Acclaimed director Joe Wright is no stranger to literary adaptations. As well as Ian McEwan’s Atonement, he is responsible for cinematic versions of classics like Pride and Prejudice, and more recently Anna Karenina. However, transforming raunchy bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey into a film would certainly be different territory for him.
Variety broke the ‘news’ initially and Empire has also reported the story. The reliability of the rumours is far from clear. So far actors and actresses at least have viewed the Fifty Shades adaptation as a poisoned chalice. Whilst it seems to be a big money project for Universal, seeking to capitalise on the extraordinary success of the book, actresses like Harry Potter’s Emma Watson have immediately ruled themselves out the moment media whispers suggested them. We can only assume this is because of the sexual nature of the material, which might be perceived as cheap and extremely risky for a performer, as well as a director.
There is also a view that E. L. James’ trilogy is rather low-brow and without artistic merit. Essentially, the criticism of Fifty Shades is that it is soft porn for slightly prudish middle class women. Do directors and actors really want to associate themselves with something that is little more than titillation? The counter argument to that is the fact that the trilogy’s readership clearly went beyond frustrated housewives and mothers; everyone was reading it. Fifty Shades was and is a cultural phenomenon. It surely says something about our changing attitudes to sex. Could a director find something interesting in that?
It might be difficult to explore the wider cultural significance of the trilogy given the nature of the story though. Anastasia Steele is the virginal character, seduced by the super rich Christian Grey and forced to sign a strange submissive contract. There’s not much more to it than that. Lots of sex though.
If it does turn out that Wright has been tempted by the controversial project, questions turn to who will play the leads. Given his long-standing working relationship with Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean), could she be tempted to portray Anastasia? She embraced spanking scenes with Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class) for A Dangerous Method, but that film had superior intellectual credentials. Who would play opposite her? Perhaps Fassbender again? Or maybe it will be Robert Pattinson and Kristin Stewart (Twilight), as everyone seems to want?
Who do you think could make Fifty Shades interesting? Should Wright take it on? And who should he cast if he does? Leave your comments below…
Originally published May 10, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
