WHAT WENT WRONG - Fifty Shades Of Grey

Episode Date: December 20, 2022

Submit to the story of how E.L. James, an uncompromising fan-fiction author with no film experience, wielded an unprecedented amount of power in the making of this surprisingly tame exploration of domination. Plus, Lizzie & Chris get the goods on Jamie Dornan's used wee-bag, Dakota Johnson's digital pubes, and a drastic spike in BDSM related hospital visits! Guest-hosted by the incredible Naomi Lindh.Go Ad-Free - Join Our Patreon!Check Out Our Merch!Follow Us on Instagram!What Movie's Next? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before we get to your regularly scheduled programming, we have a special announcement for you. We are wrapping up season three of What Went Wrong. This is the second to last episode. We really appreciate you guys listening. We've got an incredible final episode coming up featuring not one but two of Hollywood's most canceled actors. That's right. And in that final episode, we're going to be talking about a whole bunch of things that you can look forward to in the next season of What Went Wrong. That is stronger, bigger, bolder than anything that you've put in your years before. We got floppier, big-time floppers and ultra-convaluted napkin math and some bonus content that I think you're going to be excited about.

So please tune in for our season finale in two weeks of What Went Wrong. And now, 50 Shades of Great. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of What Went Wrong, your favorite podcast, Full Stop, that also happens to be about the production of movies, some of which are disasters, some of which are giant box office successes, and all of which, in the show. invariably had many things go wrong behind the scenes. And here, as always, to illuminate such story disasters is the one and only. Lizzie Bassett, Lizzie, how you doing tonight? I'm doing great. You know, I can't wait to talk about the movie that we are learning more about today.

As you all have seen from the title of this episode, it is the one and only 50 Shades of Gray. Fifty Shades of Gray. 50 Shades of Ficked Up. Yep, that's what I was waiting for. A little bit of a fun twist, though. I'm not going to be the one telling us about 50 Shades of Grey. One of my dear friends, actor and producer Naomi Lind is joining us. Naomi was my college roommate.

She's one of my best friends. I love her so much. She's currently a producer on a short film called Epinephrine. She has done the deep dive into the research. Thank God, because I did not want to. And she's going to tell us all the behind-the-scenes details of this movie. Naomi. Why did you do this to us?

I watched this with David. Not good to watch with another person. It's really weird. Oh, I saw this in theaters. No. On opening weekend. And the reason was because I heard that Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson had no chemistry and hated each other on set. And I wanted to see what that looked like on film.

But that is a rumor that is very false. They got along very well. They're dear friends. and just going to like lay that out now. They don't hate each other. But I chose this because it's juicy and why not, you know? I love films that are so bad they're good. And this one is just, I mean, you guys watched it.

It's just pretty bad. So the film we are covering today is 50 Shades of Gray based on the best-selling novel by E.L. James. It was directed by Sam Taylor Johnson with screenplay by Kelly Marcell and score by Danny Elfman. It stars Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele and Jamie Dornan as Christian Gray. The plot is when college senior Anastasia Steele, Dakota Johnson, steps in for her sick roommate to interview prominent businessman Christian Gray, played by Jamie Dornan, for their campus paper. Little does she realize the path her life will take. Christian, as enigmatic as he is rich and powerful,

finds himself strangely drawn to Anna and she to him. Though sexually inexperienced, Anna plunges headlong into an affair and learns that Christians' true sexual proclivities push the boundaries of pain and pleasure. Even IMDB cannot boil this plot down to something that makes sense. There is no story to this movie because that was so long and nothing happened. Wait, Chris, this was your first time watching it, right? Yes.

I watched it with my wife. We have a young baby. We don't have a lot of time to watch things and we watched it together. A few things I want to get out of the way really quickly up front. I think the movie is very well shot. It looks great. I actually think as well as you could direct it. I think it's decently well directed.

We'll get to the script, I'm sure. I'll leave my comments. But I agree. It feels, I mean, I feel like Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, just to provide enough takes where they're not laughing through the lines is like humans' work that they did on this movie. And then two quotes I'll share from my wife. My wife turned to me at one point and said, this feels like it was made by someone who's just been told about sex, but has to be that it. And then the second one was, there was like a close-up shot

of Ms. Johnson Topless. And she was like, I wonder if that's Dakota's chest, real chest. implying like a body double and then we just like cut wide to both of them nude for the rest of the movie and so I will say like a lot of courage especially she displayed in being so willing and this I believe was her first like very big role and so you know I just want to make it clear I didn't really enjoy this movie I have a lot of problems with it but I can admire the gumption of the actors and their bravery and being nude and then I also just thought from a craft perspective a lot of departments did a great job from cinematography to production design. I like the costumes, et cetera.

