Standing in between a powerful global peacekeeping agency and the loss of its most valuable – and dangerous – asset is Rachel Stone, who must embark on a mission to protect the asset from falling into enemy hands. If you haven’t heard all the news about Netflix’s upcoming releases, then let us introduce you to “Heart of Stone” – one of this year’s highly-anticipated Netflix movies.
Acting alongside Gal Gadot’s Rachel Stone is actor Jamie Dornan, who isn’t shy to show off his excitement about playing Parker, a skilled spy with a mysterious past. In this interview, he shares with us on what drew him to this project and what he learned about himself after filming for “Heart of Stone”.
Q. Why did you want to be involved in “Heart of Stone”?
Jamie: It was a big departure from me, in terms of other stuff that I’ve done. I’ve never done anything in this genre before. I think one of the luxuries of being an actor, who has a little bit of a choice over what he does, is to challenge yourself in different worlds and not just do the same kind of movie over and over again. So I relish that challenge and that choice. It was a genre I never explored before that I always had an eye on.
This (project) came with a lot of very enticing aspects to it; you have Greg Rucka’s script and Greg is on the top of his game in that world, which was tantalizing. And Tom Harper is a director I admired for a very long time and I think he’s done unbelievable things. I thought that it was so interesting that someone could direct “Wild Rose” and then direct something as huge scale as this. And Skydance (Media) and Netflix are on top of their game in this genre.
At the time that I came on, it was only Gal Gadot attached and she speaks for herself. She’s totally top in this world and I’ve been an admirer of her work so the combination of all those aspects made it quite an easy decision.
Q. In “Heart of Stone”, you play Parker. Was there any part of the character you relate to? And how did you prepare to play the role?
Jamie: He’s very driven and I think I’ve always had a sleepy sort of drive. I never want to admit that but I probably am really driven and there’s been a lot of things along the way that would point to that. I like that he’s (Parker) very open about that and owned it and it’s something that I’m working on – wishing that I could own that drive or confidence. Where I come from, you’re not allowed to show confidence if you’re Irish. It’s a thing we all deal with. I admire that (confidence) and sort of related to that.
There’s a lot of stuff in the script about him being very capable, good at his job, and proficient as a fighter and a leader in the missions. (For) a lot of that, we had to work on the training aspect and the stunt aspect of it. But I enjoy all that, I love the challenge of that so that was all fun for me.
Q. Parker is a determined character with a mysterious past. How did you portray him as someone powerful but still compassionate?
Jamie: There’s stuff I relate with him. He’s someone who’s very driven by a common goal. He’s someone who has past experiences and life experiences (that) affected the way that he behaves. It’s tricky to talk about him without giving away too many spoilers but he goes on this very extreme character arc in the movie and that was very exciting for me – the fact that he wasn’t just “one thing”.
There were multiple layers to him and it peeled off and (is) revealed to the audience as we go through the film. So, that was enticing to play because there’s more to go off than someone who is a bit more two-dimensional as a character. That was a big draw for me with Parker: the fact that you think you know him but lots of stuff revealed that maybe changes what your initial thoughts of him were.
Q. Were there any challenges during the filming for “Heart of Stone”?
Jamie: To be honest, the whole thing was a challenge. It was very clear from the script, the ambition of it (the project) was very big scale. There was a big storyline, globetrotting (to) 6 different countries with international actors who all speak different accents, with huge action sequences (and) set pieces. And trying to keep all of that grounded, so that you care about these people who are wrapped up in these big set pieces and explosions. That’s no mean feat.
I think that’s a challenge in itself: just trying to tell this story whilst making it feel like it’s relatable to people but also entertaining. So, I think that was the challenge, and we all had to be on the same page with that and approach it in the same manner, which I think we did. Every day was a challenge in this movie but in a good way.
Q. You mentioned you’re a fan of director Tom Harper and his work. What was it like working with him in this movie?
Jamie: Tom’s brilliant! He’s like a Duracell Bunny – he’s just got so much energy and it’s massively infectious. He used to be a competitive trampolinist and once you meet Tom, that sort of makes sense because he has a child-like energy sometimes. He knows what he wants and, in a very excitable way, will get there and he’s just got a very strong vision but has a lot of fun.
We had so much fun doing this (movie), genuinely, and that all stems from Tom. He’s at the top of the pole and it all trickles down and has an effect on everyone. I loved working with him and I’ve wanted to work with him for a while. I nearly got close to working with him on a TV thing 12 years ago so it was cool to finally be able to do that. I love him.
Q. When filming with Gal Gadot, did anything interesting or memorable happen?
Jamie: Honestly, the entire experience – in terms of how much fun we had. Sometimes, there were long days (where) we were travelling around and we haven’t seen our kids in a few days and there are chances that everyone can be a bit gloomy. We also did a lot of night shoots and that can be tough. I think we were all able to find the joy, have fun and be really appreciative of how lucky we are to be in this position – to be able to tell stories like these, on this scale. My main takeaway was that we were able to always find the humour and manage to place our best foot forward and really enjoy the experience, which was really cool.
Q. Did you learn anything new about yourself through working on “Heart of Stone”?
Jamie: A lot of the fighting stuff. I did a lot of close-combat fighting in this (movie) and I definitely learned a new skill there. It’s something I haven’t done before. I’ve fought a little bit before but not to this excess. And just the amount of different fight scenes I had and (the) different scenarios, I learned that it’s something I really enjoy. It actually made me want to do more whilst I still feel physically able and young enough to do that so I definitely learned that about myself.
Q. What was the one thing you loved the most while working on this movie?
Jamie: The travel of it was incredible. We got to do 6 different countries and each time, we feel like we were soaking in some of the energy from these places and the people we work with. We had some core crew who were with us the entirety of the job. We shot most of it in London but then we’d go to Portugal, Morocco, Iceland, and Italy and had a different local crew from all those places.
It was amazing just seeing everyone, the different crew who were maybe only doing 3 or 4 days on the job and coming in to be a part of this collective, and joining the energy that we had with our core crew and coming along for the ride. So, that was really cool to see us sort of embrace everywhere we went with the common goal of making the best movie we could and I really cherish that.
You can catch “Heart Of Stone” when it premieres on Netflix on 11th August 2023.
*SAG-AFTRA members are currently on strike and union members are not promoting their film and TV projects during the strike. This interview was conducted in June 2023, prior to the strike.
