Ber-y Ber-y Grey
By Jose Angelo Lorenzo S. Gomos
As we enter the month of September, many people are excitedly raving about the Christmas season. As a tradition and belief for most Filipinos, the start of the typical Ber month (usually, the month that ends with the syllable, –ber) is the advent of Christmas. And even though the season’s aura is now brewing within our country, there is one issue that had sparked the attention of millions of fans (of a particular trilogy) around the world.
And it is about the chosen actor and actress for the lead roles of the film adaptation of the critically-acclaimed worldwide bestseller, Fifty Shades of Grey.
Fifty Shades of Grey is the first book of an erotic romance trilogy that entails a sadomasochistic relationship between a wealthy and incredibly good-looking bachelor, Christian Grey, and a recent college graduate, a naïve and virginal lady, Anastasia Steele. Despite breaking records as the fastest bestselling paperback of all time (beating the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling), and in spite of spending numerous months at the top of the New York Times Bestsellers List, the trilogy received plenty of controversies and issues regarding the unethical transcendence of contemporary literature by transforming porn into words.
The Fifty Shades Trilogy is the start of a new literary development as it is the first erotic piece to have been popularized around the world. Usually, the kinds of genres that fit to the interest of the readers around the globe are romance (Nicholas Sparks and Danielle Steele), fantasy (J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and J.K. Rowling), horror/thriller (Dean Koontz and Stephen King), Young Adult (Stephenie Meyer, John Green, David Levithan, and Rick Riordan), and philosophical/spiritual (Paulo Coelho and Mitch Albom). Per se, the Fifty Shades Trilogy broke its boundary as one of the most famous erotic novels of all time. I believe that even though the trilogy has been criticized a lot by overly conservative joy-killers, the trilogy marks a history in the field of literature as being a masterpiece that unrelentingly explores and ventures the side of innate sexuality of human beings. Call that a literary development!
As the trilogy’s fame increased, news had been announced in 2012 that there will be a film adaptation for it to be released in the near future. Fans had been elated by the good news, knowing that their favorite trilogy will finally be on the big screen.
But what kept their excitement burning?
It was the choice of the actor and actress that will play the lead roles of the trilogy.
As months had passed, there were plenty of speculations, suggestions, and comments given by the fans regarding who will exactly play the lead roles for the film adaptation of the popular trilogy. For the role of Anastasia (commonly known as Ana), actresses such as Emma Watson, Nina Dobrev, and Lilly Collins were considered for it. But they didn’t confirm to have accepted. As for the role of Christian Grey, Hollywood heartthrobs like Channing Tatum, Ian Somerhalder, and Matt Bomer were suggested by the fans but they just remained to be of the fans’ interest. Not one of them seemed to have tried auditioning for the role. Alex Pettyfer, the actor who received a worldwide fame from the film, I Am Number Four, was rumored to have auditioned for Grey’s part but no news of him being accepted was released.
For many months, not a single news of who will play the particular leading roles was unleashed. It was ambiguously mysterious for quite a while which made the fans of the trilogy anticipate and expect for more.
But the long wait is over as we enter the first month of “-ber”.
Last Monday (September 2, 2013), the author of the erotic romance novel, E.L. James, posted on her Twitter account the names of the actor and the actress who will play the major characters of the film:
“I am delighted to let you know that the lovely Dakota Johnson has agreed to be our Anastasia in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey,” the author tweeted and within hours, she added another tweet, “The gorgeous and talented Charlie Hunnam will be Christian Grey in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.”
Charlie Hunnam is a 33-year-old British actor who first starred in television shows like Queer as Folk, My Wonderful Life, Young Americans, and Undeclared. He also currently stars in the hit TV series, Sons of Anarchy. Most sci-fi fans must have known him in Guillermo del Torro’s The Pacific Rim which was just released recently this year and earned him a worldwide popularity.
Dakota Johnson is 23-year-old American actress who is a neophyte in the film and entertainment industry. The newbie actress is the daughter of Miami Vice-star, Don Johnson and his ex-wife, Melanie Griffith. She appeared in the TV show, Ben and Kate and acted for minor roles in the films, The Social Network, 21 Jump Street, and The Five-Year Engagement.
