Fifty Shades of Grey
Short description
Fifty Shades of Grey centers on Anastasia Steele, a literature student who interviews the young businessman Christian Grey in place of her ill roommate for their campus newspaper. The meeting draws them together, and the wealthy, controlling Christian soon introduces Ana to a relationship governed by an agreement setting out his rules and his dominant role. Inexperienced in love, she is pulled into his world while trying to decide how far she is willing to go, and the arrangement tests them both.
Sam Taylor-Johnson directed the film, which followed her earlier features Destricted and Nowhere Boy in her filmography. Kelly Marcel wrote the screenplay, adapted from E.L. James's novel, and the producers were Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti and James. Dakota Johnson plays Anastasia opposite Jamie Dornan as Christian, with Jennifer Ehle, Eloise Mumford, Victor Rasuk and Luke Grimes in supporting roles.
Released in February 2015, the film runs 125 minutes and was produced by Universal Pictures with Michael De Luca Productions, Focus Features and Trigger Street Productions. Its reported budget of 40 million dollars was dwarfed by a worldwide gross of about 570 million dollars, a commercial result far out of proportion to its cost. Audiences were divided: it holds a rating of 4.2 on IMDb from roughly 355,000 votes and 5.9 on TMDB from around 12,553 votes, while a critics' rating of 4.3 from 279 reviews sits close to the IMDb figure and below the TMDB one.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the first draft of the screenplay, written by Kelly Marcel, there was much more sex and explicit scenes than in the final version. Marcel wanted the film to be rated NC-17, as did one of the film’s producers – Dana Brunetti. However, the heads of Universal Studios disagreed with this, and the script was significantly softened. To this end, it was rewritten twice. The studio would only agree to an R rating, as releasing a film with an NC-17 rating would result in them losing a significant portion of the audience.
- Jamie Dornan revealed that he visited a private "sex dungeon" while preparing for his role as Christian Grey.
- Jamie Dornan doesn't actually like to shave and prefers to wear a beard. However, during filming, he had to shave every morning to ensure his character appeared clean-shaven on camera.
- The interior design of Christian Grey's penthouse was handled by the Portuguese company Menina Design. The furniture for his bedrooms was made by one of Menina Design's brands, called Boca do Lobo, which translates to 'Wolf's Mouth'.
- In the film's finale, Christian plays the 4th Prelude by Frédéric Chopin on the piano.
- Many people from the BDSM community found the book and film offensive, as the depicted practices do not align with the principles underlying this psychosexual subculture – safety, sanity, and consent.
- Danielle Panabaker was considered for the role of Anastasia Steele.
- Director Sam Taylor-Johnson used her connections in the art world to furnish Christian Grey's penthouse. As a result, Grey's collection included works by Jake Chapman, Dinos Chapman, John Baldessari, Edward Ruscha, Michael Joo, Gary Hume, Georgie Hopton, Harland Miller, and Rob Pruitt.
- The initial audition for the role of Anastasia Steele involved reading a monologue from Ingmar Bergman's film "Persona" (1966).
- When Christian first shows Anastasia his 'playroom,' it was actually the first time actress Dakota Johnson had seen it. The producers wanted her to be as surprised and shocked as possible, so they didn't show her the room before filming this scene.
- E.L. James, the author of the novel on which the film is based, helped production designer David Wasco with the layout of Christian Grey’s penthouse.
- The film was shot in Canada in winter, and the actors had to portray spring in thin coats and booties (Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, according to the plot, met in the spring). Dakota Johnson was terribly cold. After the command 'Stop! Cut!' an assistant would run to her with a down jacket.
- Christian Cooke and Dominic Cooper auditioned for the role of Christian, and negotiations were also held with Stephen Amell. The role was initially offered to Charlie Hunnam, but he later declined due to scheduling conflicts with the series "Sons of Anarchy" (2008-2014). Alexander Skarsgård, François Arnau, Billy Magnussen, Patrick J. Adams, and Luke Bracey were considered as replacements for Hunnam, but ultimately the role went to Jamie Dornan.
- David Gandy turned down the role of Christian Grey.
- Dakota Johnson is eating toast at Christian Grey's hotel, and its shape changes from shot to shot, regardless of her bite.
- As soon as Jamie Dornan was cast as Grey, he immediately began rigorous 3-hour daily workouts. And although Dornan had previously worked as an underwear model and was in good shape, it wasn't enough, as Christian Grey needed to look on screen like the 'embodiment of male beauty.' As part of his diet, he had to drink protein shakes 5 times a day, with one serving at 4 a.m. The actor specifically set an alarm for himself, woke up, drank the shake, and went back to sleep. Moreover, to stay in shape, Dornan had to perform a set of exercises every day throughout the filming period.
- During the official meeting regarding the 'contract,' Christian Grey is talking to Anastasia, and her hair is visible on her left shoulder, but in the next shot, all her hair is hanging normally, and only then does she throw it over her shoulder.
- Angelina Jolie was offered the director’s role for this film, but she declined.
- The most famous and explicit sexual scene from the book – the 'tampon sex scene' – was not included in the film. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson said that the question of including this scene in the film was never raised, and it was not planned to be filmed.
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by British writer E.L. James ("Fifty Shades of Grey", 2011).
- Filming took place from December 1, 2013, to February 21, 2014, in Gastown (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), as well as at North Shore Studios.
- Lucy Hale admitted in one interview that she felt embarrassed during the audition for the role in the film, and as a result, the producers did not choose her because they thought she looked too young.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
