“In some ways, it’ll break a few boundaries,” leading man says

Sep 4, 2014 19:51 GMT  ·  By
Jamie Dornan is Christian Grey in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” out on February 14, 2015
   Jamie Dornan is Christian Grey in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” out on February 14, 2015

Now that’s an interesting way of promoting a movie based on a raunchy adult book that you’re trying to sell as a “love story:” promise audiences they’re not in for some “grotesque” or “hardcore” piece of work. Jamie Dornan’s words, not mine.

The actor was present at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London, which means the media got to query him on his Christian Grey role in the insanely anticipated production. Jamie wants to assure all the fans that this movie will be suitable for most age categories, or else he would not have agreed to do it.

“I’m not really fearful of that stuff. It’s just work. It’s strange work sure. But it’s still just work. I just get on with it. In some ways it’ll break a few boundaries. But at the same time, they want to put bums on seats. They can’t alienate an audience,” he told The Irish Independent.

“You know it has to be watchable. It can’t be hard core. I wouldn’t have signed up to it if it was. You’ve got to make something a large amount of people can go and see. It’s not going to be grotesque,” Dornan added.

It think “hardcore” (in this sense) and “grotesque” are poor word choices for Dornan to get his message across. We already know that the movie is going for an R-rating, which means that most love scenes from the book will take place “off the screen” and that the whole S&M plot will be toned down and incorporated into a love story, which will be easier to digest by wider audiences.

Then again, given the hype around the project, both Dornan and his leading lady Dakota Johnson can just stand there and not say a single word and women will still flock to the theater to see “Fifty Shades of Grey.”