Helen Sloan / BBCThis takes method acting to a whole new level of creepy. Make that fifty shades of creepy.
Jamie Dornan has revealed that he stalked a woman to prepare for his role as a serial killer and family man Paul Spector in the BBC and Netflix series The Fall. Dornan has played the character since the showed debuted in 2013; it has been renewed for season 3 and also stars The X-Files' Gillian Anderson.
Dornan, who played S&M sex-loving billionaire Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey, made his comments in an on-camera interview with The Los Angeles Times.
"I'm not method at all," the 32-year-old Northern Irishman said. "The first series I did a couple of things to try and get inside...on the Tube, which is our Underground [subway] system in London, I did...can I get arrested for this? Hold on...This is a really bad reveal—I, like, followed a woman off the train one day to see what it felt like to pursue someone like that."
"I really kept my distance and I was aware. It was kinda half-hearted, 'cause I was going like, 'What am I...if she turns around, is she gonna notice?'" Dornan said. "She got off a few stops earlier than I was planning so I was like, 'Alright, I'll have to commit to this here.'"
The actor said he followed the woman around several street corners and then thought, "'What are you doing?'"
"It felt kind of exciting, in a really, like, sort of dirty way, and I'm sort of not proud of myself," he said. "But I do honestly think I learned something from it, just 'cause I've obviously never done anything like that in my life, so it was intriguing and interesting to sort of enter that process of like, 'What are you following her for?' and 'What are you trying to find out?'"
"So it was interesting, but no, I actually tried to have a lot of fun on set," he added. "I don't think it's healthy to stay in the headspace of someone who is as evil as he is."