Jamie Dornan did not have the easiest time dealing with the Fifty Shades of Grey critics-even though he knew they’d be coming for him. The 39-year-old actor-who played Christian Grey opposite Dakota Johnson’s Anastasia Steele in the film franchise-expected the backlash, but all that negativity was still hard to wrap his head around. “There’s nothing like Fifty Shades in terms of, it was based on books and we were staying very close to these books. These books were loved by fandom. Really loved, obsessively loved and despised by every critic,” the Belfast actor told British GQ during a live chat on Monday, Nov. 15. “Real critics hated the books.” He continued, “You know that you’re going to have these movies that are for the fans, that the fans are going to love, that are gonna make a ton of money. But you know that the critics will be just you know licking their lips and that’s exactly what happened. And we knew that was going to happen so you’re watching that play out and at times that’s difficult.” Sons of Anarchy actor Charlie Hunnam was originally cast for the role but dropped out. When Jamie stepped into Christian’s shoes, he “felt the wrath of hatred.” Despite the haters, the film grossed over a billion dollars and made the Irish actor a household name. Does he regret his time as Christian Grey? Absolutely not. “The thing is every move I have made in my career, post those films, I have only been able to do because of those films,” he shared. “Because all of the stuff, like Belfast, Beyond Private or any like well-received more independent stuff I’ve done the last five or six years, they’re only budgeting, they’re only paying for those films to be made off my name because I’m in a franchise that made 1.4 billion dollars. That’s how that works. It’s all part of it, it’s given me so much, so of course I don’t regret it.”