--- title: Jamie Dornan Got Into Character for 'The Fall' By Stalking a Woman description: The star of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and 'The Fall' admitted to some unorthodox methods for preparing for a role canonical: https://time.com/3766747/jamie-dornan-stalk-woman/ author: Megan Gibson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-01T10:48:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:36:23.078Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Jamie Dornan Got Into Character for 'The Fall' By Stalking a Woman og:description: The star of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and 'The Fall' admitted to some unorthodox methods for preparing for a role og:url: https://time.com/3766747/jamie-dornan-stalk-woman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ea987659b957494/6987862c524fc002faded30d/jamie-dornan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Variety's Actors on Actors: Emmy Edition presented by Autograph Collection Hotels - Day 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jamie Dornan Got Into Character for 'The Fall' By Stalking a Woman twitter:description: The star of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and 'The Fall' admitted to some unorthodox methods for preparing for a role twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ea987659b957494/6987862c524fc002faded30d/jamie-dornan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jamie Dornan Stalked a Woman to Prepare for His Role as a Serial Killer ## Video: Late-Night Highlight: Watch Jamie Dornan Read 'Fifty Shades' In A Scottish Accent [Watch (HLS stream): Late-Night Highlight: Watch Jamie Dornan Read 'Fifty Shades' In A Scottish Accent](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/W9OVA70W.m3u8) (1:27)  _Published 2015-02-10. Jimmy Fallon made Jamie Dornan's very first appearance on an American talk show pretty memorable with his newest game, Fifty Accents of Grey._ by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Apr 1, 2015 10:48 AM UTC  Actor Jamie Dornan speaks during Variety Studio Actors on Actors presented by Autograph Collection Hotels on March 29, 2015 in Los Angeles. Actor Jamie Dornan speaks during Variety Studio Actors on Actors presented by Autograph Collection Hotels on March 29, 2015 in Los Angeles.Joe Scarnici—Getty Images by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Apr 1, 2015 10:48 AM UTC Many actors are asked about their so-called process or how they get into character for a certain role. Not so many actors are as candid as Jamie Dornan. The 32-year-old Irish actor, who is best known for playing kinky billionaire Christian Grey in the recent adaptation _50 Shades of Grey_, sat down with the Los Angeles _Times_ to discuss his work on the television drama _The Fall_. In the series, which began in 2013, Dornan plays Paul Spector, a husband and father who murders women in his spare time. During the live chat, Dornan was asked how he prepared for such a brutal role and he copped to some down-right creepy behavior of his own, telling the _Times_: --- > “” --- He went on — as, we imagine, his publicist began hyperventilating — saying: “It felt kind of exciting, in a really sort of dirty way. I’m sort of not proud of myself. But I do honestly think I learned something from it, because I’ve obviously never done any of that. It was intriguing and interesting to enter that process of ‘what are you following her for?’ and ‘what are you trying to find out?” Unsurprisingly, many women didn’t appreciate Dornan’s methods and took to Twitter to respond: > [](https://twitter.com/annie80778/status/583200962925432832) > [](https://twitter.com/jessica%5Fwaite/status/583214853734731777) > [](https://twitter.com/WishIWasAMoon/status/583117195707727872) > [](https://twitter.com/SarahRapp/status/583205747531624449) > [](https://twitter.com/nicksey/status/583064931798421505) _Read next:_ [Fifty Shades of Grey _Star Jamie Dornan Wants You to Know He Isn’t Really a Sick Psychopath_](http://time.com/3753286/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3766747/jamie-dornan-stalk-woman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3766747/jamie-dornan-stalk-woman/"},"headline":"Jamie Dornan Stalked a Woman to Prepare for His Role as a Serial Killer","datePublished":"2015-04-01T10:48:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:36:23.078Z","description":"Not a recommended route for method actors","url":"https://time.com/3766747/jamie-dornan-stalk-woman/","keywords":["celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ea987659b957494/6987862c524fc002faded30d/jamie-dornan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Gibson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ea987659b957494/6987862c524fc002faded30d/jamie-dornan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Variety's Actors on Actors: Emmy Edition presented by Autograph Collection Hotels - Day 2","caption":"Variety's Actors on Actors: Emmy Edition presented by Autograph Collection Hotels - Day 2","creditText":"Joe Scarnici—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrity/","name":"celebrity"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3766747/jamie-dornan-stalk-woman/","name":"Jamie Dornan Stalked a Woman to Prepare for His Role as a Serial Killer"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Late-Night Highlight: Watch Jamie Dornan Read 'Fifty Shades' In A Scottish Accent","description":"Jimmy Fallon made Jamie Dornan's very first appearance on an American talk show pretty memorable with his newest game, Fifty Accents of Grey.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/W9OVA70W/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-10T09:21:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/W9OVA70W.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3766747/jamie-dornan-stalk-woman/","duration":"PT1M27S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3766747/jamie-dornan-stalk-woman/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```