faces dominated the catwalks of Milan and Paris, the world’s big brands and fashion houses didn’t dare risk putting new people at the front of their campaigns. Dornan was part of the ‘old boys club’ alongside legendary male models Oriol Elcacho and Steve Gold, who all had a tried-and-tested look that worked and ultimately sold well. ‘The resurgence of the supermodel
isn’t just for the ladies, now more than ever companies are going back to their tried and true favourite male models. Familiar faces like Jamie Dornan are snagging major campaign space,’ a fashion magazine in 2009 mused. ‘While new faces dominate the catwalks of Milan and Paris the good old boys are front and centre in campaigns. When the stakes are as high as they are now the industry relies on proven talents to push product – nothing beats a face you can trust.’

Giorgio Armani was one of the labels who dared not take a risk and, true to the current trend, snapped up Jamie to front their new campaign alongside Russian supermodel Sasha Pivovarova. The stunning pair were to be the face of their striking spring/summer collection, and Jamie was once again reunited with dynamic photographic duo Mert and Marcus in putting the campaign together. Photo shoots with the highly praised pair were exciting and had the feel of being on a film set. Their set-up was unusual in that one photographer stood behind the camera, while the other scrutinised the ‘footage’ from a connected laptop on a tripod. Each time the shutter clicked, the photographers would notoriously huddle by the monitor to discuss and adjust the models or props for the next still. ‘They understand how to communicate their ideas to each other with few words,’ a fashion industry insider explained, ‘almost like a secret language.’

Their highly stylised photos, while immediately recognisable to fashion followers, weren’t to everyone’s taste. Fans of traditional film photography were less keen on their use of digital cameras and the pair’s heavy manipulation of each image in post-production. ‘Their pictures tend to be luminous,
as though the subjects were lit from within, and to feature odd backgrounds, stark contrasts, and rich colour,’ a fashion magazine explained. ‘The models’ flesh and hair can appear to be made of plastic. Many of the images have a staged, formal quality, like the nineteen-thirties Hollywood photographs of George Hurrell, but with a sheen that suits the video-game age. At times, the models seem almost synthetic, and in some respects they are, because Mert and Marcus do a great deal of post-production work. They are known for manipulating their pictures. They shoot digitally, and then alter the images on a computer screen.’

The photos for Jamie’s Armani campaign were no exception, and both he and Sasha appeared in a set of sharp, black-and-white photos with a hint of 1930s art deco to them. Jamie oozed masculine charm as he posed in immaculately tailored suits which looked almost liquid, dripping sensually off his well-honed physique thanks to the photographers’ use of digital enhancement.

His co-star Sasha, with her high cheekbones and slicked back hair, was Jamie’s perfect match, looking breathtakingly sculpted against the fluidity of her white, flowing dress. It was already an electric setting, and Jamie and his Russian colleague – who had just been ranked second in the international women’s Top 50 Models list – also had much in common. Like him, Sasha had never dreamt of being a model. She was studying art history at the Russian State University for the Humanitites when a friend and photographer took her photo and gave it to top modelling agency IMG in 2005. Ranked as the world’s number one model
management firm with offices in New York, London, Milan, Paris and Sydney, they also boasted a host of famous faces on their roster, including Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Jamie’s friend Lily Aldridge and his former campaign co-star Gisele Bündchen. Sasha had been snapped up straight away and, as had been the case for the Irish male model, bookings came in thick and fast and she hadn’t looked back. Four years later, as she posed opposite Jamie in the 2009 Armani campaign, she had already done a six-season run for Prada and had a string of high-profile adverts to her name.

So it was little surprise that the dynamic duo were an instant hit when the Armani adverts launched six months later. Fashion blogs were inundated with literally thousands of critics in support of the stunning pair and it was starting to look like every campaign Jamie touched turned to gold. ‘I think that what makes a good ad campaign is the combination of everything: the models, the clothes, the photography and effects. In this case, for me, this campaign is perfect,’ one fan gushed. ‘Mert & Marcus shoot the BEST campaigns EVER! PERIOD! I love this campaign. I’m so glad Jamie Dornan was chosen, he complements Sasha wonderfully,’ another posted on a forum dedicated solely to the new Armani adverts. Someone else proclaimed, ‘Oh Sasha, how I love thee and Jamie is so hot!’

