In a new interview with Variety (the same one that squashed your dreams of seeing the infamous tampon sex scene on the big screen), Jamie Dornan gives an in-depth explanation of all the preparation it took to get ready for his big outing as Christian Grey. In order to really fine-tune the sculpted bod of a billionaire, Jamie worked out with a trainer for three hours a day and loaded up on Gaston-approved foods like ham and eggs. He also spent a lot of time focusing on his core and says he drank five protein shakes per day to bulk up. "I'd wake up in the middle of the night and drink a chocolate milkshake," Jamie explained. "My wife wasn't too pleased about that." At least one area of his body, however, didn't require much tweaking. He didn't have to wax, he says, because "I don't have a great deal of chest hair." 

But preparing to play Christian Grey requires more than just bodily preparation. Jamie also spoke to "a guy on the kink scene" for "practical" advice about how to wield certain props with which he was unfamiliar. "There's probably a technique to using a whip," he said. "I wasn't talented at it. But I got there in the end. It's really like fly fishing." Is it now? Director Sam Taylor-Johnson agreed with Jamie's assessment of his whip skills. "Jamie, how can you make something so straightforward so hard?" she says she asked him during shooting. "Why would you pick [the whip] up like that?" She also added that no one suffered any major injuries on set, but "there was a bit of rope burn." 

And finally, Jamie underwent a bit of mental training as well. He read all three Fifty Shades books, presumably to really get inside the mind of Christian, and watched movies like American Psycho. He also shared several dinners with Robert Pattinson, who experienced a similarly insane level of exposure when he became Edward Cullen for Twilight. "I don't remember what we talked about the last time I saw him," Jamie said. "I think we just got drunk." Alcohol, deep conversation about the price of fame – same difference, right? 

Photo Getty Images

From the editors of Cosmopolitian.com, written by Eliza Thompson

From: Cosmopolitan US