This Dance Ain’t for Everybody – Only the Sexy People

it takes courage and class to push it real good

Here’s one from the vault. I only notice shows a minimum of five years after the series finale, Sometimes 20 years later, and I had just found out about 365 Days around the time Michele Morrone was promoting his movie with Blake Lively. We didn’t have Heated Rivalry then; which commands public attention like North Korean radio. Most straight men have seemed genuinely enlightened about that show, except for Matt Damon, who hasn’t seen it .

I came across this TikTok clip while going down an internet rabbit hole about mafia men last year, and it bugged me by way of reminding me of similar impressions I had about Jamie Dornan when Fifty Shades of Grey came out. Actor Michele Morrone claims he has no regrets about doing 365 Days, just as Jamie Dornan once insisted about Fifty Shades. Yet both men have looked terrified in interviews, bracing for the shame of having starred in female-coded trash.

For a moment, Morrone appears ready to stand by his steamy claim to fame. But then his speech becomes stuttering and qualifying, his body language uncomfortable, and his facial expressions pained. The interviewer, for his part, was coyly disingenuous - as if participating in a performance ordered by a PR firm to ritually absolve Morrone’s career of his involvement with 365 Days. Shouldn’t simply acting well accomplish that? And why should this farcical stance be necessary anyway? Take these questions as seriously as you like. Rob Lowe’s PR firm was bolder and his embarrassing appearance was not in a fictional movie with adult actors. (but the dialogue might arguably be better) These films made a lot of money for these men because they were extremely popular with what I would imagine is the primary fan base for at least one of them. It seems like an insult to fans—and to themselves—not to confidently stand by their participation in something that was so significant for their careers.

It’s not like male-coded pleasures have earned the right to feel snobby about the girly ones. How much gravitas does it really take to enjoy Fast & Furious? Or The Avengers, or Game of Thrones? Jamie Dornan has given notice to film critic elitism in the past, suggesting at least peripheral awareness of the double standard, but I’ve also seen him respond to questions about Fifty Shades where he looked liked he was forced to open an Only Fans account at gunpoint.

This blatant cowardice does not give off leading man vibes, and it’s not sexy. Man up, boys. Or to borrow Morrone’s words: grow up. Grow up, he says! I can’t address that statement until well into Happy Hour. But if they truly need a shot of courage, perhaps they could look to their fellow actresses who master this type of vulnerability on a daily basis—such as Dakota Johnson, who did not throw her fans under the bus in her interviews. Or consider Eiko Matsuda in In the Realm of the Senses. Her co-star walked away with acclaim while she was branded a porn actress and blacklisted. Would an art film like that be prestigious and mature enough for Morrone and Dornan? Maybe it’s not a fair comparison since in that film the sex was real, and Tatsuya Fuji exposed himself in the fullest way possible.

Incidentally, from what I know of men, and Italian men in particular, I doubt that moderately exposing their torsos on camera and simulating eroticism was their actual problem. Possibly for Jaime Dornan - he seems kind of shy. Dornan said he dodged the spotlight to protect his family from the Fifty Shades media circus, which sounds plausible, but tacking on a withering insult aimed at lowbrow entertainment primarily enjoyed by women wasn’t really necessary. To be fair, he also derides male-oriented low-brow entertainment, but if your entire job is to entertain the masses, sneering at the tastes of either while performing it isn’t cool. Why should an audience want to watch anything you’re in, knowing that you think what they love is beneath you?

There would be nothing wrong with admitting to doing it for the paycheck—we don’t need to be lied to when we have eyes and ears. It’s also fine and dandy to admit to not personally loving the script or the genre—if they didn’t insult their audience in the process. And again- I’m not going to lie to you - 365 Days was not an art house film, but so what? Be as brave as Hollywood actresses.

Morrone says he wouldn’t do this kind of film again now that he’s grown as an actor. Maybe if they made a sequel in Sicily, he’d consider it—everything is better in Sicily. He could have all the women wear his personally designed bathing suits.