British actor Charlie Hunnam will play Christian Grey in the movie version of "Fifty Shades of Grey."
Dakota Johnson will play Anatasia Steele.
In one of the greatest guilty pleasures in the news today, the
actors to play the “Fifty Shades of Grey” roles have been announced.
Forget Syria and the special session for the Oklahoma Legislature, this is worthy of an analytical breakdown.
In the buzzed-about movie parts, Dakota Johnson will take on the submissive but strong character of Anatasia Steele and Charlie Hunnam is being handed the reins of Christian Grey.
This erotic novel of bondage and power plays started out as an online fan fiction of the “Twilight” series, but then gained steamed and a publisher to become the fastest-selling paperback of all time.
It has sold more than 70 million copies in 37 countries.
The story is simple: A 21-year-old college student meets an unrealistically wealthy 27-year-old industrialist, and the two have a steamy and kinky love affair.
There are a couple of other plotlines thrown in, but that’s the gist of it.
When Universal Pictures announced it planned a film based on the trilogy, it became a regular game to predict the actors.
With any book, readers create images of the characters internally.
Many blogs had bounced around actors such as Matt Bomer ("White Collar") and Ian Somerhalder ("Vampire Diaries") for Christian and Emma Watson ("Harry Potter" series) and Katie Cassidy ("Gossip Girl") for Anatasia.
An apparently bored
psychology lecturer from the University of Central Lancashire created a computer-generated facial composite of Christian Grey based on descriptions from a dozen women.
It’s not that much of a match to Hunnam, a 33-year-old British actor from the FX series “Sons of Anarchy.”
Johnson is the daughter of celebrities Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith and was in last season’s sitcom “Ben and Kate.”
She also made appearances in “The Social Network” and “12 Jump Street.”
A more interesting question will be how the movie can improve the book.
The story is not that complicated or deep.
It’s a walk on the dark side.
It’s an easy read. It’s even fun.
It’s not an example of high literature or even healthy relationships.
But, the movie, hopefully, will give a great dramatic interpretation of the contract "rules" Christian set out.
That's been a pretty fun bar game, from what I've been told.
The literary hook is the characters.
Despite their flaws, readers are captivated by them.
Casting relative unknowns make sense.
The audience won’t have them type cast or have a a pre-conceived idea of their chemistry.
The film is expected to be out in August 2014.
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