Spend Saturday with Jamie, Sunday with Rupert: The Fall or Homeland?

Decisions, decisions — should we turn on Mr Dornan in The Fall or Mr Friend in Homeland? Guy Pewsey channels Keira and tries both
Men with the Keira connection: left, Jamie Dornan in The Fall; Ms Knightley herself; and Rupert Friend in Homeland
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Guy Pewsey11 November 2014

Is Keira Knightley the ultimate lucky charm? The pouting actress has amassed countless plaudits for her performances over the years but it’s recently become clear that she can also lay claim to having the Midas touch when it comes to those she invites into her inner circle. Cases in point: ex-boyfriends Jamie Dornan of The Fall and Homeland’s Rupert Friend. Dornan and Friend are our favourite male talents on TV right now. Handsome, accomplished and gracious, with impossibly private private lives, they are both reluctant to embrace fame. Both actors were on the periphery of stardom during their respective courtships with the Anna Karenina star, and since they parted they have hit the big time on two of TV’s biggest success stories. The pair share chiselled features, dramatic flair and Keira on speed dial, so superstardom awaits. But who has the chops to eclipse their former flame?

JAMIE DORNAN

USP

Never before has a psychopath been so sexy. In the first series of BBC2’s game-changing thriller The Fall we meet Paul Spector, a loving husband and father. Quiet and dedicated, he makes his way in the world as a bereavement counsellor in Belfast. There’s just one problem: he is also a calculated and prolific killer of women. Gillian Anderson (right) brings the steely glamour and enviable wardrobe choices but it was Dornan, hiding a silent menace and an unblinking intensity, who caused a nationwide conundrum. Is it OK to lust after a killer? Evidently, Hollywood thought so. When Queer as Folk actor Charlie Hunnam dropped out of the forthcoming 50 Shades of Grey film adaptation, Dornan stepped in to play the whip-wielding Christian Grey. Grey is beautiful, brilliant and intimidating. No method required, then.

Origins: Long before blue-eyed Dornan stepped onto our screens in The Fall, the 6ft 32-year-old engaged in a mild flirtation with rugby union while at university (Shorts. Mud. Shower rooms) but it was modelling and years of adorning billboards for Calvin Klein that saw the world take note for the first time. Dubbed The Male Kate Moss by the tabloids and The Golden Torso by The New York Times, Dornan may have sunk into catwalk obscurity if not for Sofia Coppola, who cast him as the delectable lover of Kirsten Dunst’s Marie Antoinette. The film was met with derision but one thing was certain: Dornan’s assault on the mainstream had begun.

Case of the Ex: Dornan dated Knightley for two years from 2003. Their romance began just as Knightley’s career started to go stratospheric with the release of her first blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean, and Dornan has since explained that he didn’t take to it very well. “It was a strange environment to find yourself in, being hounded and followed,” Dornan told Vogue earlier this year. “That scrutiny when you’re older will be easier to take. And I don’t think I’m ever going to be as famous as her.” We wouldn’t bet on it.

Post-Keira: Dornan is married to actress and singer Amelia Warner, an ex of Colin Farrell, who sang Smiths cover Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want for the tear-jerking John Lewis Christmas advert. The couple have a 10-month-old daughter and are, by all accounts, blissfully happy. So, naturally, we hate her.

RUPERT FRIEND

USP

When Friend first walked into the room in the second series of Homeland, Claire Danes’s troubled operative — and assassin — demanded that he be checked out. We didn’t need telling. Friend’s arrival on the CIA thriller as Peter Quinn gave Damian Lewis a run for his money. By revealing his dark side with a bad temper and a sharp knife, he has matched Dornan by equating danger with allure. That said, he’s not just the heavy. Since Homeland’s inception the programme has been defined by its regular crises of conscience, and as Carrie gets even more chances to unveil her now iconic cry-face in the new series, Quinn will surely continue to struggle in balancing his emotions with his duties. Friend was upgraded to a series regular after recurring status in series two, so we’re hoping that we’ll be seeing more of him, but don’t get too attached: as Brody’s demise taught us, no one is safe. Either way, we’ll soon see him play another gun-toting tough guy in Hitman: Agent 47.

Origins: Lean, mean and with diamond-sharp cheekbones, 33-year-old Friend’s passion for acting started late. He had nothing to worry about: in his first film role he managed to keep up with a hedonistic Johnny Depp in The Libertine. The historical role began a trend for Friend: he has since donned period costume in Cheri alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, as Prince Albert in The Young Victoria and, in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, a dashing yet deplorable Nazi. Some might suggest that Friend should have worried about typecasting, but those people haven’t seen him in breeches.

Case of the Ex: Speaking of breeches, Friend met Knightley on the set of Pride and Prejudice, playing the dastardly Mr Wickham. In the film, Wickham strings Lizzie along but ends up running off with her sister — Knightley proved smarter than Ms Bennet and began a five-year courtship. Friend may have a fear of attention to match Dornan’s. The couple certainly made a pact never to mention each other in interviews.

Post-Keira: Friend is now engaged to blonde beauty Aimee Mullins, an American Paralympian, model, actress and TED-talker. We hate her too.

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