Further adoration was just around the corner when hot on the heels of this Armani casting, Jamie got a call from his agent at Select to say that Calvin Klein had been in contact again and they wanted him back. It was to be his third casting for the trendy fashion house and Jamie was overwhelmed with the offer.

This time the bigwigs inside one of the world’s biggest fashion houses wanted Jamie to star with gorgeous actress Eva Mendes in not just one, but two campaigns: Calvin Klein Underwear and Calvin Klein jeans. Jamie and his ‘Dornan Furrow’ had already acquired a reputation for producing excessively steamy shots with his female counterparts but this campaign was to be so raunchy that his renowned sexy poses with Gisele and Kate Moss would pale in comparison.

Jamie couldn’t wait to get started and was excited to meet his famous Hollywood co-star who had well-respected film credits to her name, including recent hits
Hitch
and
The Women.
The brunette had also just been voted the most desirable woman of 2009 in a poll by website
AskMen.com
and when Jamie met her in the flesh, she was no disappointment.

The location was equally as impressive; Jamie and Eva were flown first class to Palm Springs in California for the week to shoot the no-expense-spared campaign. The lavish resort, which boasts year-round sunshine, stunning landscapes and its own beach, had long been a luxury playground to the rich and famous and made an incredible backdrop to the shoot. Once there, Jamie and Eva were met by world-renowned photographer Steven Klein, who had been hired by Calvin Klein to work his magic.

One of the most influential fashion photographers of his generation, Klein was famed for his risqué iconic images of a string of stars, including Brad Pitt, Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Naomi Campbell. Klein had a way of persuading stars to pose for intensely private and erotically charged images, and this
particular photo shoot bore all the hallmarks of his legendary snaps. Jamie and Eva would be required to star semi-naked in the black-and-white photos, with the male model at one point cupping the actress’s bare breasts. Wearing just Calvin Klein underwear, Jamie would also have to climb on top of the beautiful star, lying pressed up against her for minutes at a time – not easy when that someone is a stranger and a beautiful one at that. Moreover, the pair had been smothered in oil by the make-up team so that their skin glistened for the photos, thus making for some amusing scenes as they tried to climb into different and sometimes very intimate poses.

Thankfully for Jamie, Eva was friendly and approachable – better still, he fancied her and the on-screen attraction was electric. ‘We were in Palm Springs, we had a whole week of it and it was outside and there was sun. We actually had time to get to know each other and she’s really very nice,’ Jamie said afterwards.

Single and bowled over by her natural beauty, the model was simply in awe of the actress. For Jamie this latest signing meant that he was getting ever closer to his dream of acting, since he played out the part of her on-screen lover while Klein captured every intimate move. ‘Eva is incredible – as you see her on the screen, so she is in the flesh. She’s great fun to be around, very sexy. I’d say she’s the template for how every woman should look,’ he gushed afterwards.

There was no mistaking the chemistry and Calvin Klein couldn’t have been happier with the result. Jamie too was impressed and clearly overwhelmed by the prestige of the campaign. ‘Calvin Klein Jeans and Calvin Klein Underwear are both such iconic American
brands that to play a part in these campaigns is a true honour,’ he said at the launch. ‘Working alongside the sensationally sexy Eva Mendes on both shoots was incredible.’

Thousands of black-and-white shots were taken by enthusiastic Klein, as the pair performed perfectly for the camera. By the end of the week, the legendary photographer had a hoard of incredible images of the duo in a huge variety of sizzling poses, including one with Eva rubbing her bare body against Jamie and another with the actress suggestively stretching her long legs over him.

