FAMILY MAN

Dornan’s constant throughout the coming madness is his wife Amelia Warner, 32, an actress and musician who accompanied him to Vancouver to film Fifty Shades while she was heavily pregnant. He’s made much of how understanding she is but ‘Darling I’m going to spend 10 weeks spanking someone in a Red Room’ is never going to be an easy pitch. “Her background helped massively,” he explains.

“Any moments she’s uncomfortable with, she’s very aware that it’s work and there are 10 crew members also in the room and it’s not sexy. I’m not sure what her plans are about seeing it. It’s totally her prerogative how she approaches it because I know it’s probably not an easy thing. She’ll come to the premiere; I’m not sure if she’ll sit through the movie.”

Unsurprisingly, he’s not too keen on their 14-month-old daughter seeing the film when she’s older. “I really hope it’s not something I have to deal with,” he laughs. “She’s well entitled to see it at some stage. Certainly not for 17 years, but I doubt she’d want to. I am certainly not going to be putting a DVD in her stocking for Christmas. ‘Now’s your time, you’ve waited long enough…’”

Becoming a father has been life-altering. “I was very much there for the birth; it’s a mad situation! My father [Jim, an obstetrician] has delivered over 6,000 babies, my stepmother’s an obstetrician gynaecologist and I’ve been around a lot of baby talk in my life. But still, nothing actually prepares you. I hope I’m a good dad. It’s the most joyous thing imaginable. It’s totally changed our lives but only for the positive."

“People are so f***ing down about having kids – in those early months when people are saying, ‘Say goodbye to sleep.’ Well of course, you’ve got a baby! I was discouraged by people’s attitude so it was refreshing when we occasionally met people who said, ‘It’s the best thing, you’re going to love it.’ I saw a pregnant friend the other night and I was like, ‘Embrace it! Don’t listen to all the people who are down on it, because it’s only good.’”

As with the majority of newish parents, the conversation soon veers to nappies. “Before I had my daughter I changed my niece’s nappy on a horrific occasion in Hyde Park. And it was like more s**t than I’d ever seen in my life,” he laughs.

“I was with my wife, who wasn’t my wife at the time, and it was quite early on in the relationship. I was like, ‘I’m not sure I could ever get used to this.’ But you do, and you don’t even think about it. Weirdly, I get enjoyment out of changing a nappy. I find it such a levelling thing. I don’t mind getting up in the middle of the night with her – although we’re lucky because she sleeps for 12 hours.”

It doesn’t take much to suspect that doing those mundane things is important to him to stay ‘normal’ in his altering life but when I suggest as much, I’m faced with a confused expression. “Why would I want to avoid those things?” he asks. “I don’t know why it would be anything else but normal?”

RISE AND THE FALL

Jamie grew up in Holywood in County Down (much has been made in the press of the similarity between his hometown’s name and Hollywood) with two older sisters. He was as a teen “full of energy, still am”, who was sport-obsessed but also active in the school drama department. He still has the same group of friends from school – a fact he brings up more than once. It is clearly hugely important to him and his sense of self.

Then at 16, a devastating event changed his life. His mum, Lorna, died after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “It shaped me massively in ways that I’m not even aware of,” he tells me. “It has shaped my career in that it shaped me totally as a person. It must’ve had an effect on how I approach every aspect of my life. It’s a horrific thing to happen and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I think about it every day.”

Rather than being reticent about something so personal, Jamie is extremely open about his experience of loss. “Grief is kind of fascinating,” he says. “I did some research on it because of The Fall . I had a bit of counselling at one stage. I didn’t keep it up for long, but I definitely found it helpful. Grief comes back in waves; it will hit you like a tonne of s**t when you’re totally unaware.”

“It also takes on a different meaning the older you get, especially now I have a baby myself. Suddenly, I see my wife as a mother, and that can only spark memories of my mother. It becomes very poignant. But sadly, that’s life, and life has to move on. One thing we’re good at as human beings is adapting. You’re not doing yourself any favours constantly being in grief. Take your moments, but don’t let it define you.”

After he left school, Jamie veered between music (with band Sons Of Jim), modelling (for the likes of Calvin Klein alongside Kate Moss and Eva Mendes) and acting – he got his first break in 2006’s Marie Antoinette. There was also a much reported relationship with Keira Knightley.

He admits for a long time he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do and was just mucking around. The turning point came in 2011 with a role in TV fantasy drama Once Upon A Time when he realised acting could afford him a living. Life then screeched a hard left in 2013 when he landed the part of Paul Spector in The Fall . It was a role that, without hyperbole, changed everything. “Without The Fall , there’s nothing,” he states, simply.

“It totally transformed my professional life. People will think Fifty Shades has, and it has on a different level, but that wouldn’t even be in the ether if it wasn’t for The Fall.”

He looks surprised when I ask how he feels when people say he’s something of an overnight success. “I didn’t realise people were saying that. I guess they do think that, and they’re well within their rights. How would they know I’ve failed numerous auditions? That I’ve had the same agent for 10 years?”

Now that the years of struggling to land roles are behind him, what’s the plan? “I want to have a varied career,” he explains. “I don’t just want to do big studio movies. I don’t just want to do franchises. I want to do indies and theatre one day – I’ve never done that.”

Jamie Dornan opens up about Fifty Shades ‘It was f***ing insanity’