Jamie Dornan: âI lost my father this year. Itâs a combination of things that have made me want to do good things in my 40sâ
Coming from Northern Ireland imbued Belfast star Jamie Dornan with humility, resilience and humour. Now, after the loss of his father and on the cusp of a new decade, he says that heâs tackling his self-doubt and trying new challenges outside acting.
The internet thinks Jamie Dornan should play Captain Britain. Jamie Dornan thinks the internet is losing the run of itself. âIâll tell you what happened there,â he says, over Zoom from his home in Oxfordshire. (Lovely fireplace, high ceilings.) âIâve been doing press non-stop since September, pretty much. Someone said to me, âDo you have any interest in getting into a Marvel movie?â Iâm so clueless about that world. I donât know if Marvel and MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe] are even the same thing.â
I tell him I have a stepdaughter who advises on âthe canonâ. âOh God. Listen, I donât have a clue,â he says. âBasically, I said, âWell, you know, I met Kevin Feige, who runs Marvel.â But itâs not that Iâve met him recently , and we werenât talking about a specific thing. Iâve met him because Iâm an actor,â he says, laughing.
âThen I did The Fall and nobody thinks youâre funny after that. Youâre not the go-to guy if youâve played Paul Spector, so it took me a while to get back to that. And what a great way to do it with Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who are geniuses.â
Then thereâs Wild Mountain Thyme , which was less intentionally funny. Irish audiences gave it a right pasting. Having watched the movie through (itâs currently streaming on Amazon Prime), I didnât find it as dire as the skewerings would suggest. Besides, by all accounts from north Mayo, both Emily Blunt and Dornan couldnât have been more charming or obliging.
âWe felt massively welcomed there,â Dornan says. âIt was mad. When we arrived, driving into Crossmolina and Ballina, they had big posters up, saying, âWelcome Hollywoodâ. We thought it was hilarious. It was a great experience. It employed a lot of people in that part of the world. The bars and restaurants were very busy while we were there. Not everyoneâs gonna love everything you do, but we had a blast.â
Meanwhile, Christopher Walken in the wilds of the West. How did that go? âChris kept himself to himself for the most part. He wouldnât have been out on the pints with us in the evenings, but he loved it. It was an honour to have someone like that play your father.â
In March, Dornan lost his own father to Covid-19. Professor Jim Dornan, a renowned Belfast obstetrician and gynaecologist, had been diagnosed with a form of leukaemia. Dornanâs mother, Lorna, died from pancreatic cancer when he was 16.
Dornan has spoken of his disappointment that his father isnât around to witness the response to Belfast , Kenneth Branaghâs semi-autobiographical movie and Dornanâs latest project. It centres around Buddy, (newcomer Jude Hill) growing up in Belfast amid the beginning of The Troubles. Caitriona Balfe and Dornan play Buddyâs mother and father, with CiarĂĄn Hinds and Judi Dench as the grandparents.
Itâs a quintessentially Northern Irish coming-of-age story. Coming from the region â Dornan hails from Holywood, Co Down and grew up in Belfast â does he feel the responsibility of a story so close to home?
âBig time. Also because itâs Kenâs story, or semi-autobiographical. Much of it happened, and happened to Ken. When [he] was nine years old, in 1969, at the beginning of the conflict, they made a very difficult decision to leave Ireland and that weighed very heavily on them. It chronicles the period of time when the family are making that decision.â
Dornanâs been no stranger to playing Northern Irish roles, but this one is different. âIâve got to play people from Belfast, but never in a movie called Belfast , something thatâs so poignant and represents the conflict this way â and the normal, everyday, hard-working people who didnât ask for the conflict and who were so affected by it. Also, itâs because weâve seen Northern Ireland through a very politicised lens, through a sectarian lens, but weâve never seen it through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy.â
Humanising the Troubles is important. In 2023, the Belfast Agreement turns 25. A whole generation has grown up outside the shadow of sectarianism and violence. Renewed nationalism in Ireland and Britain and the touchpaper of Brexit present new challenges. Politically, the Troubles can be an unfashionable subject.
In Ireland, thereâs a chance we might not remember. Abroad, thereâs a risk theyâll never forget.
âPeople think itâs like the Gaza Strip,â Dornan explains of telling people he comes from Northern Ireland. âWhether people donât want to admit it, thatâs what they think. Iâm telling you, Iâve seen it for 20 years. Sometimes, people would be gasping that youâre from there. Itâs shocking to me. Then you remember the news every night, you remember all they were being fed in different parts of the world were very violent images. And not just for two or three weeks, or three or four months,or even five or six years, but for 30 years.
