Tag Archives: Anastasia Steele

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY: Inner Goddess (A Journal)

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FSoG Inner Goddess Journal cover“I have always maintained that the best person to write for is yourself–and what better place to start than in a journal.”  -E L James

Vintage Books announced today that fans will soon be able to add a journal inspired by the bestselling Fifty Shades trilogy to their collection.

Please note that this is NOT a new novel or a ‘how-to’ guide. It is, however, a creative collaboration between the author and her U.S. publisher that will offer readers and aspiring writers a place to record their innermost thoughts.

Journal includes:

  • Foreword written by E L James
  • Excerpts from her books
  • Writing tips based on the author’s own writing experience
  • Playlist of music that inspired her own writing and running song counts

Journal features:

  • Foil-embossed, bonded-leather cover
  • Red-ribbon marker
  • Color printing, endpapers, and illustrations throughout
  • Lined pages for writing (divided into sections inspired by her protagonists, Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey)

“As E L James traveled and met with readers, there was a great curiosity about how she got started writing,” said Vintage/Anchor’s Anne Messitte, the acquiring publisher of the Fifty Shades series. “Her personal story is inspirational to many women, and journaling was an important part of her writing process.”

The 192-page journal designed by Chin-Yee Lai will go on sale May 1, 2013. Priced at just $16.99 (U.S. $), it would make a great Mother’s Day Gift!

Vintage Books is an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, which is a division of Random House, Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG, the international media company.

Source: Official Press Release from Random House

The 50 Shades Cure for End-of-Summer Blues!

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Have the end-of-summer blahs set in yet? It’s inevitable. After all, summers are usually Greyt, but this summer was even better because Fifty heated things up! Well, summer may be over but with so much Fifty everywhere, we don’t expect the discussion of all things #50Shades to cool off! So there’s no reason to feel blue…only Grey!

RECAPS & UPDATES

  • Limited Edition Hardback Set Available in UK – Order via AmazonUK (here). We’ve been told there are plans for the set to be released in the States soon, so we’ll keep you updated. You can also look forward to a chance to win an autographed set, as tweeted by the author. We’re also excited about her new website coming soon!
    E L James ‏@E_L_James
    @osieperez @50ShadesMontage I will do a competition when I launch my new website… not sure when that will be though – so keep an eye!

  • Fifty Shades of Grey: The Classical Album Released – For more information, go here.

  • E L James’s Husband Niall Leonard’s Promotes New Young Adult Book Crusher – He did interviews with Today show here and CNN here and wrote a “day in the life” style article for the Huffington Post here.

  • FSoG Inspired Fashion Week – A lot of black and leather was seen from designers Lubov and Max Azria! Check it out here.

  • Web Video BOOKD: 50 Shades of Grey Episode (@radical.media) – We were asked to be a part of this episode, but due to logistics and timing, it just didn’t work out. But Crissy from the fansite Laters, Baby! makes an appearance :) Watch it here.
  • FSoG Parody Song Developments! Chris Ward dropped in to let us know his FSoG parody song has been getting radio air time in Ireland! Congratulations, Chris! You can leave him a comment/review on his Amazon page by clicking here.
  • @50ShadesofGrey Parody Becomes Book – This very fun(ny) parody Twitter account has 80,000+ followers and is even retweeted by the author. For more information on the book, go here.
  • FSoG Illustrations – WOW! Beautiful illustrations from The Stir depicting “scenes” from the books here. We highly recommend taking a look at these, especially if you enjoy graphic novels. Let us know if you were ‘pulled’ right into the books by these like we were!

  • Emma Watson Asked About Ana Rumors – While promoting her new film, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, she admitted she still hasn’t read the books but thinks being considered for any role by fans is “flattering.” In a much more informal situation, she was on a plane with her Perks co-star Nina Dobrev (Elena on the Vampire Diaries and girlfriend of Ian Somerhalder), and the two did an on-air interview with Ryan Seacrest. He asked if Emma was going to play Anastasia Steele, as per the rumors of her being paired with Ryan Gosling as Christian Grey. Nina, helming the phone, relayed, “She [Emma] would be FAR more interested if he were playing Christian Grey.” Isn’t it nice to hear when stars are fans of another star? You can hear the full on-air interview here.

