Jamie Dornan Knows What You Did This Summer

Welcome to Thirstory, where we whet your appetite with pages from the Interview archive that were almost too hot to print. This week, we socially-distanced with Jamie Dornan’s June/July 2014 feature.

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Summer 2020 is officially over. If that sentiment sounds peculiar, that’s probably because you know that Summer 2020 never really began in the first place. While there were several attempts to change the tune of the season (Chromatica and Blackpink’s comeback offered worthy contenders), a continuous loop of Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness” has been in our heads since social-distancing began earlier this spring. 

This year, sweatpants replaced swimsuits, beaches were triumphed by glorified bathtubs, and as Labor Day Weekend approaches, Cardi B’s new Balenciaga campaign is the closest we’re getting to backyard festivities. The flurry in which the months of June, July, and August have come and gone may have left you with side-effects such as fatigue, dizziness, and confusion. We’re here to tell you that you’re not alone. 

Unbeknownst to the photography duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, their angsty portfolio of the actor Jamie Dornan for Interview’s June/July 2014 issue perfectly epitomizes life in lockdown. In the shoot, Mr. Grey is all of us—restless yet exhausted, dazed but bemused by humanity’s simple wonders (lighter fluid and canned beer). Dornan validates our experience that athleisure is the ideal workwear, and demonstrates just how easy it is to forget to remove your underwear before the bath bomb goes off. His piercing eyes speak to the soul: he knows what we all did this summer, and that’s absolutely nothing.