Ladies and gentlemen, here is your Christian Grey:
(Photo from here)
And here is your Anastasia Steele:
(Photo from here)
Yes, Charlie Hunnam (of "Sons of Anarchy" and "Pacific Rim" fame) and Dakota Johnson (of the short-lived Fox sitcom "Ben and Kate" and the "21 Jump Street" movie) will be Christian and Ana.
I don't know much about Johnson. I have seen "21 Jump Street," as well as "The Social Network," in which she had a small role, but I can't really tell you anything about her roles or her acting or, well, anything. However, I do know that Kel really liked "Ben and Kate," so while that is not a glowing endorsement, it is something. From photos alone, I thinks she's very pretty and, since she was on a sitcom, she probably has at least some talents at physical comedy, which will hopefully translate into a good performance as the clumsy, awkward Ana.
Also, she is the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. This has nothing to do with her upcoming performance in "50 Shades of Grey" ... it's just kind of awesome.
Charlie Hunnam is not at all who I saw as Christian Grey, and as much as I loved Hunnam in this summer's "Pacific Rim," I am pretty skeptical of this casting. I saw Christian as looking like a very straight-laced young businessman. To me, that would be the only thing that would make his interest in BDSM something so shocking that it would make for a (mildly) interesting book. Isn't that the whole hook of "50 Shades of Grey," after all - the clean-cut businessman with a dirty secret? Hunnam has much more of a rough-edged look. It's not a stretch to think of him as having a dirty secret or two. Maybe he cleans up well and will look more like a respectable businessman for the movie, but right now I'm not really seeing him as Christian.
And, of course, all of this talk of the "50 Shades of Grey" movie brings up, once again, bigger questions about it, like, "How the heck are they going to make that book into a movie?" A large percentage of the book is sex scenes - it actually gets very repetitive by the end - and another sizable chunk of the book is emails between Christian and Ana discussing their arrangement and awkwardly flirting. It's pretty dull in the book - I can only imagine that it will be 10 times more boring in the movie. And, really, there's not much of a plot at all. Of course, I realize people aren't reading it for the plot, and while I don't have a problem with that, it doesn't make for a very good movie script.
I just can't imagine the "50 Shades of Grey" movie being anything but a hot mess. It will make oodles of money, of course, but I'm pretty sure it ain't gonna be good.
I guess we'll find out how it all shakes out on August 1, 2014, the movie's official release date.
What do you think of the "50 Shades of Grey" casting news?
Charlie Hunnam has finally responded to rumors that he's a favorite to play Mr.Grey's role.
ReplyDeleteChristian Grey
s much as I adore Charlie Hunnum as a person and an actor (and love his character "Neil Caffrey" in the outstanding "White Collar"), I would not want him to be in a movie version of "Fifty Shades of Grey": Charlie is too intelligent and too good an actor and right now the book is dreadful. If -- and this is a big 'if' -- a screenplay were made that was excellent (and explored the multiple layers of the characters and had great dialogue) AND had an outstanding director (i.e., Soderburgh et al, who could get beyond the surface 'porn' and shallowness of the book), that's the only way I would want Matt to make a choice to do a movie like that. He's so much better than that. Yes, Charlie Hunnum is sexy and can convey depths to his characters, but I'd prefer he make really intelligent choices in his movie roles. I'd go see anything that he's in, but even though he's the sexiest male star on TV or in movies today, "Christian Grey" is the right role for him. Matt can play "dark", but he's also sweet and he's way too intelligent to take part in a shallow film unless a top-notch director and screenwriter were involved.
ReplyDeleteChristian Grey
I can't wait for the movie. I loved the books. I should agree these are the best written books.
ReplyDeletethe movie fifty shades of grey