Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson will not direct the movie’s planned two sequels.
Sam Taylor-Johnson said she was “hugely grateful” to have been chosen to adapt E.L. James’s 2011 best-seller.
She then wished “nothing but success to whosoever takes on the exciting challenges of films two and three”.
Fifty Shades or Grey, about a businessman who begins an affair with a young student, has made almost $560 million at the worldwide box office.
Photo Getty Images
E.L. James’s trilogy of Fifty Shades books have reportedly sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages.
Relations between Sam Taylor-Johnson and the author were said to be strained during its production, prompting speculation the artist-turned-director would not return to continue or complete the film trilogy.
“We battled all the way through,” Sam Taylor-Johnson told Vanity Fair magazine.
“She’d say the same. There were tough times and revelatory times. There were sparring contests. It was definitely not an easy process.”
Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are expected to return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in the next film, scheduled for release in 2017.
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Dakota Johnson’s spoof advert for ISIS on Saturday Night Live show has caused a furor on Twitter.
Fifty Shades of Grey actress plays a girl saying goodbye to her father in the skit, which appeared on SNL.
Dakota Johnson appears to be leaving for college, but it transpires she is actually joining the Islamic State group.
“It’s just ISIS, dad,” she says.
One Twitter user wrote: “I found NOTHING funny about that ISIS #SNL skit. Sorry but no laughing matter. Ever.”
Later in the sketch, Taran Killam, who plays the father, tells the ISIS recruiter to “take good care” of his daughter, to which the ISIS member replies: “Death to America.”
Photo SNL
The skit ran shortly after the news broke that three British schoolgirls had run away from home to join the terrorist organization.
On Twitter, another user, Mike Smith, wrote: “Make sure you send a copy to the families of the people murdered… See if they think it’s funny. SNL went too far for a laugh.”
However, some users were more supportive. Pam Bell wrote: “Seems this may have been controversial, but SNL does this better than anyone, & if we don’t laugh, they win.”
Dakota Johnson, who can currently be seen in Fifty Shades of Grey also hosted this week’s SNL.
Her parents, actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths, were in the audience.
Dakota Johnson joked with them that she was conceived during SNL when her mother hosted the show in 1988.
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Fifty Shades Of Grey will be hitting UK’s theaters in full glory after censors approved the film without any cuts.
Based on E.L. James’s best-selling books, Fifty Shades Of Grey stars Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as his lover Anastasia Steele.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, it is due for release on February 13 ahead of Valentine’s Day.
E.L. James’s trilogy of Fifty Shades books have reportedly sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages.
In the US the film has been given an R rating, meaning those under 17 years old can watch it if accompanied by an adult.
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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.
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
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.
