Comic Relief: Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, and E.L. James on the Lighter Side of 'Fifty Shades Darker'
There are a few ways that Fifty Shades Darker differs from its franchise predecessor, Fifty Shades of Grey. One is that this film dives a little deeper and goes a little darker as we learn more about Christian Grey’s past. But with that comes a lighter side to Fifty Shades Darker.
“I think humor is much more evident in this movie than the first one,” Jamie Dornan, who plays Christian Grey, told Yahoo Movies. “We see Christian be more humorous, we see him crack a smile, which really didn’t happen in the first one, and I think that’s important.”
Given the heavy subject matter this movie, and this franchise, tackles, finding a balance with humor was definitely important to E.L. James, whose novels the films are based on.
“There’s no dark without light, you need to balance everything out,” James said. “We’re gifted with Dakota Johnson, who has amazing comic timing. This has been adapted by my husband [writer Niall Leonard]. He’s got a tremendous sense of humor, and the books are very humorous as well. They have a banter-ish relationship within them. So it’s a combination of all of that.”
That injection of humor was also something that Johnson, who plays Anastasia Steele in the films, paid a lot of attention to.
“That’s something I care about a lot, especially with this project. Otherwise I think it would just be way, way too much,” Johnson. “Anastasia’s a funny girl, and she’s smart. And I think smart girls are funny.”
Fifty Shades Darker opens on Friday.
Jamie Dornan talks about feeling less pressure for the Fifty Shades sequels:
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