We often hear about unique ways actors will use to get themselves in the right mindset of a character that they are playing, but Jamie Dornan was a bit apprehensive about doing so. The actor spoke to the Los Angeles Times Monday, March 30, about his spectacular role as Paul Spector in BBC's The Fall. His character is a serial killer who is playing a sexy game of cat and mouse with Stella Gibson, the agent tracking him, played to perfection by Gillian Anderson, who will begin filming The X-Files again later this summer. Dornan admits that in order to prepare for his role as a serial killer, he resorted to stalking a woman.
"The first series, I did do a couple of things to try to get inside [his mind]. On the tube, which is our underground system. Can we get arrested for this? Hold on ... this is a really bad reveal. I, like, followed a woman off the train one day to see what it felt like to pursue someone like that. It felt kind of exciting, in a really sort of dirty way. I'm sort of not proud of myself. But I do honestly think I learned something from it, because I've obviously never done any of that. It was intriguing and interesting to enter that process of 'What are you following her for?' and 'What are you trying to find out?'" explained Dornan.
Pulling off playing his character in The Fall is really what took Dornan's career in a completely different direction. He is now considered one of the best around because he can not only handle the intensity of a twisted character, but he seems to thrive under the pressure. Dornan recently joked about how he has been playing a lot of psychopaths lately, Christian Grey included. While he insists he is nothing like these guys in real life, he has been grateful for the chance to play them.
Do you think it is kind of creepy that the actor has admitted to following some random woman around London? Have you watched The Fall yet? While it does not air on American TV, its seasons are currently available on Netflix. If you have seen it, what are your thoughts on Dornan's work with Anderson? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
