In Charlie Cox‘s eyes, Jamie Dornan was just too handsome for Hollywood.
During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Daredevil: Born Again actor opened up about his pre-fame friend group, which included himself, Dornan, Eddie Redmayne, Andrew Garfield and Robert Pattinson, and their early days in Los Angeles.
“I have an amazing photo on my computer of us on the beach at Venice, all unemployed, all broke, waiting for the next audition,” he said. “Basically waiting for someone to tell us we were talentless so we could just go home and let go of this stupid dream.”
However, to no surprise, no one ever told them that, as they’ve all built successful acting careers. But in the early days, Cox recalled the group auditioning for the same roles.
“We’d all put each other on tape, and help each other,” he recounted, “and then be like, ‘Did you hear anything? I didn’t hear anything. Did you hear anything?’”
While some were more successful than others early on in their respective careers, Cox has his own reason for why Dornan struggled to land parts initially.
“My memory back then was that Andrew… he was dangerous. We were worried about him,” Cox quipped. “And then the joke — oh, he’ll probably kill me for saying this — the joke was Jamie went through a very dry patch at one point, and we genuinely thought it was because he was too good-looking. I would say, ‘It’s just not — you’re not believable! It’s not believable. You can’t get cast in anything!’”
Though there wasn’t much truth to Cox’s theory, since Dornan ultimately found massive success with his leading role in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, opposite Dakota Johnson. He’s also starred in several other projects, including The Tourist, The Fall and Belfast.