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

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!

Fifty Shades Movie Deal Secured

After a long weekend of several studios pitching their ideas to the author in an attempt to win her over for the rights to the Fifty Shades film, on Monday, March 26, 2012, Deadline.com reported that Ms. James had selected Universal Pictures and Focus Features.

In an interview with Valerie Hoskins, the author’s agent, she explained what led to their studio choice.

“I sent out a term sheet of what we wanted, and the priority was that somebody came back with something that was truly collaborative, rather than, we are going to buy your book and take it away from you. All of the offers fulfilled that to a degree, but the Universal offer fulfilled it 100%, and it was done with a sense of quiet confidence. We felt very safe, that what we were being offered would be backed up by the fine print. “

-You can read the entire Deadline.com article here.

In a subsequent interview with EW.com, it was revealed that though the movie rights had been sold, Ms. James will maintain a role in the development of the movie every step of the way, including approving the script and cast.

While Universal is the more well-known name involved, just as a point of reference, we want to mention some of the movies that Focus Features has been involved with the distribution and/or production of according to imdb.com: Lost in Translation, Vanity Fair, Jane Eyre, One Day, Atonement, Pirate Radio, The Pianist, Pride & Prejudice (2005), and Something New.

It seems both the author and her agent were satisfied with their decision.

Were you surprised by the choice they made? Are any of your favorite movies associated with Universal or Focus Features?

Hollywood WANTS to Bring the Story to Life!

After the initial buzz in January, the books started getting promoted everywhere…from the Today show to Entertainment Weekly to People Magazine.

On March 20, 2012, the LA Times reported that the author had found her way to Hollywood!

[Source]

We were ecstatic to discover that Ms. James and her agent, Valerie Hoskins, had traveled to the United States and were spending a few days in California. Meetings were scheduled with several studio representatives, including Warner Bros., Sony, Paramount, Fox 2000, and Universal, for the chance pitch their version of how to bring the story to life on the big screen.

From there, we all waited anxiously for the decision.