This is what they call dodging a bullet, as leading couple Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan will learn soon

Feb 18, 2015 16:48 GMT  ·  By
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan will get rich off "Fifty Shades of Grey" but it won't advance their career
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   Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan will get rich off "Fifty Shades of Grey" but it won't advance their career

So “Fifty Shades of Grey” is finally out in theaters, which means that anyone willing to part with their hard-earned money and a couple of hours of their life can now see for themselves what all the fuss is about this movie that’s been keeping fans on their toes for at least a couple of years.

That’s when Universal Pictures confirmed that it was bringing the first novel in E.L. James’ best-selling adult trilogy to the big screen. That’s also when the madness began: who will direct? Who will play Anastasia Steele? Who will play the handsome and kinky and deeply disturbed Christian Grey? How many of the original raunchy scenes will make it to the big screen?

The film was eventually directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, with Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as leads. A “Fifty Shades of Grey” review is available, in case you’re interested in a more in-depth analysis, but suffice it to say that the result of all these years of hard work and madness was as risible as the book it was based on.

“Fifty Shades of Grey” attempts to rise above the low-quality source material it uses, but it can’t, mostly because of writer E.L. James’ position as executive producer, which guaranteed her the final word in everything pertaining to the production, from the casting to the color on the Red Room of Pain and the inclusion in the film of actual lines from the book.

In short, it’s a mess. Which is why Charlie Hunnam and a bunch of other actors should be saying their thankyou prayers for the close brush they had with this disaster of a film.

“Fifty Shades of Grey” was meant to be “serious” filmmaking

First things first: despite the inferior quality of James’ novels, which have been criticized enough online to go into particulars here, Universal bosses actually hoped they could make a “serious” movie, and thus launch a franchise as well-regarded with the critics as, say, “The Hunger Games” or “Divergent.”

At one point, rumor had it that they were even looking to secure Angelina Jolie for the director’s chair, though that one was never confirmed. Still, the very existence of the report was proof that the idea behind this project was to move past the ridiculousness of the written text and launch a good film franchise, one that combined good acting and good writing with the huge fan appeal.

James was involved in the production from day one, starting with the scouting and the casting, and hiring a writer for the script. She too believed that big-name actors and directors would jump at the chance of being part of this, if only because the “Fifty Shades” phenomenon was already a huge thing because of the books.

A successful franchise, but with exactly zero value

She clearly hadn’t learned anything from “Twilight,” particularly how popularity doesn’t equal quality.

A bullet dodged

So this brings us to the headline: actors who passed up the opportunity to be in this film and are now the better for it.

Based on the idea that they would be making a serious movie, James and the studio’s first choices for the leads were as serious as they get: they wanted Ryan Gosling, aka one of the hottest and most reputable actors around. Gosling isn’t just incredibly handsome and talented, he’s also very careful about the projects he picks because he doesn’t like wasting time. He is one of the few actors to do mostly indies and yet have mainstream appeal.

They also wanted Shailene Woodley, whose popularity has risen considerably thanks to the action-driven “Divergent” and the drama “The Fault in Our Stars.”

Gosling turned down the offer because he doesn’t do sequels as a rule, and Universal wanted him for at least a 3-movie deal. Woodley, on the other hand, couldn’t even consider the offer properly because of her involvement in the “Divergent” franchise, which means she doesn’t have the time to commit to another franchise.

Second choices were “TRON: Legacy” actor Garrett Hedlund and Felicity Jones. Hedlund came closest to saying yes, but he took his time before committing - and it’s a good thing he did, because he eventually realized he couldn’t connect to the character. Jones was deemed too old to play a 21-year-old ingénue who just graduated college.

Robert Pattinson and Matt Bomer were also at one point in talks for the Christian Grey role, but nothing came out of them. After the “Twilight” experience, which Pattinson made no secret of hating with a passion, no one can blame him for wanting to sit as many franchises out as possible, so that he can focus on projects he has more control over.

For Anastasia, more actresses were considered, including Alicia Vikander, Imogen Poots and Elizabeth Olsen, but by this time, James had already made up her mind about wanting Johnson, a relative unknown who’d auditioned and had the right feel.

Then Charlie Hunnam came into the picture: he was already known in the US for his role on the FX series “Sons of Anarchy” but he was yet to go fully mainstream. He did a chemistry read with Johnson and the result was satisfactory: he signed on the dotted line.

A few months into the deal, he realized the enormity of what he’d done and dropped out of the project, citing scheduling issues. Director Taylor-Johnson would let it slip later (meaning, a couple of weeks ago) that the thought of being tied to the same role for so many years was what freaked him out. Hunnam didn’t want to be typecast so early in his career, no matter the kind of money that was being thrown at him.

Dornan was the final choice.

A successful franchise, but with zero value

The example of the aforementioned Pattinson (and his co-star Kristen Stewart) with “Twilight” speaks volumes as to what it’s like to be part of a hugely successful franchise that is deemed to be of zero value by the critics and the wider public.

Both were A-list for the duration of the franchise, but willingly chose to go under the radar once it wrapped and do indies so that they could prove they were more than what they’d shown in the “Twilight” movies. They pretty much had to start all over, with the only difference being that, now, they had the financial security allowing them to work for peanuts.

“Twilight” made them famous, but it also made them unwanted with big directors and other studios, as they were now typecast and had no appeal for the larger public, except for the Twi-hards. So the only way in which they could still act was to go for small role in indies, which don’t pay the bills.

Comparatively, “Twilight” deserves a handful of Oscars for acting and writing and pretty much everything else. “Fifty Shades of Grey” has been savaged by critics worse than any of the 5 installments in the vampire saga, so that means that Dornan and Johnson’s fate is bound to get even worse than Pattinson and Stewart ever experienced.

Sure, they will get rich in the process, but they will forever go down in history as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, two of the most unrealistic and risible characters to grace the silver screen in years. They might as well enjoy the ride as long as it lasts - as for the rest, they’re lucky they got out of this with their dignity and reputation intact.

Here’s looking at you, Charlie.    

Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller on "Sons of Anarchy"
Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller on "Sons of Anarchy"
 

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Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan will get rich off "Fifty Shades of Grey" but it won't advance their career
Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller on "Sons of Anarchy"
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