Jamie Dornan was a new name to many people when he was announced as the new star of “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
Wait just a minute, said the book’s demanding fans. Is this guy up to playing the cartoonish male lead in trashy erotica that started out as “Twilight” fan fiction?
Also read: ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Casts Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey
Yeah, probably. Dornan, a 31-year-old Northern Irish former model, has played plenty of smoldering, mysterious characters, including a count, a killer, and a Huntsman. Combine those roles, and you have some of the same qualities found in sexual sadist entrepeneur Christian Grey.
But watch some clips of his past work and judge for yourself.
THE FALL (2013)
Here’s Dornan being creepy and mysterious on the BBC2 series “The Fall.” If anything, he may need to tone it down to play Christian Grey.
ONCE UPON A TIME (2011)
Here is on ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” where he plays the dual roles of Sheriff Graham and The Huntsman:
BEYOND THE RAVE (2009)
In this horror serial, Dornan played a soldier about to ship out to Iraq who must first rescue his girlfriend from bloddthirsty ravers. Here he is taking the red pill:
SHADOWS OF THE SUN (2009)
And here’s Dornan playing — you guessed it — a mysterious loner.
MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006)
Here’s a fan-made video featuring Dornan as Count Axel Fersen in Sophia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette.” Something about the movie brings out fans’ desires to set scenes to melodramatic music, which may be fitting since “Fifty Shades” started as fan fiction.