I was shaking my head when I heard the news about this. And I know that I am not alone. Numerous fans expressed their negative reaction towards the choices for the leading roles. Many disagreed about Charlie Hunnam playing Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele. I can sense the beginnings of inconsistencies of the upcoming film adaptation from the original trilogy as both the actor and the actress, are, in my opinion, unfit for the roles.
Although I am not really an avid fan of the trilogy, I have read the first book which I think was interesting and new. I am quite open-minded about these fresh and original genres when it comes to literature. As a massive book reader, I accept all kinds of new things in the field of literature. Fifty Shades of Grey isn’t so bad at all. If J.K. Rowling could write about wands and flying brooms, Stephenie Meyer about fangs and glitters, E.L. James did professionally and expertly well with chains and neck-ties.
When it comes to books turned movies, I can sense that most films took some liberties from the books and turned them into something on their own which is far different from the idea of the book. The film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey is headed to that direction. Based on the physical appearance of Charlie and Dakota, fans will look at Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in a very different way when they watch the film.
In the book, Christian Grey is described as having a chiseled face, a dark auburn hair, gray eyes, and a tall and slenderly masculine body – features that completely fit the looks of Ian Somerhalder. Charlie Hunnam never fitted in any of these descriptions. Charlie has a blond hair, a buff body, and a round-shaped face. He is nothing like Christian Grey at all. Whereas Anastasia Steele is thin, brunette, and awkwardly pretty. From the way I see it, Emma Watson fits the description perfectly and Dakota didn’t even reach halfway of these features, not with her long blond hair, and wide forehead.
And I think that many fans would agree with me.
On Telegraph, there was one fan who posted his statement regarding the choices, “…very disappointed with the choices, especially for Anastasia. She [Dakota] looks nothing like Ana.” And on their website, they showed the results of a poll that asks the fans about what they think of the choices playing for the lead roles. For Charlie, there were 881 votes (40.21%) who say that they agree and a dominating value of 1,130 votes (59.79%) who disagree. For Dakota, there were 798 votes (45.68%) for those who agree which were outnumbered by the number of votes of those who disagree, 949 (54.32%).
Physical features aside, I doubt that the movie version will even reach halfway of the success of the book it is based upon. Judging by the reactions of the fans of the trilogy, even by the announcement of who will be playing the lead roles, they reacted negatively and most of them disagree with it. I am guessing that there will be fans who will not support the movie as their expectations were turned down by the chosen reality. As for me, I’d still stick with the books though. Like they say, books are mostly better than the films.
On the bright side, the author, E.L. James, is totally fine with the choices. In fact, she apparently showed her support in her tweets when she announced who will be playing Christian and Ana. Although when she was asked who she was originally picturing in her mind while writing her novel, she stated that she imagined Robert Pattinson as Christian Grey and Kirsten Stewart as Anastasia Steele. The novel itself was formerly a fanfiction of the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer as James herself was an avid fan of the series. In fact, the names of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele were Edward Cullen and Bella Swan in the original manuscript. As every author’s dream is to have their works transformed into films, E.L. James no doubt is excited for the upcoming movie whether or not the fans love or hate the chosen actor and actress.
The upcoming film will be directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and will be released by Michael De Luca Productions, Trigger Street Productions, Focus Features, and Universal Pictures. The release date will be on August 1, 2014. I think this will be another controversial film that will be banned in numerous countries (for its erotic scenes which happen in most part of the book) which had never happened to a movie ever since Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code hit the big screen in 2006. But what’s the problem with that? Films, not only books, can create and try for new genres that are unique and are different from the usual kinds that they produce. They can transcend and adapt the famous trends that people follow and practice these days. If books can exploit eroticism, films, for the sake of their audience’s interest, can follow as well.
Whether or not the film will be critically or negatively reviewed with the actor and the actress who will star in it, it will be a huge stepping stone for Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson’s promising careers and could serve as the foundation of their ascending fame and increasing success in the film and entertainment industry.
Angelo's Compositions 