Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan recently revealed that he’d met with Marvel Studios about potentially playing a role in one of the comic book company’s big screen blockbusters or Disney Plus exclusives, although he refused to be drawn on any sort of specifics.
On paper, he’s the sort of talent that would thrive under Kevin Feige’s stewardship having proven his talents in the drama, thriller and comedy genres, while he’s got the residual name value that carries over from taking top billing in a franchise that earned $1.3 billion at the box office, despite Fifty Shades being largely terrible.
In the same interview with the New York Times where he dropped his MCU bombshell, Dornan admitted that he views the career of friend and contemporary Robert Pattinson as something to aspire to, looking at how he rebuilt his reputation once his time as part of The Twilight Saga came to a close, before ending up as Batman.
“I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I feel like Pattinson and his people have played it really cleverly. Everything he’s done since Twilight has been really smart and beautifully crafted, and those films aren’t financed on his name had he not been in these movies that made billions of dollars.”
There would definitely be parallels between the two should Dornan join the MCU; much like Pattinson, he headlined a multi-film series critics largely disliked that still made a ton of money, and then spent the years after reinventing himself as an acclaimed, versatile actor, so he could yet circle back around to broad studio-driven filmmaking should his meeting with Feige amount to anything.