  • Ryan Gosling Asked About Christian Rumors – While promoting his new movie The Place Beyond the Pines at TIFF, @IamBenLyons for @extratv asked, “Any chance of Fifty Shades of Grey? Everybody wants to know.” Ryan’s response as he walked away was, “I haven’t… What is this book everyone’s talking about? Seems very popular.” You can watch the video here. That was not a direct answer from someone who is usually very quick-witted. Let’s respond appropriately, shall we?

From: 50 Shades Movie Fansite

Subject: Evasive Red Carpet Tactics

Date: September 16, 2012 5:17 PM EST

To: Ryan Gosling, Actor/Director and potential Mr. Grey

Sir,

Congratulations on your new film, The Place Beyond the Pines, which was picked up by Fifty Shades franchise distributors Focus Features during TIFF. We wish you much success with that project, as well as your upcoming directorial debut with How To Catch A Monster. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t point out that we felt your answer to Mr. Lyons’ question about Fifty Shades of Grey was a bit evasive, coy, and almost like you were hiding something (all ESSENTIAL QUALITIES of Christian Grey.)

Perhaps you’ve had to sign some paperwork on the topic, one of those NDAs? If so, well played, and we do understand about these things. Next time, just give us a wink or “oh-so-secret smile.”

50 Shades Move Fansite xoxo

  • Author to Appear on Katie! Yes, we’ve mentioned it before, but we are just so excited for this! Tune into Katie! on Monday, September 17th! The @katieshow airs M-F at 3pm ET on ABC.
  • Ms. James has begun her second US book tour! Dates and locations are listed at the top of our blog or you can find them here.

Summer might be over and the weather cooling, but #50Shades fans can count on topics related to the books and information about the movie to continue to be a sizzling-hot topic!

50 Shades of Grey Documentary

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In this nearly hour-long British documentary from Channel 4 – 4oD, you’ll find something for everyone, regardless of which side of the RRoP door you’re standing on. Woven throughout the video are RRoP scene reenactments beautifully shot in black and white, featuring actors Edward Lewis French as Christian Grey and Rosie Violet Wiseas Anastasia Steele.

Below are a few highlights that we transcribed for you.

David Quantick, Writer: “The amazing thing about these books, which is sort of played down, which I think is wrong, is they’ve come out of fan adoration. They’ve come out of the internet. They’ve come out of this big morass of supposed lack of talent and lack of imagination. It’s a fantastic leap of imagination to go from reading someone else’s books to creating a completely different world.”

Jonny Geller, Literary Agent—Curtis Brown: “They probably should just change the shout [tag] line to, ‘This book will change your wife.’”

Rowan Pelling, Columnist (Former Editor—Erotic Review): “People very often go, ‘I don’t like that vulgar terminology,’ just meaning, you know, a medical term for a body part. And it’s funny how confused we still are about sex. And I think what’s unintentionally clever here is that for the readership, vastly female, she’s made it ok by sort of taking out all of the scary language.”

Geller: “Famously, there is a [Literary Review's] bad sex [in fiction] award because it is so difficult to write sex well in books. But as many authors will point to the classic novelists, sex is not about writing the act. It’s about the feeling. It’s about the tension. It’s about the erotic, which is not necessarily the stated.”

Professor John Sutherland, UCL: “One of the things that E L James does terribly well is gradually turn up the sexual pressure. Now, it’s very hard to do. Pornography usually…makes the mistake of cutting to the chase too soon, but she doesn’t.”

Kathy Lette, Writer: “He’s spending so much time on her body. He worships her body…every inch of her body he kisses and caresses and strokes and titillates; and so it’s really about just being the center of his erotic, you know, fancy. And we all crave that. I mean, that’s what women want. So if men learn anything from this book at all, it’s, you know, ‘Worship me, darling.’” So who do some of the participants of the documentary think should play the pivotal role of Christian Grey?

  • Michael Fassbender – “That makes sense on one level because we already know from the movie that he did called Shame that he is quite well endowed.”
  • Christian Bale – “He’s quite attractive with a little hint of evil, isn’t he?”
  • Ryan Gosling – “Guys really like Ryan Gosling, and he could make him [Christian Grey] cool for men.”