So I just wanted to get that out of the way before we flog the writing relentlessly. And I will say there are good reasons, and we'll get into them of why the production design worked and the script did not. I guess my initial take from watching this is that I think Dakota Johnson is great and is actually somehow magically pulling this off.

She's always great. She's a really good actress. I know, but like this is such a, a nightmare of a part, and she really is charming and, like, easy to watch in it and has to deliver some of the worst lines ever written, and she does it and does it great. Jamie Dornan, who I normally love, I think, is just horribly miscast. He just looks very uncomfortable, and I will say right out the gate, like, he's a great actor. He's not good in this. Yeah, it's a rough go. The only other two things that I've seen him in have been when he's

playing a Northern Irish character. And this is the first time I've ever seen him play an American role. And man, is that dialect inconsistent. So I think what Naomi's referring to is probably the fall, which is great. If you have not watched it, he plays a serial killer and he's awesome. And then the other would be Belfast. And he's really good, very charming in both, which is interesting because he is not charming in this. And yeah, just seems really uncomfortable. So Naomi, take it away. Yes, so now that we've, you know, put our thoughts out on the film a little bit, Chris, since this is your first time watching it, and Lizzie already knows the answer to this question. Did you notice any parallels to another film covered here on this podcast? Parallels to another film? In terms of the story?

Mm-hmm. Yep. Have we watched anything this sexy or wanting to be? I'd say it has nothing to do with the sex. Yeah. or lack of sex. I'm not going to get this, but I'm disappointed in myself. Go, please.

Well, the beginning of 50 Shades of Grey began as Twilight Fan Fiction. Oh, yeah, okay. I vaguely remember hearing that at some point. Although I definitely didn't pick up on it watching the movie. It is a direct rip. It's the BDSM novel that took America's moms by storm, had humble beginnings as Twilight fan fiction,

but with way, way, way, way more sex. So it was written by Eric Leonard, who published under the name E.L. James. And from here on out, we're going to refer to her as E.L. James or by her last name, James. And at the time, she wrote the fan fiction. She was just a middle-aged English woman who worked as a producer in television. And she lived a really simple life with her husband in London. And according to many interviews, just enjoys drinking wine and eating Nutella with a spoon. So that's E.L. James for you. That's definitely who wrote this. So she posted her story, which was originally called Master of the Universe, to a Twilight fan fiction page under the surname Snow Queen's Ice Dragon. And the story depicts Isabella, Bella Swan later changed to Anastasia Steele as a Bronte-loving, virginal college student, and Edward Cullen later changed to Christian Gray as a mysterious, high-powered CEO in Seattle that is very into BDSM. It gained popularity online, and James eventually decided to

publish an e-book through a small Australian publisher. And her original story remained intact, but the names were changed due to copyright infringement. And Anastasia Steel and Christian Gray became the sexy household names we know today. The title was changed to 50 Shades of Gray, and the story was split up into three books, which is 50 Shades of Gray, which is the film we are covering, 50 Shades Darker, and 50 Shades Freed. after the first e-book was published, it went viral, and eventually the Rights of the Trilger picked up by Random House, and it became a top seller with millions of copies sold worldwide, and it caused a shortage of silver ink and paper in the UK due to demand. My biggest regret was not reading the books before recording this. I really wanted to, and I just didn't get around to it, because I really wanted to see what the differences were. Yeah, this was not a full movie. This was two-thirds of a movie, and it ends right at the end of Act 2, which was very...

But then I realized there were sequels because that was a little odd. Also, it makes sense that it was written by a Brit because I'm from Seattle. The geography of this movie is mind-boggling. I don't understand where anyone is and why they're there and what's happening. And I had to do a lot of just like double takes because at first it seems like she's at Washington State University, which is in eastern Washington. But then they're flying out of Portland. and then I did look online and it said that she was at the satellite branch in Vancouver of Washington State University, which is across the river from Portland.

