Jamie Dornan EXCLUSIVE: ‘Let’s get this over with and have a pint!’
Being human and all, around SHEmazing! Towers way we’re occasionally (read: often) fond of a bit of Jamie Dornan.
From The Fall to Fifty Shades – not to mention those Calvin Klein ads – the Co Down-man gives us all plenty to work with (bless him).
So when we heard that a Netflix feature-length flick, The Siege Of Jadotville, was being released with a certain Mr Dornan in the lead role, well we were all sorts of excited.
And suffice to say that excitement then turned to all-out exhilaration when SHEmazing! received a coveted invite to the red-carpet premiere, which took place last night on Dublin’s O’Connell St.
In attendance were the handsome likes of Jason O’Mara, Ronan Raftery, Charlie Kelly, and Conor MacNeill – but there’s no denying that Mr Christian Gray himself Jamie was the star of the evening.
Not only did we see him in the flesh up all close ‘n’ personal, but the 34-year-old even came over to SHEmazing! for something of an exclusive chat on the red-carpet.
"I think you have to have a bit of apprehension going into every job – call it nerves, or anxiety or excitement or whatever that is," Jamie told us when asked about taking on the mighty role of Pat Quinlan, the Irish commandant who led a stand-off against French and Belgian Mercenaries in the Congo during in the early 1960s.
"But I was desperate to play him and I wanted to make sure I honoured him and his family and the people that knew him because what he achieved was massive and monumentally heroic. The fact that he got those boys out there alive I still find incredible."
The cast of The Siege Of Jadotville spent ten weeks in South Africa filming – the first two weeks of which were a hard-core boot-camp to get the guys in shape and thinking like soldiers.
"It was a very close-knit group," Mr Dornan said of dozen or-so lead actors on location. "Though I’m not sure the guys looked up to me like the soldiers looked up to Pat Quinlan. In fact, they definitely didn’t!" he laughed when we asked him if he embodies some of the same leadership qualities as Cmdt Quinlan.
"But they’re a great bunch of boys. And historically they were boys. Our lads playing them were mostly in their mid-20s, but the average age of the A-Company was 19, so they were really kids.
"Quinlan was 42 at the time so I’m playing him a little young, but he would have felt this massive sense of responsibility and the fact that he got them all out alive is just phenomenal."
Also in attendance were several veteran members of the Irish UN troops who fought during the 1961 siege – something which Jamie evidently found a great honour.
Admitting that he was hoping to head out in Dublin with them once the premiere had wrapped up, he added: "I’m looking forward to getting this over and having a pint!"