There are several topics covered in the documentary, including the author’s use of brand names and music. As we know, brands like Apple, Audi, BlackBerry, and Bollinger are now synonymous with the trilogy; and Fifty’s iPod playlist helped immerse us even deeper into his world.

Set to the backdrop of the infamous song Sex On Fire by Kings of Leon, narrator Miranda Richards states, “E L James’s eye for detail doesn’t stop with the phone, the car, or the wine. Christian sets Ana’s spin cycle off to a soundtrack of everything from Kings of Leon to the sixteenth century…Thomas Tallis.”

Sex On Fire by Kings of Leon

Writers are admittedly envious of E L James’s quick rise to fame and fortune. Perhaps they should also be envious of the relationship she has forged with her fans through social media and book signing appearances. (A/N: For a list of upcoming book signings, click on the tab at the top of our site.)

As fans of the author since its humble beginnings as Twilight fanfiction, we can tell you that she has changed very little, continuing to be both approachable and appreciative. Armed with a warm and ready wit, you can find her most days trying to maintain that connection via Twitter at @E_L_James.

Fifty Shades of Grey Fanmade Video–We Aim to Please

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Here we go! Another fanmade video intentionally acted out based on the book by E L James, which the videographer, Nick Acosta, sent to us directly. Nick is kind of a brave guy taking on this project just for the fun of it, don’t you think?

We’ve watched it, and we really liked it. Is it exactly as we had imagined? No, but we think it strives to fairly represent the book in many ways. Well, except for maybe that pocket door to the RRoP. How do you lock a pocket door exactly? ;) But we give a lot of props to all who were involved in making this video (and the mock movie poster) and greatly appreciate how effectively it brings to life the book’s dialogue and highlights some of the beloved details of the story!

In addition, we really like the scenes he chose to recreate as well as the #50ShadesMontage of clips at the end that tie in to the overall story.

Nick provided us with some background info in case you were wondering!

Has he read the books?

“I’m a young, ambitious filmmaker trying to make my mark and build a career in the industry. I read the books and found the story and characters very interesting.”

Why did he choose FSoG?

“I like to challenge myself as a filmmaker and do things I’ve never done before. Like Christian, “ANOTHER FIRST.” I wanted to tackle the story and shoot a scene. Actually, I wanted to shoot the entire film but just didn’t have the budget for it. I wish we could have done more, but this is the best we could do with the budget, time, and resources we had.”

Is he ready for the criticism of such a task? After all, everyone who loves FSoG has their own opinions.

“We knew (given the popularity) some people would love it and others would probably find it offensive, not being able to let go of what THEY believe the story should be. But to that I say, ‘Hey, you can’t please them all.’ And I’m happy with what we accomplished. Is it EXACTLY how the book SHOULD be as a movie? NO, but given what we had, I’m VERY pleased with it. I would do stuff differently, of course, if I had more time and money. But I have to admit this looks pretty good for low budget. Also, to answer those who ask why we did this, well as Christian would say, ‘BECAUSE I CAN.’”

~

We love that Nick is such a fan and invested so much of his heart and time into creating this without any backing from a big studio or popular actors. He really DID aim to please in creating this, and we ask that you be respectful to the filmmaker in your comments!

So tell us what your favorite parts of the video are and if any piece of it made you think a little bit differently about how the actual Fifty Shades of Grey movie might actually look.

Does submersing yourself in a fanmade video like this one make you more excited for the movie?

Fifty Shades Comedy Song

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Thanks to Chris Ward for emailing us about his Fifty Shades-inspired song! We’re happy to help get the word out there to fellow fans. Knowing the great sense of humor that E L James has, we think she’ll find it as entertaining as we did.

We’ll let Chris tell you about it in his own words…

Hi,

Here’s a little song I wrote after reading the book. It’s about a man who’s wife won’t stop reading the book…..entitled ‘Fifty Shades of Grey (Have Taken Her Away)’.

