This interview was done in conjunction with The Hollywood Reporter’s (@THR) first ever ’25 Most Powerful Authors’ list, which E L James was named to. (Read more here.)
In the interview, the author opens up about dealing with her success, bringing members of #TeamFifty onboard, fan interest in a fourth book from Christian’s POV, and the books’ roots in #Twilight fanfiction, just to name a few hot topics.
To check out the entire Q&A, go here.
From the dynamic opening screen to the thoughtful fan-friendly pages, we love the new look of the website. Of course, we’re not surprised that we do with Hoot behind the design! As many of you know, she designed the original website where readers went to read the stories when they were still Twilight fanfiction.
We hope you all get a chance to stop by and take a look around!
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?
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.”
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.
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!
We realize there is a lot of controversy surrounding the success of these books because of the author’s unusual path to publication. It originated as a Twilight fanfiction and there are several direct comparisons (mostly the built-in character infrastructure) that can be made between the two stories. But as with any movie adaptation, several changes could be made to the characters and/or setting. So perhaps in developing the script, some of those comparisons to Twilight will be changed to lessen any similarities.
Even as Twilight fans who originally found our way to E.L. James’ story via fanfic, we remain Fifty Shades of Neutral. The question of possible copyright infringement is something that the authors, publishers, and their lawyers will have to work out. If anyone lawfully decides to halt production of this story becoming a movie, then we will observe such a ruling.
I think what we would all love is for Stephenie Meyer herself to release a statement about how she feels about the issue.
The bottom line? We are fans of both series, separately, (there’s no Team Twilight versus Team Fifty Shades here) and we will continue to be fans of both.
