MovieChat Forums > Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) Discussion > E L James swipes at Fifty Shades Of Grey...

E L James swipes at Fifty Shades Of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson AGAIN... inferring she is 'challenging' and lacks '


...'dynamism and vision'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6985707/E-L-James-swipes-Fifty-Shades-Grey-director-Sam-Taylor-Johnson-AGAIN.html

It's no secret that Fifty Shades Of Grey scribe E L James did not warm to Sam Taylor-Johnson's film adaptation of her bestselling novel.

And the 56-year-old author - who has written five books in the erotic romance series to date - has thrown shade at the director once again.

Speaking to The Times, James admitted that there were 'a lot of things' she would have changed about the first film in what would end up a trilogy - the only one to be directed by Taylor-Johnson.

She said: 'I would do a lot of things differently. That was a challenging experience.

'I had a far more creative process on the second and third movie, working with someone who had vision and dynamism and embraced the material.

'As a woman holding on to your IP [intellectual property] it's like what the f**k.

'I knew this was born of a fandom I knew it needed to be made right for those people. If we get that right it will be fine, it was just a struggle.'

The two sequels were helmed by James Foley after Taylor-Johnson, after she famously walked away from the franchise, proudly announcing she was 'done' and wanted to 'forget the misery' of it.

Speaking to Porter magazine in 2015,Taylor-Johnson relayed her struggles with James and claimed: 'It was difficult, I'm not going to lie. We would have proper on-set barneys and I'm not confrontational.'

In 2017, she said: 'I have literally zero interest [in watching the second and third instalments].'

She confessed in an interview with Sunday Times Magazine: 'I can never say I regret it because that would just finish me off - would I go through it again? I'd be mad.'

Referencing her fallout with James, she added: 'I like everyone and I get really confused when they don't like me - I don't understand when I can't navigate a person... when there's no synergy.'

Taylor-Johnson had beaten the likes of Angelina Jolie to direct the flick, after winning James' approval, but the relationship she had with the author began to crack, as she viewed Fifty Shades as a 'dark fairy-tale' while James thought of it as 'erotic'.

They locked horns over the way the sex scenes were to be portrayed and the duo famously clashed over the last line of the script.

Anastacia Steele (Dakota Johnson) had been punished by her lover Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) with a whip - and while Taylor-Johnson wanted Ana to use the couple's safe word 'red' to end the encounter, James was insistent on her saying 'stop' instead.

Meanwhile, with the trilogy now complete - and grossing over $1.320 billion worldwide making it the fourth highest-grossing R-rated franchise of all-time - James hasn't ruled out creating a new series but for gay men.

'Never say never,' was her reply when asked about penning a same-sex version for men.

reply

That's a stretch coming from her. E.L. James hasn't got an original bone in her body. Her latest novel, The Mister, is a testament to that.

reply

The hubris of this woman is shocking. Both she and Diana Gabaldon (Outlander) leave a lot to be desired. The recent passing of Anne Rice and the complete disrespect shown her and her vision of her far better drawn out characters, is proof positive of the lack of intelligence in both James and Gabaldon who largely write as in James' case, fan fiction and not good fan fiction. As for Gabaldon, at least she saw her characters placed into the general zeitgeist. And face it both book series are nothing more than soft-core porn.

reply