Here’s the lyrics – hope you enjoy

Best wishes
Chris Ward Co Donegal
Ireland

Well I am just a simple man and I lead a simple life
But lately I’ve been wondering what’s happened to my wife
She used to keep me company – we used to do OK
But now it seems she’s left me for a man called Christian Grey
She’s upstairs in the bedroom, I’m down here on my own
I hear the heavy breathing and a loud ecstatic moan
You’d swear she had a man up there but every time I look
She’s underneath the covers with that bloody book.

Fifty Shades of Grey have taken her away
Each and every day – reading Fifty Shades of Grey

She went down to her mother’s, I went through all the drawers.
I found that bloody book and read it till my eyes were sore
And even though the story was too silly to be real
I followed the shenanigans of Anastasia Steele
For those who have not read it perhaps I should explain
This book comes with a message – ‘there’s pleasure in the pain’
So tie me to the bedpost, get out your whips and chains
And let’s all have a party – reading E.L. James

Fifty Shades of Grey have taken her away
Each and every day – reading Fifty Shades of Grey

I went onto the internet and I was quite surprised
At all the different places selling kinky merchandise
So I got out my credit card there was no time to waste
I ordered everything I could, delivery with haste
I bought restraints and handcuffs and all kind of bondage gear
Some paddles and some nipple clamps, I think you get the idea
And when it was delivered I wrapped it all in red
Tied it with a ribbon and left it on the bed

Fifty Shades of Grey have taken her away
Each and every day – reading Fifty Shades of Grey

She came back from her mother’s, she went upstairs to change
Then she came back down again looking very strange
She came right out and asked me – ‘was that really you’?
And when I told her ‘Yes’ she said – ‘my God I never knew
That you like pina colada and walking in the rain
Standing in the ocean, knocking back champagne!’
Now upstairs in the bedroom we’re at it every night
And I may not be Christian Grey but I think we’re doing alright

Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades, Fifty Shades, Fifty Shades of Grey

It helps to keep life interesting I think you will agree
But who is doing what to whom remains a mystery…..

Fifty Shades of Grey – another game to play
Fifty Shades of Grey – what more can I say?

(Laters Babe)

Fifty Shades of Grey Casting Rumors

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…or rumours depending on which side of the pond you live on. However you spell it, the word still means the same thing.

Author tweet July 6, 2012:

We are so far away from casting the Fifty films … no-one ruled is out… no one is ruled in. Just so you know.

Co-producer tweet July 23, 2012:

All of the rumors on #FiftyShades are just that – rumors. No one has been cast in any role. We have to get a writer and director first.

Co-producer tweets July 23, 2012:

@teammattbomer @tsalcedo2 @DanaBrunetti no one’s been cast or even approached yet, all just rumors. writer and director first.

@MattBomer4CGrey @DanaBrunetti all just rumors, no cast has been approached. writer and director first.

Even Emma Watson wanted to set the record straight in an interview with Entertainment Weekly regarding rumors that she was in talks to play the role of Anastasia Steele.

“I haven’t read the book, I haven’t read a script, nothing. There are so many movies you become attached to when I’ve literally never even received a phone call. It was the same way with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – I never even saw a script!”

She went on to say, “The thing is, I’m not going to go out there every time someone attaches me to a film to say no or release a statement.”

Emma Watson fans may not want to rule her out completely though. One could read between the lines and hear a “Call me maybe.” ;)

But for all you Fifty Shades fans, here’s something that’s not a rumo(u)r. One can read the lines of the author’s tweet and see “films” instead of “film.” :)

Interested In Roles, But Have They Read The Books?

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A movie deal made literally on the heels of the Fifty Shades of Grey book series being published has generated a lot of buzz but has barely given already-busy actors/actresses a chance to keep up and read the story that will be coming to the big screen.

We’ve already talked about the first few actors (Ian Somerhalder, Chris Pine, William Levy) who openly spoke about it here. As we said previously, that was just the beginning. Since then, more actors/actresses haven’t been shy about tossing their grey ties and handcuffs into the ring when asked if they are interested in playing the characters of Christian and Ana.

