One of the biggest sensations of last year was the "Twilight" fan fiction turned erotica sensation "Fifty Shades Of Grey," and it arguably is also one of the riskiest buys of 2012. Studios fought tooth and nail to get the rights to the bestseller, with Universal and Focus Features beating all comers, and ponying up $3 million dollars for the movie last spring. In the months that followed, the project gained "The Social Network" producers Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti, and "Saving Mr. Banks" and (uncredited) "Bronson" writer Kelly Marcel, all while casting rumors have flown around. But perhaps the biggest question is: how can this movie depict the S&M acts on the page and remain faithful to the book, within the boundaries of an R rating? Well, it looks like they'll be stepping outside those constraints.
Marcel recently chatted with Style magazine (via The Telegraph), and revealed the movie will be strictly for adults. “Well, there is going to be a lot of sex in the film,” she said. “It will be NC-17. It’s going to be raunchy."
Indeed, the tale of the virginal 22-year-old university grad Ana, who becomes involved with a 28-year-old billionaire from a troubled background is hot and heavy, with the novel featuring all kinds of sex. And Marcel says most of it will be there. “We did go through and decide which are our favourites [sex scenes] and which are not. Most of them are in there, but I can’t say more than that,” she said.
And while she remains mum on casting or any other details, she also wants to stress that the movie isn't totally about sex. No, really. “I don’t care what anybody says, there is something about Christian that is old-fashioned and romantic,” Marcel said. But let's face it, people will be lining up for the naughty stuff.
But don't get too excited, Universal tells THR that no decision has been made yet on the rating.“A screenplay has not yet been written, a rating has not been designated and we have no further comment,” they said. Hmm.
We still have our doubts that America is going to take their bedroom kinks and translate it into ticket sales, but you can check out our choices for the director, Christian and Ana right here.
S & M, bondage, and general all-round sexual deviancy… sounds like a Wachowski brothers' film, are they available for this?
Do you actually think Universal and Focus Features are going to allow themselves to lose money on the adaptation of this successful book by pinning it with an NC-17 rating? No way! Just like any other company in the industry they are going to try and make as much money as possible. Especially off of a book that has this much potential to bring in box office numbers.
Lol, I hope this is rated NC-17 (and is in Dbox). It's one of the few films that could save the rating.
I liked that pun, although it was probably not intentional: she remains mum …