Fifty Shades Updates: April 2020

When the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, Jamie Dornan was in New York, about to shoot a new TV series.

But as production shut down on “Dr. Death,” the 37-year-old actor flew back to his home in England, where he’s been in self-isolation with his wife and three children.

Dornan, the star of the “Fifty Shades” franchise, recently joined Instagram, posting a funny video with his face covered in blue paint for an upcoming role — a leap for a normally private person. This week, he’s been getting ready for the release of his latest film, “Endings, Beginnings,” a drama directed by Drake Doremus, which debuted at last fall’s Toronto Film Festival.

In the movie, Dorman plays an Irish writer smitten by a woman (Shailene Woodley) that both he and his best friend (Sebastian Stan) meet at a party. “Endings, Beginnings” is now available in homes on digital.

Since starring as Christian Grey in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” Dornan has zig-zagged as an actor, choosing character parts in independent movies such as “Anthropoid” and “A Private War.” And he’s psyched about his first major comedic turn in “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” a comedy written by and starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo.

Dornan spoke to Variety about “Endings, Beginnings,” which was largely improvised, and why he wasn’t typecast after “Fifty Shades.”

How did Drake Doremus first approach you for “Endings, Beginnings?”

I love Drake’s work. We were at the same agency so his name popped out a few times. And then we ended up doing an advert together. I did this Hugo Boss campaign, like a perfume campaign, and Drake directed it. We went to Azerbaijan four days before Christmas a few years ago, and we just hit it off. We were very much aligned in our thinking and approach to art, but also to golf. He’s a big golf fan.

And we were like, “it’s great to do this commercial and everyone’s getting paid and it’s a beautiful piece of work, but it’d be great to do a real movie together.” We played golf when I was in L.A. and became friends. He was always saying he had this project that he had in mind for me.