Jamie Dornan on Hanging Off a Cliff for The Tourist and His Harrowing Playground Accident

-I won't say nothin'. -"Anything." -What? -Won't say "anything." "I won't say nothing" is a double negative. -Oh. -We're back with Jamie Dornan. That was a clip from "The Tourist." [ Cheers and applause ] Because I know your wife is in the business, as well. You've got three girls. Do you feel like they -- they have the bug? Do you think they're going to want to be performers themselves? -I'd be amazed if there wasn't one of them, you know? They'll become like -- -Well, it looks fun to kids. -Ye

ah. Yeah, exactly. And, like, you know, I think, you know, they say that we have this great life and, you know, lots of good things, but, like, that isn't a guarantee obviously with it. -Of course. Yeah. -Um, but if one of them doesn't end up being a sort of model/DJ/actress, I'll be confused, you know? -This show was - when it was released in the U.K. -- was a hit right away. -Yeah. -Did you have any expectation when you were making it that it was going to be received so well? -No, because it i

s quite odd tonally. You know, you're sort of not totally ever comfortable with what you're watching in a good way and in a, uh, you know, purposeful way and intentional way. Um, just when you get comfortable with it and you think, "Oh, this is like a dark, you know, genre thing," something really silly happens and, like, crazy sort of comedy happens. So, uh, I was like, "This is either really going to work or, like, not." Um, and luckily, like -- Maybe not for everyone, but, I mean, you know...

over there. So, um, we were pretty -- really pretty pleased about it, yeah. -You had a nice, uh, release. It came out right after the new year, which was, like, a perfect time. It's a good time. I didn't realize until I read -- Oh, yeah, that's a really nice time to start a show. -So, we got, um, New Year's Day at 9:00. Everyone is inside in their house. You know, it is like the slot. Everyone's pushed it too far the night before. Last thing they want to do is leave their sofa, and, um -- And it

was on BBC One at prime time, 9:00. So I'm not saying that's the only reason it was a success. Like, it is a good show, but, um, it certainly helped. -Uh, a lot of action. -Yeah. A lot of stunts. You were hanging off a cliff at one point. How? -- You're not actually, I'm assuming, in peril, but it seemed like you probably got beat up a fair amount. -It felt like I was in peril, to be honest with you. I hang from this cliff, and it's all a bit of a joke. And they keep having this very long conve

rsation. And then, in a very sort of comedy way, they sort of finish their conversation, go back to me, "Oh, I just want to go back..." So they're -- And the whole time, I'm hanging. I was on a harness, but I felt like, um, it didn't look as good if I was letting the harness do the work. -That's true. -You know? So I was like -- I'm going to try to hang here. So I ended up really, truly hanging myself a lot. But I've had three surgeries on my shoulder. I had a terrible skiing accident, uh, 14 ye

ars ago. And it's, you know -- It's not great. So it didn't want to hang around for that long. -When you had your ski accident, the doctor was like, "You probably shouldn't hang from a cliff." -Exactly. No. Definitely. Definitely not. Um, so, yeah, it set me back a while, actually. Yeah. I was in, like, proper pain for a while. -You also had a very harrowing accident, and I hope it's not traumatic to show, uh, the video from it. But you posted this on Instagram. And, uh, I'm impressed that you b

ounced back at all. -Yeah. -And if you're a little queasy, you might not want to watch this video of Jamie. [ Laughter ] -Now... [ Laughter ] Now, Jamie... [ Applause ] -I just think, you know -- -What did you -- What did you think was going to happen? -Well, I knew I wasn't the right size, and I knew that could lead to something relatively funny happening. Um, I didn't quite -- you know, wasn't quite ready for the sort of violence of it. That's obviously in slow motion. That all happened so qui

ck! And I said, "This will be -- Aah!" And I was gone. And I, um -- I learned a lot of tough lessons that day. -Yeah. Now, obviously, it's framed up pretty clearly. Who did you ask to film it? -I don't know. Some poor passerby. [ Laughter ] -So someone who maybe recognized you, Jamie, and was like, "Oh." -Now I'm thinking back. I actually genuinely don't remember. But it was probably my poor wife, but it could have been one of the kids. Or I might have been sad enough that I was at the kids' pla