âTheyâre seeing these images and going, âJesus, that place looks roughâ. So, itâs not total ignorance to whatâs going on, itâs just the perception. Anything that can help to show thereâs really good people in Northern Ireland â in the whole island â the better to change the idea that itâs a dark place. Of course itâs a dark place, and the history is real, but itâs filled with brilliant, funny, resilient people.â
Resilience. A few weeks previously, while I was working on a profile of Co Tyrone-born Nextdoor CEO, Sarah Friar, resilience and humility came up again and again.
âThose sort of attributes are forced on you,â Dornan agrees. âYou might have a slightly in-built tendency towards attributes like that. But theyâre usually born out of something. Theyâre born out of the fact youâve had to find resilience because youâve had it pretty rough, when youâve been backed into corners and youâve had peopleâs foot on your throat for a long time. That need to be able to battle your way through and get through the hard times, and, often, that way has been humour.
âThatâs not unique to Northern Ireland, thatâs all of Ireland. We find humility and humour in the darkest places. And again, travelling all over the world for 20 years, that gets you into trouble when people donât understand. Iâll be with my mates, a lot of Irish lads, and weâll be with American agents, and they wonât be able to believe what weâre laughing at, but I think [Irish people] tend to respond the same way.â
Humility and ambition can be uneasy bedfellows, however. As Irish people, our beloved humility can mean others push to the front of the class ahead of us. Dornan has said recently that he feels more comfortable being ambitious now. Did he lack self-confidence?
âChrist, totally,â he says, nodding. âIâm still riddled with that. I think, recently, Iâve allowed myself to be OK with admitting that I want to do more. Also I have actively been doing more stuff outside of acting. Iâve set up a production company, and itâs looking like a really fun slate of projects. One of them, Iâve written with my friend. Two other things weâre writing together and another thing Iâm writing myself. So itâs another facet Iâve always wanted to explore.
âI guess itâs admitting I want to kick on and make something of it all. Weâre all like that at home. We donât want to be too pleased with our own successes. And, Jesus, Iâm definitely still like that. I think that goes with the territory. But [there is] something about approaching 40. I lost my father this year. Itâs a combination of things that have made me want to do good things in my 40s.â
Married to musician and actress Amelia Warner since 2013, with three children, Dornan sounds ready to start a new chapter. âMy career and adult life have been very marked by clear decades. Dropped out of uni to move to London at 20. Modelled for 10 years. I did pretty well out of it, but didnât love doing it. Then my acting career kicked off just before my 30th birthday. My 30s have been building on that, and doing all this good work. I turn 40 in May. And I want that to be something bigger and different. Whatâs the point if youâre not trying to evolve and expand?â
The Belfast movie is already garlanded. It was the most-screened showing at the Telluride Film Festival, took the Peopleâs Choice at Toronto International Film Festival and was up for almost a full house of prizes at the British Independent Film Awards last week. It has âOscar buzzâ. But the most important screening has been at Belfast Film Festival.
âWe had that date, the fourth of November, in our heads the whole time. It was so important to us, to have it resonate with and be accepted by the people of that part of the world and for them to embrace it. To find the humour in it, the poignancy in it. It had been all around the world but it really mattered to us what people from Belfast thought about it.
âIt was one of the most special nights of my life. I will never, ever forget the feeling of that night. We got this long-standing ovation after the Q&A and there was this palpable appreciation in the room. And then, yes, trays of Guinness were served, which added to it.
âI had some very special people in my life with me that night. My sisters were by my side, my auntie, and some of my best friends. It was just very special.â
Dornan already has a full complement of projects being released next year. Belfast gets its UK and Ireland release on January 21.
Then, thereâs the HBO/BBC production The Tourist . Heâs hoping to get his own movie made, and has some âinsanely exciting people involvedâ.
In the meantime, itâs Christmas. Heâll be in the west of Ireland, with his extended family. âI love it, but itâs the first Christmas without my dad. So itâs going to be a tough one, Iâd imagine.â
Guinness Nitrosurge is available from supermarkets and off-licences at âŹ24.99, see nitrosurge.guin ness.com
âWould there ever be a more divisive role for me to play than Captain Britain?â Photo: Andres Poveda for Guinness
Remember⊠Humanising the Troubles is important. In 2023, the Belfast Agreement turns 25. A whole generation has grown up outside the shadow of sectarianism and violence. â Independent.ie
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