Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

February 18, 2015

We're guessing it's the shoes.

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Kim Hollis: Do you believe that either Dakota Johnson or Jamie Dornan will be able to leverage 50 Shades of Grey into a more substantial career either in film or television?

Edwin Davies: In both cases, I feel like the success of this film could be as much a blessing as a curse. Obviously it's got their names out there and their faces on magazine covers and TV screens, which could potentially open a lot more doors for them in the future. However, both were so little-known prior to being cast in the film that it could be hard for people to think of them as actors separate from their involvement in a hugely successful but largely derided film (which will now almost certainly become a hugely successful but largely derided trilogy). The obvious comparison, again, is Twilight, which made Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson household names, allowed them to work with a lot of great and interesting directors, but also means that they are primarily known in the popular consciousness as Edward and Bella, and also has resulted in them being (unfairly) considered bad actors, as opposed to good actors who were working with very bad material.

Dornan already has a critical following from his work on The Fall, which is a show that seems to get a lot of love from industry types and is probably a better showcase for his skills as an actor than Fifty Shade of Grey, where the nature of the character seems to be pretty one-note. I imagine that he'll probably do fairly well, particularly if he goes the same route that Robert Pattinson did after Twilight and pursues a career in smaller movies. Then again, he's a very good looking guy, and could probably segue into a career as a leading man pretty easily.

Johnson I think could have a more difficult time, primarily because she is less of a known quantity than Dornan (which isn't saying much, but headlining a critically acclaimed TV show is better than nothing) and so might have trouble escaping what will surely be seen as her signature role. But there seems to be a general consensus that she is one of the better things about the film, so it's probably a better advertisement for her abilities as an actress than it is for Dornan.




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Felix Quinonez: I think it's really up to the actors. I have no doubt that this will give them a higher profile but it really depends on the roles they choose and how good they are at it.

Michael Lynderey: Yes, definitely. Much like Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, their futures simply depend on what kind of films they choose to appear in and how well they leverage their franchise success. Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan will have to partake in two more Grey movies (assuming they don't split the last book into three parts), but otherwise they both already have some movies lined up here and there, and I'm sure after this weekend they'll have no trouble getting more. Their foot's certainly well into the door. Now it's up to them to prove themselves, and I think they will. In fact, one of the things that struck me while watching Fifty Shades of Grey is how the leads seemed like such nice people, so much so that it was almost a shame they couldn't forget all this nonsense about the chains and whips and just go on a date together. The burden of the plot seemed almost forced upon them by some malevolent forces; you wished them better things. I think they'll get there.


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