So why is he giving a commencement speech at the satellite branch of, let's be honest, the second best state school in Washington State, even though he's a billionaire? And wait, does he come from money or is he self-made? And I thought he was adopted at age four, but that's his brother and that's his sister. And then his mother was a crack prostitute. I had a lot of questions, so I hope you can answer them. I also had a lot of questions because I think there's so many details because they cut out so much dialogue. Yes.

I mean, that was intentional, but they cut out so much that I think, like, for someone who hasn't read the books, there's some parts of it that it's like, this isn't, it's not as accessible as it could be. And I think especially at the end, too. Well, so here's what I'm wondering. The big thing that is missing from this that I remember from the book, I think they downplayed. played slash cut out because it's like very problematic, which they kind of hint at, but yes, he comes from an abusive past, like very abusive. And it's heavily implied that that abusive childhood and then subsequently also the abuse that he succumbs to from an older woman, which is initially framed as sort of like a sexy thing, and it even is a bit later, which is weird,

all is like the genesis of his interest in BDSM, which, you know, of course, like the BDSM community is like, no, no, there is no correlation between like, you know, abuse, trauma and being interested in this. Like, it is a normal thing that a lot of people are interested in at different levels. And so my guess, and maybe Naomi can tell us, is that they pulled that back in the movie because it is heavily leaned on in the book. And you see in the movie he has those little like, hawk marks all over his chest. Those are like burn marks from the mother who would like, I think, I could get this wrong, but I think she's like putting cigarettes out on him and stuff. There's like a lot of horrible childhood stuff that's discussed. Yeah. And in that film, it just kind of looks like he has like weird chest acne. Yes. Which is also very confusing if you did not read the book. And so, yes, so Lizzie is correct. The BDSM community was not thrilled with El James's interpretation of BDSM, and they were also concerned that it was showing incorrect and possibly dangerous techniques. And they were right, because injuries related to BDSM and sex toy use spiked dramatically,

and emergency room visits increased by over 50% between 2010 the year before the book was published in 2012. And that's specifically BDSM-related ER visits. Yes. You know, the book was also, like critically panned, which I think is also important to know for this franchise. It was a top seller, but Salman Rushdie for some reason read the book. And he said, I've never read anything so badly written that got published. It made Twilight look like war in peace. And Maureen Dow described the book in the New York Times as being written like a Bronte devoid of talent. So that's a little rough. Along with the book release, which was insane. It was just like the success that she had with this was just completely kind of unprecedented.

And they started like trademaking 50 Shades products, which is also, which I didn't realize. So they have not with the intention of building an empire, but just like to stop other people from doing that. So there were like 50 shades of great handcuffs, floggers, lubricant, lingerie, and 50 shades of great chardonnay. So fans can recreate Christian melting ice chips on Anastatious Body while pouring chardonnay into her mouth. Like, it's the most obvious sign that the book was written by a middle-aged white lady, because as far as I'm concerned, that's like white wine with an ice cube in it is like the staple drink of women over the age of 55. Also, that was like the only time he actually let her drink the wine.

I was watching the wine glasses the whole time and they never drink it except for that one time he like baby birds it back into her mouth. And I was like, ugh, this is not doing it for me. I think the interest in this has to do with, you know, BDSM was always this thing that people didn't really understand. It was something that was happening behind closed doors, but I think, like, secretly, there was probably a lot of normal people that had interest in it. And so, regardless of how poorly written this was, it obviously struck a nerve in terms of middle-aged ladies being very interested in what this could be. Exactly. And I think, like, she was able to, like, bring a taboo

subject and, like, have it become a little more normalized, even though the way in which it was done was quite problematic at times. So, after the release of the novel, studio bidding war ensued for the Rights of the 50 Shades trilogy with Warner Brothers, Sony, Paramount, Universal, and allegedly Mackey Mac Wahlberg's production company submitting bid for the rights. He ended up with Father Stu. So Universal and Focus Features secured the rights to the trilogy in 2012 with Focus Features set to market and distribute the film in partnership with Universal. And, James N. selected the social network producers Michael DeLuca and Dana Brunetti to produce the film. So why do you think Universal and Focus features won the bid over all these others?

I have a guess. And quickly, Michael DeLuca also former New Line Wunderkind executive listened to our episodes on Town and Country and Island of Dr. Moreau for more about Mr. DeLuca, who's still very active. My guess is they gave her a weird amount of creative involvement in the process, because as I watched this, I was like, so much of it didn't make sense in a way where I felt like it was actually being very accurate to the book. And I was like, no filmmaker, you know, would just, or a screenwriter would keep these details. They would have simplified the story. It would, you know, she just make her an intern at his company.

