Jamie Dornan knows he can’t live up to your expectations of Christian Grey.
The model-turned-actor, who takes on the role of the kinky businessman in the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey movie, recently opened up about the mounting pressures of playing the famous fictional character — especially when half of the fandom had been gunning for recent Golden Globes winner Matt Bomer to take on the part instead.
“The other day, this woman came up and started shouting at me, ‘Matt Bomer’s the real Christian Grey,’” the 32-year-old recalled for Elle for its February issue. “And I was like, um, okay.”
Previously, fans started a petition to have Bomer and Alexis Bledel cast as leads after Lionsgate announced that Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson will be starring as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele respectively. Though the document received more than 92,000 signatures, the production company was firm on their decision.
Hunnam eventually dropped out of the project due to matters in his personal life. He was replaced by Dornan.
“I mean, even if you cast Matt Bomer, or Alexander Skarsgard, or Charlie Hunnam, or any of those other guys — we’d all just be doing our best, you know?” Dornan explained of the difficulties in playing the character. “Christian Grey — he isn’t a real person. He’s a superhero — a myth. He’s like Bigfoot! He’s unbelievable. He’s unattainable. There’s no actor in the world who could live up to that.”