The autumn campaign of 2009 was building up to be huge, with ads scheduled to appear everywhere from billboards and bus stops to magazines and newspapers the world over, including spreads inside American titles
Lucky, Elle, GQ, Vanity Fair, W, Nylon, Details, Interview
and
InStyle
. When the ads hit the news stands, it became clear that twenty-seven-year-old Jamie’s latest fashion campaign would be going down in history as one of the most controversial yet. ‘Is Eva’s new Calvin Klein ad too revealing?’
The Insider
questioned as it hit the mainstream press. ‘In a pic for the underwear ad, Eva is seen cuddling model Jamie Dornan, who only wears white undies,’ another explained. ‘Then, in another shot for the jeans ad, she is snapped getting topless. Her breasts are only covered by Jamie’s hands. Is it just too much?’ The
Daily Mail
moaned, ‘It’s more proof that fashion houses are pushing boundaries to extremes in order to get publicity.’ Judging by some New Yorkers’ demand that a sixty-foot billboard of the duo be pulled down immediately, the answer would be a resounding ‘yes’.

City chiefs were bombarded with complaints after the ad,
showing Eva draped across Jamie with a hand on his tight-fitting pants, was pasted on the entire side of a building at a busy intersection in the city. While drivers stopped to admire the spectacle, residents claimed the board was ‘too rude for public consumption’, particularly as it could be seen by children, and demanded that it be taken down. Carl Wilson, a worker from Queens said, ‘Some of us don’t want to expose our kids to something like this – it’s borderline pornography.’ Critics also claimed that the picture suggested she was about to whip off his underwear and it was ‘out of place’ in such a prominent location. ‘It’s absolutely disgusting,’ another blogger wrote. ‘Not everyone wants to see this kind of fornication on their way to work in the morning. Someone needs to get in touch with Calvin Klein and get them to take it down, now.’

Jamie’s co-star Eva was adamant that there was nothing wrong with the ad and slammed the critics, insisting her steamy pictures with Jamie were ‘beautiful’. Pointing a finger at those who were unhappy, she said, ‘It’s a religious group that has a problem with the image […] That’s what I love about this country. We can voice our opinion and beliefs like that. But they’re wrong. I don’t think I’m traumatising any children. I think it’s a really tasteful and beautiful ad.’

For every hater, there was an admirer and Jamie’s friends were firmly in the latter camp. But while they were impressed with his latest job, they had ample material for some serious ribbing. ‘His mates call him up and tease him, there’s no way Jamie will be getting an ego about this anytime soon,’ a friend revealed. ‘They see him writhing around with a famous actress looking all
serious and brooding on a billboard and the night before they were knocking back pints of Guinness together in the pub. He takes it well and enjoys the normality of it.’

His relationship with Calvin Klein was tight and Jamie found that they were giving him more and more work. In what was another positive step towards getting more screen work, the model snapped their offer to be the face of their new scent CK Free, which involved starring in a mini TV advert.

Jamie was flown to the famous Silurian dry lakebed in Baker, California, in scorching heat, along with Fabien Baron – creative director of CK Jeans – to put together the one-minute commercial short. The pair got on brilliantly as the filming got underway on the dry, desert-like landscape which seemed to spread out for miles.

In the romantic scenes, Jamie is seen driving a Mustang across the plains at sunset before getting out of the car with his arms outstretched and staring down the lens of the camera. It was a scene that was replicated by Jamie years later with his wife on their honeymoon, but for now the model was just acting out a fantasy.

The public reaction at the time was good but was even better in 2013, when he was announced as the lead role of Christian in the
Fifty Shades of Grey
movie and the videos were revisited by excited fans on YouTube. ‘Honestly he is Christian – he’s been real this whole time and yes they found him for us,’ fan Sabrina Beaucage wrote. ‘This is the real Christian Grey, he’s such a peach, you can tell Jamie is right for this massive film role. He will do it justice,’ penned fan Maxine Wilkie.

Jamie himself was pleased with the result; he clearly enjoyed the chance to act and do more than just pose for stills. ‘Fabien’s amazing. His mind is incredible. He’s a creative director, a stylist, a photographer, he can kind of do it all. And he’s really fun at the same time and a joy to work with,’ he said. ‘Calvin Klein are good at just letting me be me and not turning me into something else. I didn’t have to change and a lot of guys that you see in campaigns have just been taken off and look like a puppet. It’s funny because modelling was never something I wanted to happen to me,’ he added.