Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson will take on the roles of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, respectively, in the anticipated big-screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey novel.
The news was tweeted by novel author E.L. James on Monday morning: “Good moaning all. Hold on to your hats…”
Dakota Johnson, 23, previously appeared in The Social Network – in which she shared a love scene with Justin Timberlake – and had small roles in 21 Jump Street, The Five-Year Engagement and Beastly.
She is the daughter of Don Johnson, best known for TV shows Miami Vice and Nash Bridges, and his actress ex-wife Melanie Griffith.
It’s thought producers cast Dakota Johnson because they wanted a young, up-and-coming actress to play the role of Anastasia Steele.
Charlie Hunnam, who is 33 years old and British, stars in the dark biker thriller Sons Of Anarchy as Jackson “Jax” Teller and also appeared in Guillermo del Toro’s robot epic Pacific Rim.
The castings close waves of rumors about who would take on the roles – Emma Watson, Imogen Poots, Armie Hammer and Ian Somerhalder, among many others, were at one time tied to a main role on the film.
The film will be directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy), based off the adapted script by Kelly Marcel (Terra Nova).
Fifty Shades Of Grey is currently slated for release in August 2014.
