Heart of Stone's Jamie Dornan thinks we've had enough of "male-driven spy thrillers"
Jamie Dornan has revealed he thinks the action genre has been male-centric for far too long.
The Fifty Shades of Grey actor features in Heart of Stone, an upcoming Netflix spy thriller, which features Gal Gadot as a leading female character.
Gadot portrays Rachel Stone, an intelligence agent who is tasked with reclaiming The Heart, her organisation's valuable and dangerous asset, before it falls into the wrong hands.
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While the likes of the James Bond, Jason Bourne and Mission Impossible series are all led by male actors, an actress leading an original action film is much rarer.
In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, which took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike, Dornan shared how he was excited to take a back seat and support his female co-star.
"[Heart of Stone is different because] it gives those missions to a woman," he said. "It's much more where we need to be headed at the moment, after decades and decades of male-drive spy thrillers.
"And I think it's time to mix that up, not just have the females in those movies just be the sort of vacuous eye-candy, that sometimes happen."
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Dornan, who plays Parker, the head of MI6, also revealed his hope that Heart of Stone will be the first of many action films that sees a woman taking the starring role.
"In mainstream, it seems to be heading in that direction more, where we're getting women more of a chance to lead these sorts of movies," he said. "Gal Gadot has been at the forefront of that, and that's only a good thing."
Dornan added of Gadot: "Gal's very at home in this world, she's at home in kicking ass, and it's very cool to see because she does it with utter professionalism, but also with [a] real sense of fun. I think anyone who gets in this industry usually is, because they want to work hard but have fun doing it, and Gal is the embodiment of that.
"We had a great time, and she’s going to be a great friend of mine."
Gadot taking the leading role should come as no surprise, having starred in the hugely popular Fast & Furious series and the 2021 Netflix hit Red Notice.
The Wonder Woman star previously told Digital Spy that her new action role is like none she's played before.
"The idea for me from the get-go was to create a character that would be inspiring but not perfect in any way: multi-layered, emotional, go through some journeys, while everything is taking place in an environment that is filled with action," she said.
Heart of Stone is in limited UK cinemas and on Netflix from August 11.
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