Just make it more, or just make her go to a university that's in Seattle. Like, there are so many things that you can do to just simplify your first act. So my guess is that she was given way more control than would be normal for an author. Correct. And the other thing is the prestige that Focus Features has. And, you know, so the deal and so much of the 50 Shades franchise and like, like the books, the products, everything, it's not about the money for her. It's making the fans happy. And this deal wasn't just about the money because they gave her. almost like complete creative control over, you know, she's a director casting, the screenplay, wardrobe selection, and it's crazy. Yeah. It explains all the cap sleeves.

Some really bad, like, sweater shirt choices made in this. And really quickly, in Twilight, Stephanie Meyer was not given that level of, she was, I mean, she had like a cameo, but to be clear, like, Twilight also super popular, not very, very, well received critically, but she was not given that level of involvement or creative control in comparison. No. And part of the, I think the reason why Stephanie Meyer wasn't given that control because she was a first-time writer, which is what made this like even more unprecedented, because this is also EL James's first novel, too. So it's just wild. But she is writing on Stephanie Meyer's coattails to a certain degree because the Twilight film franchise has also

launched at this point and has been a massive success. So the precedent was set and now she can build on it. Yeah. So, spoiler alert, much of hashtag what went wrong throughout production was due to EL James having the final word over everything, but we'll have more time to go into detail over this. So once the rights were secured with Universal and the deal was done, the producers were brought on, they began to search for the screenwriter and director.

And they eventually hired Kelly Marcel to write. the screenplay. Her only other feature-length screenwriting credit at the time was saving Mr. Banks, but the producers and James liked that she had a fresh take on the story. And for director, they were initially considering Joe Wright, who directed Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, but was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict. And then other prestige directors under consideration included Patty Jenkins, Bill Condon, Bennett Miller, Stephen Soderberg, Danish director Suzanne Beer and Gus Van Zand. Oh my God.

Bennett Miller, the director of Capote and Moneyball, directing this out of an amazing. But it's been a very different film. Patty Jenkins could have been really good. Although I like Sam Taylor Johnson a lot who did direct this, but yeah. Sam Taylor Johnson was announced as the director in 2013. And Taylor Johnson was an accomplished fine art photographer turned filmmaker. And she made her first feature film directing debut in 2009 with Nowhere Boy,

which drew critical acclaim and was nominated for several BAFTAs. And 50 Shades of Gray was a second feature film she would direct with nearly 40 times the budget of her first. This is her second movie? Second feature. Yeah. Oh, no. I didn't realize that. She had like three or four years in between Nowhere Boy and 50 Shades because she took time off to raise her family.

And just to draw another parallel to Twilight, this is the second time a hotly anticipated blockbuster out of was going to be directed by a female director with indie clout, but no big studio experience. Yeah. So given what you guys know about the budget Hardwick was given for Twilight, what do you think the budget was for 50 Shades? I mean, watching this movie, I felt like it was... It looks expensive. Yeah, like an $80 million movie just with all the locations they were flying to and whatnot.

But I have no idea. Yeah, I don't know either. My guess is that she got more money than Catherine Hardwick. Because if you all haven't listened yet to our episode on Twilight, Catherine Hardwick got totally screwed. Yep. So she got more money than Captain Hardwick, but she still had a pretty modest budget to work with. It was $40 million. Whoa. Although, to be clear, I want to jump in really quick, my guess is that neither Dakota Johnson nor Jamie Dornan were paid very much for this first movie. And so she actually probably had a lot of that $40 million to actually put on the screen,

Whereas if you look at a movie that has Charlie Staron or Jennifer Lawrence or something like that in it now, they might take a 10, 15, $20 million paycheck right at the top, which these young actors were not getting at this point in time. That's true. And there's no major names in this. I mean, there's like Luke Grimes, who obviously later will be in Yellowstone, but at this point is not. Marcia Gay Harden and Jennifer Ely, who I also really like. Yes. Oh, yeah.

