Jamie Dornan seemingly has mixed feelings about Hollywood.
Ever since Fifty Shades of Grey made him a world famous actor in 2015, the Northern Irish actor has spent more time in L.A. than he'd ever anticipated. He's even made a few famous friends, including comedian Don Rickles. "We became sort of e-mail buddies and spoke on the phone," he said on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! Tuesday. Jimmy Kimmel suspected Rickle's wife was behind the e-mails, though. "Wait a minute! I've known Don for many years. He's not e-mailing you!" the host told Dornan. "Whoever's e-mailing you is not Don! He is not your e-mail buddy."
"There was an element of surprise when he actually turned up at dinner, I have to say, because I didn't really know who I'd been e-mailing with," Dornan replied. "But he arranged this dinner."
How did he first become familiar with Rickles? "I'm a big fan of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop—that whole era," he said. "I'd spend a lot of time online Googling stuff of theirs. When YouTube came along, I used to YouTube stuff by them—interviews and the original comedy roasts. Don was the one who stuck out for me in all of those. He was the funniest guy."
Not every celebrity encounter has been as positive, however.
"I've spent a lot of time here. I used to come over here for little stints and try to get work. I remember the first time I came over here, I thought I'd try to immerse myself into the L.A. way of life. I joined a gym, because everyone's really into that here," the Fifty Shades Darker star said. "I joined this gym, Equinox, on Sunset. I signed up and I went in to train and the first person I see when I went up is your man, Fabio. He was there with all his hair and all that. He was wearing a very loose-fitting tank top. He was doing pull-ups and had a crowd around him."
"This was 12 years ago or something," Dornan continued. "He was doing enough to form a crowd. I didn't join the crowd. I just sort of went, 'Well maybe L.A.'s not for me.'"
Kimmel joked, "Maybe he could be part of your Rat Pack."
"Could be," Dornan replied. "He'd look great in a tux."
"I'd love to see him in clothes," Kimmel joked. "I've never seen him in clothes."