Admittedly, he hasn’t read the books, but when Access Hollywood described the story and character of Christian Grey to Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood, Battleship) in an interview, he replied, “I was born to play that part.” (Source)

His costar in the upcoming movie Battleship, Taylor Kitsch (John Carter), was also asked about playing the role by Access Hollywood. He also admitted he has not read the books. However, it seems Fifty Shades of Grey is definitely on his radar because he stated he is asked about the books “almost daily.” (Source)

When Celebuzz asked Chris Hemsworth (Thor, SWATH, The Avengers) about the role of Christian, he announced, “I’m not going to say anything. I haven’t read the book!” He did say he had previously heard about the books, as he was present when his Avengers’ co-star Chris Evans (Captain America) was asked if he would like to play the role. (Source)

A fan asked Michael Welch (The Twilight Saga) via twitter if he was up for the role. He responded:

“@carol_leomil: @MichaelWelchAct Do you would like to play Christian Grey in the movie? =)” Sure, it’s gonna be gosling though.

(Note: If we were E L James, we would take the opportunity to audition ALL of the actors interested in playing Christian because what a glorious and surreal opportunity it would be to hear several different smexy actors saying the words you wrote!!!)

Potential Ana actresses are speaking out too!

Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries) was asked about the movie by @mtvnews, and she stated, “I haven’t read it.” She went on to say that she didn’t think she should star in it alongside her Vampire Diaries’ costar (and boyfriend) Ian Somerhalder concluding, “Either he should get it, or I should get it.” (Source) Sounds like she would be interested in playing Ana under the right circumstances though.

In an interview with Kristen Stewart (The Runaways, The Twilight Saga, SWATH), Celebuzz’s Taryn Ryder asked about the FSoG movie roles going to Kristen and her Twilight Saga co-star (and rumored boyfriend) Robert Pattinson because of the story’s basis in Twilight fanfiction, only to be answered with “I haven’t read the book yet.” She goes on to say she wants to work with Rob again but it would need to be something ‘ridiculously ambitious’.” (Source)

And finally, Jennifer Love Hewitt (The Client List) has only just begun reading the books but declared to Access Hollywood, “I wanna be Anastasia so badly.” (Source)

So exactly who in Hollywood IS reading the books?

Eva Longoria tweeted after she met E L James backstage at The View. Hopefully this means that if she didn’t have the books already, Eva left that day with three new signed books in hand to read! Could they have discussed a part for her?

Eva Longoria: Look who I met in the green room of the View! E.L. James author of Shades of Grey! Who is reading this? Or read it? http://say.ly/Esb3gUF

Allison Williams (Girls) told Access Hollywood that she is reading the books. When asked if she would be up for playing the part of Anastasia Steele with all that it entailed, she waivered but didn’t seem to completely rule it out. (Source)

Wendy Williams, Ryan Seacrest, and Julianne Hough have also publically said they are reading the books. Jennifer Grey tweeted a few references specific to the books. Others are poised to read the books, including Fran Drescher, who has the books on her Kindle, and MTV’s Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz), who tweeted he is in possession of the books for research purposes. You can read the complete article where he mentions FSoG here.

Have we heard from your favorite(s) yet? If not, let’s hope they have upcoming interviews with @AccessHollywood, @mtvnews, @ChristinaMTV and/or @Taryder with @CELEBUZZ because they are not shy about bringing up the topic!!! Thankfully!

MTV News Is Listening…

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and so are we!

We recently conducted a quick Twitter poll to see who YOUR top three choices were to play Anastasia Steele in the upcoming movie adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.

While names like Kristen Stewart, Lucy Hale, Emilia Clarke, Allison Williams, Shailene Woodley, Ashley Greene, Emma Stone, Katherine McPhee, Lilly Collins, Nikki Reed, and Amanda Crew were mentioned, your top three picks were as follows:

#1 Emmy Rossum

#2 Alexis Bledel

#3 Unknown/Newcomer

The reason we took the poll was so that your voice could be heard in an MTV News (@mtvnews) article written by Christina Garabaldi (@ChristinaMTV). You can read all of the articles in her series by clicking on the links below.

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’: Experts Cast Christian Grey

Is ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Too Hot For An R Rating?

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’: Experts Cast Anastasia Steele

Thank you again to those of you who participated in the poll! For more news on your favorite subject, go to MTV.com (here) and do a keyword search for “Fifty Shades.”

It’s early in the print-to-screen process, so keep your suggestions coming in the comments and on twitter (@50ShadesMovie). You just never know who might be listening!