he Beginning of a Global Storm
When its movie adaptation came to cinema in the year 2015, Fifty Shades of Grey had earned more than a title of a movie. It was an event. Directed based on the writer’s novels of E. L. James’s, the movie illustrated the characters’ relationship of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey in a delightfully intricate way. It seemed like a modern love story on text but in the movie, it turned into a movie bomb of the decade.
Though the movie was the spoke of the century, its plot was accompanied by a story that was equally crazy. It revolves around the actor’s themselves, Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. Their lives were turned in far greater, complex, and more challenging conditions than their cinematic selves had to be. It was a career changing experience that was also a milestone, earning them both freedom and a career full of challenges.
The development of Dakota Johnson’s character as Anastasia Steele.
The moment Dakota Johnson was given the role of Anastasia Steele, she went about it with an admirable calm and composure. Though the role was poised to be a challenge, Dakota, indeed, was up to the task. Her historically ‘cinderella’ image was bound by a woman well capable and aiming to be more than just the shallow woman she was cast as. Indeed, she wanted to explore every facet of herself and wanted to take an intimate deep dive. Throughout the trilogy, she is transformed from a literature student who is shy and jittery to a self-assured woman and partner who is able to learn the art of balancing the thin line of negotiation, compromise, and maintaining a firm stand.
To Johnson, the life before and after the trilogy seemed to be a drastic contrast. Earning the title of ‘Anastasia Steele’ and gaining the hefty paycheck, was a blow that made tears roll down every critic’s, who branded her a ‘nepo-baby’ unjustly, face.
After the first film, Johnson has said that fame on this scale is daunting. Johnson was constantly followed by paparazzi. Every piece of clothing, movement, and word came under scrutiny. She did, however, not allow herself to be confined to the character of Anastasia. Unlike many of her contemporaries who went on to star in similar romantic dramas, Johnson specifically took on roles in indies such as A Bigger Splash, Suspiria, and The Lost Daughter. She worked with renowned directors like Luca Guadagnino and Maggie Gyllenhaal and showcased that she was not only a mere submissive ingenue in Fifty Shades.
For Johnson’s, career was not stagnant, and typecast neither, her bloom was because she embraced her versatility. She openly discussed anxiety, fame, and in the midst of it all, her effort to balance mainstream fame with quieter creative choices. It was this quality that made her approachable to the audience, like Anastasia, she was learning to take control of her story.
Jamie Dornan: The Weight of Christian Grey
If Anastasia’s’s journey was about self discovery, Christian Grey’s was about unraveling control. Dornan’s Christian is a billionaire with a haunted past. He and the rest of the cast manage to capture the essence of dominance, but also the fear of intimacy. His character arc, which is the gradual allowance of vulnerability into one’s perfectly ordered life, requires a lot of soft changes in the presence of dominance.
Stepping in to play Christian Grey for Jamie Dornan was something of a double-edged sword. Prior to this role, Dornan was a model and remembered in the chilling serial killer role of The Fall. While the tenor in which Fifty Shades was received catapulted Dornan to international fame, it also shackled him to the role of Christian Grey.
Dornan himself felt that the level of fame gained was indeed life changing but felt that the level of fame was life changing but also extraordinarily suffocative. For many of the past years, he was once repeatedly asked the same boring and embarrassing questions concerning the lack of clothing, on screen sex, and the controversy surrounding the series. This happened regardless of the outstanding work he was doing in – for example – Anthropoid and Belfast.
Dornan was able to find a way through the challenges and embrace it. In the case where Dornan addresses his awkward audition for the role, he uses the description ‘the mechanics of filming intimate scenes’ and tries to find humor in him and his daughters talking about one of the most discussed romances of the cinema. Like Christian, Dornan slowly became comfortable in being open about his lack of confidence and leam about himself. This helps him get more role opportunities that challenged him.
“Shadows and Light of Fame”
The series as a whole is both a financial success and a critical failure. While audiences lined up to watch Anastasia and Christian’s tale unfold, critics of the film claimed the dialogue and the storytelling were poor. For Dakota and Jamie, it was a unique case of wildly successful work, all the while being scrutinized.
Intense filming was a point of discussion for both of these actors behind the curtains. It was a physical and emotional trial. Johnson was open about the mental exhaustion of preparing for the demanding sequences, while Dornan admitted to the need of bypassing the passion of the choreography and focusing solely on the professionalism.
In spite of all the claims about the “conflict” between the two, both Johnson and Dornan publicly declared their interdependence for the whole duration of the filming. There was an absence of trust. It was the case of the two becoming each other’s safe space during a project that required their complete exposure. It was this bond that, more than the rest of the romance, was the most confined behind the scenes of the trilogy that was misinterpreted by tabloids.
The Ways the Trilogy Altered Their Lives Forever
As soon as the cameras were turned off, both Johnson and Dornan came out feeling and looking different. Johnson lost the stigma of ‘the daughter of a famous Hollywood star, and instead carved a niche for herself as a brave and very different actress. Dornan, although he was still a Christian Grey in the public mind, was able to demonstrate his versatility because of his emotionally moving performances in lesser known but highly acclaimed films.
The trilogy also shaped the way the industry spoke about intimacy on set and at filming. Johnson and Dornan’s challenges regarding public scrutiny and explicit scenes under public scrutiny led to the increased public discourse about consent, safety, and professional behavior on the set of films. In so many ways, they became part of a bigger cultural change in the set and in Hollywood.
For the followers, the characters were more than the story on the screen. Johnson and Dornan were able to personify and bring to life the characters of Anastasia, who transitioned to become self-assured and confident, and Christian who was able to work on his vulnerability and weakness.
More Than Just a Love Story
Even during the time of its Focusing, the Fifty Shades of Grey was way ahead of its time. It was more than a romance book, more than the thousand other trilogies released around the same time, and more than a film that dominated the Valentine Day Box Office. It was a pivotal moment for two actors who boldly stepped into roles that, for better or worse, could have been the highlights of their careers. However, they bore the brunt of the entire world’s speculation, controversy, and still managed to emerge with unexpected flourishing careers.
Much like Anastasia and Christian’s relationship, Johnson and Dornan’s journey with the series was chin deep in complexities. It was dirty, but the end result was a metamorphosis. Something that started with a casting for the part turned into a ritual that neither of the actors can forgo. What they can do is learn to embrace it like the two of them are currently carrying out.
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