50 Shades of Grey Star Slams Fan Backlash to Batman and James Bond Castings as a “F-cking Disease”

When Jamie Dornan was cast as Christian Grey for the 50 Shades of Grey movie trilogy based on the E.L. James novels, he was subjected to backlash from fans who cast judgment on the role, which he would see replicated with announcements of other high-profile castings. The actor recently spoke out about the trend, calling it a “f-cking disease,” pointing out that Daniel Craig and Robert Pattinson were both subjected to similar backlash when they were cast as James Bond and Batman, respectively, only for audiences to go on to love what they did with their characters.

“Prejudgment is such a f-cking disease,” Dornan shared with Esquire in regards to backlash from fans about coveted roles. “It’s a disease in all our culture. In my line of work, sure. But in general, people prejudge people based on f-cking anything really, and it’s very sad. Look at the reaction when Rob got cast as Batman. It was like 90% negative.”

He added, “Daniel Craig got cast as James Bond — I mean that was 100% negative. It was vile what was written. It was actually disturbing when you see the f-cking venomous anger that people have over casting decisions. And then guess what? Daniel Craig is f-cking brilliant, and it changes the whole energy of Bond … And all the naysayers love what Rob has done with Batman.”

While Pattinson has only earned one well-received outing as Batman, Craig has made his bow as Bond. This means that Dornan might be bracing himself for more backlash from fans, given that his name has often been tossed out when it comes to what actor could step into the shoes of 007.

“It’s fun and it’s a cool thing to be in the mix for that sort of thing,” the actor shared. “I do think it’s very transparent in terms of if you look at that list, there’s not one person on that list who doesn’t have some content at the moment that’s doing well.”

In the years since Dornan played Christian Grey, he’s largely focused on more independent fare, which could either mean he’s intentionally staying away from high-profile projects, or it could mean enough time has passed that he’s looking to return to a major fanchise.

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