yground by myself. -So you set it up on a tripod? -Yes. [ Laughter ] Do your -- Are your -- I mean, my kids are absolutely, but are your kids embarrassed by you, uh, as a dad? -Yeah. Sure, sure. -What's the worst of it for you? -They're more embarrassed by... They are. Like, I don't know. I mean, that's a sweet spot where they're just starting to be embarrassed. Like, the eldest is starting to be embarrassed by me. Um, so you sort of lean into it quite a lot and then make her even more embarrass

ed, I guess, in a way. Um, but, uh, we'll get -- we'll get through that. Our eldest is very, um, in that, um, like, world-champion door slammer, uh, phase. So, actually, we haven't done this yet, but we are -- There's a guy coming to do it next week because I can't do any DIY at all. But of, like, putting, like, softener things around the -- I can't -- I'm going to set up a -- I'm good at setting up cameras, but I'm going to set up a camera to get her first attempt at a door slam. [ Laughter ] Y

ou know? "I hate you guys!" [ Laughter ] So... -You should put springs so it just bounces open. I'm happy to hear you're not a DIY because I am also not. And I have the worst thing because my father-in-law and my brother-in-law are super-handy. -Yeah, yeah, yeah. -And when I first met my wife and she -- Before we got married, she moved in with me. And there was one day where I was just playing Xbox. Couldn't have been less impressive. And my brother-in-law showed up at my house with a tool belt

and a punch list, and he was like, "Hey, I got to just do some stuff around here." And I was like, "Oh, yeah. Cool, cool, cool. Uh... Yeah, yeah, I think that -- I would do that and then that, if I was picking the order." -I want to be good at it, though, and I sometimes find myself watching, you know, like, slow-mo videos of people, like, fixing stuff online. Like, you know, really satisfying, like, you know, carpentry things and stuff. And I'm like, "I could..." You could teach yourself to do

that. -You could teach yourself. You know what? I watch those, too. And you know what? There's always a phrase that makes me realize I'm not going to do it, where the person will be like, "Now you got to be careful." And I'm like, "I'm out." I'm out! If we're talking about careful, I don't want to be a part of it. -That's not for me. Not for me. No. -Are the girls nice to one another? -No. -Okay. Was there an era where they were or did it sort of... -Eh. -Okay. -You know, what we deal with is li

ke any version. Like, two of them together is usually fine. Um, I mean, the two older ones, best friends in the world. And then Alberta came along, and, I don't know, like -- It's just like a nuclear bomb. And, um -- And, of course, the middle one sees how that works. And she ends up -- Because the eldest is really good with the little one, and the middle one gets a bit lost in the middle, like we all know can happen. And she's best friends with the dog, which is great. But, like, it's just not

like -- The ideal is five of us going out and everyone getting on. And we've seen glimpses of that, but, like, it's tough. I mean, all three of them together is tough. -It is amazing. -What about yours? -When one goes away... -Yeah. -...we're just like, "Look at this!" -I know, I know, I know. -Yeah. -Isn't that so -- It makes me sad. -Yeah. -You know, we always do -- "Oh, this will be great." It's just the five of us. It'll just be the family. It'll be so easy." And we're like, "Rah-rah!" You k

now? -Well, we're just going to -- We got a big wheel and we're going to spin it, and one of them's just... -Yeah. -No. Not, like, out forever. They're just going to -- We're going to send them to live somewhere else. -Yeah. No, no. Sure. Yeah. I do think that's -- should be encouraged. -Yeah. I don't know. Maybe we should just switch one of ours. [ Laughter ] Hey. Congratulations on the show. Thanks so much for being here. It's so great to finally meet you, man. -Thank you, thank you. -Jamie Do

rnan, everyone, "The Tourist" is available to stream on Netflix now. Stick around. We'll be right back with more "Late Night."