The Fifty Shades trilogy is huge, the books have sold over 70 million copies across the world which makes this one of the fastest-selling book series ever. One thing I have to hand to the trilogy is that it has inspired many who don’t usually read to pick up a book and for that I must give the series credit.
In March 2012 Focus Features and Universal Pictures acquired the rights to all three books in the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ trilogy and ever since then speculation has been rampant about who will play the lead roles. Fan pages have cropped up all over Facebook and the list of possible actors has been quite extensive, and impressive if I may say so.
Finally today the speculation has been put to rest and the announcements have been made. Of course there are some people who are ecstatic at the choice of actors to play the beloved lead characters in this trilogy, even less surprising is that there are many people who are extremely disappointed with the choices because they don’t match the pictures they had in their head.
E.L. James herself announced this morning that Christian Grey will be played by super sexy Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam. He has the talent and has shown in SOA that he can tap the dark side and his look is totally changeable depending on hair and shave status. His past roles also include Pacific Rim, Nicholas Nickleby, Abandon, The Ledge, Queer As Folk and Green Street Hooligans.
Also announced by Ms James on Twitter this morning is that Christian’s leading lady Anastasia Steele will be played by Dakota Johnson; daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. Johnson is a relative newcomer in the industry with movies such as the upcoming Need For Speed as well as 21 Jump Street, The 5 Year Engagement and The Social Network to her credit.
The movie is due to be released in Australia on July 31st, 2014 which still seems to be quite some time away, I’m sure the Fifty Fans will make the most of that time in heated debate about their ideas on the casting.
The screenplay for Fifty Shades of Grey, the first in the trilogy, is being written by Kelly Marcel. The film will be directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and produced by Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca with the trilogy’s author E.L. James.
Production must be set to start sometime relatively soon with less than a year until release so I will be on the look out for first sneak peaks of these stars in their new roles.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!