Fifty Shades of Grey casting...

Okay so some of you may not know that yes, E. L. James' erotic first edition to her Fifty Shades trilogy is being turned into a movie. If you've been living under a rock for the past year then last summer mad craze over this trilogy may have slipped past you but I can assure you it was BIG. People went crazy for these books, I think mainly because people love to jump on the bandwagon of the 'next big thing' but regardless, it was no suprise when the film rights were bought for the first book 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and the hunt for the perfect people to play the protagonist Anastasia Steele and her kinky new boyfriend Christian Grey began.

Quickly to sum up the first book (spoilers), Anastasia or 'Ana' meets the rich entrepreneur Christian Grey when she is asked to interview him. After a few not-so-coincidental encounters she realises she has feelings for this man and they take their relationship one step further. Ana soon learns however of her lover's inner demons which drive his need for ultimate control, he asks her to agree to a sadomasochistic relalationship whereby he would inflict various acts of pain on her, using her body as an instrument of his pleasure. While considering this proposition and the its repurcussions on herself she digs deeper into Christian's past to discover where his need for dominance originates and finds she wants more from this man than a contract and a whip, she wants a romance.

Now admittedly I didn't just buy and read the first book but I finished all three. To be honest, I actually really enjoyed the books regardless of how kinky they are. I agree with a lot of the criticism that there is more sex than storyline and that the writing style isn't exactly brilliant but you do end up falling in love with the characters somehow. 

A few names have been in the mix for the casting of the characters, most mere fan choices such as Emma Watson or Kristen Stewart for the role of Anastasia and Matt Bomer or Ian Somerhalder for the role of Christian Grey. It's no suprise that Emma Watson corrected these rumours stating she'd be degrading herself by taking on the role, after all its a controversial genre and could be career damaging in the long term.

Eventually these two actors have been cast, Dakota Johnson as Anastasia and Charlie Hunnam for Christian Grey. 

I've heard 90% criticism, 10% praise for this casting and I must admit im with the 10%. I actually really like Dakota Johnson, in The Social Network her small role was performed with modesty and I think she'll be really good at portraying Ana's timid tendencies and her sometimes shy personality. She's brunette in the book yes but we still don't know that they won't just pop down to the supermarket and buy some brown hair dye!

Charlie Hunnam isn't who I pictured I must admit but if he shaves and neatens his look up a bit I have no doubt he'll be a great Christian! I haven't made my mind up about him completely because I haven't seen him act in anything yet but I don't think the casting directors would have chosen him unless they had faith he could do it. A lot of people are forgetting that their ideal actor choices may not have wanted to do the film so they shouldn't take it out on the producers of the film...

I'm intrigued to see how they'll portray the sex scenes because they can't take up the whole film like how they took up the majority of the books because we'd basically be watching a porno lets be honest. Hopefully we'll get more of a glimpse into the actual storyline. 

The release date is confirmed as August 1st, 2014.

P.S. Fun fact of the day, I know E.L. James distantly haha! She's a friend of a friend's mum, I don't care if I've never actually met her this is my claim to fame!