She's great. Elizabeth Bennett and the original Pride and Prejudice. It's great. And yeah, I think the credit that I can give to Sam Taylor Johnson, is that like this film did not go over budget. Spoiler alert. And it looks great. She made, it looks expensive. Yeah, it looks expensive. And she comes from, you know, the fine art photography world. So, you know, she knows how to tell a story through pictures. So the problematic signs of EL James' influence began once Kelly Marcel began writing a screenplay. And Marcel's plan was to

play with the timeline of the original story and had some other creative decisions like taking out Anna's inner monologue that were in the book. And these ideas were really well received at first, both by James and the producers. Kelly Marcel also said I felt it could be a really sexy film if there wasn't so much talking, which I agree with that. Sure could. Ultimately, James vetoed her choices every step of the way telling Marcel, this isn't what I wanted to be, and I don't think this is the film the fans are looking for.

And it's reported that James removed all of the edits until the screenplay was to her liking, and that James would not allow herself to be rewritten, even if it's an and or a but. So there are certain lines in the script that just had to be exactly like they were in the book. She would not broke changes. You're not Tom Stoppard, lady? I mean, I feel bad for the screenwriter.

That would be really, really hard. Yeah, yeah. And she was really deflated by the experience and she still hasn't seen the film because it would just be too painful for her to watch it and see how different it is to what she actually wrote. And they hired Patrick Marber, which was a choice by Taylor Johnson. He was brought in to polish the script and we work the dialogue.

He's of Notes on a Scandal and Closer Fame. He would be great at like closer, a lot of great sexual subtexts very charged. Notes on a scandal, like great sexual subtext between Judy Dench and Kate Blanchett in that movie. And her and the kid, yeah. That's the guy you want to come in and try to give it a little. reading between the lines, you know, into a very upfront story. Exactly. So the producers and the director and the lead actors, they were all really happy with

what he had written, but James fired him. Allegedly, it's because he strayed too far from the book and changed too much dialogue. When Marber was interviewed about his firing, he said, I felt a bit sad because I thought I'd written a good script, but I totally understood. If you take a rewrite job, it's horse money, and don't expect them to love you. for being a whore. Whoa. It's a great quote, and he's right.

He's absolutely right. So they have a script. Now we're going to get to casting. So like any franchise with a devoted fan base, casting for 50 Shades was going to be a topic of hot goss and fan forums and listicles alike. And casting went underway with some big names in the mix. So any guesses on who was offered the role of Anastasia Steel?

Anastasia. I mean, did they do something stupid and offer it to Kristen Stewart? I was just going to ask. They did not. Okay, all right. When did this movie come out? I don't know I should know that.

It came out in 2015. Okay. I have a really weird guess. No, she'd probably be too young. I don't know. What? Emma Watson? She was considered.

She was not offered the role, but she was considered. Okay. And she had, like, tweeted her displeasure saying who here actually thinks I would do a 50 Shades of Grey as a movie. like really for real in real life. That was her tweet. I wouldn't think she would want the role. She didn't want to do it down.

All right, Lizzie, you guess and then fill us in. I'm not going to get it. Naomi, tell us. Amelia Clark was offered the role from Game of Thrones. She played Generis Targaryen. Oh, the Game of Thrones was already happening at that point. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think she was already like three at this point. I think she was already like three years into the series. And so she was offered the rule but declined over the required nudity. but she, you know, still praised Sam Taylor Johnson in her vision. And then others under consideration were Alicia Vakonder. Oh. Oh, yeah. Okay.

Yep. Felicity Jones, Shalene Woodley. Yeah. Yeah, these are all good. Yeah, all good. Elizabeth Olson. Yeah. She would have been really young.

Yeah. I think I would go with Dakota Johnson, though. Like, I just thought, I think they nailed that role, like as much as you could. I thought she was excellent. She's watchable. Like, she's more than watchable. which given the dialogue in this is amazing. Yeah, and she auditioned really early

and she was like the clear frontrunner and then they ended up having to, even though she was the top choice, they still ended up auditioning like a few hundred other actors to make sure. But she was the clear frontrunner. We should mention really quickly, Dakota Johnson, for those of you that don't know,

is the granddaughter of Tippy Hadron and the daughter of Melanie Griffith. listen to our episodes on The Birds and Bonfire of the Vanities and Roar. To learn how three generations of women have been traumatized by bad movies in Hollywood. In terms of her timeline, I think she had done the social network. She's in one scene in that, which makes sense because there's a producer correlation here. And had she done like one other thing?

I can't remember what it was, but there was one other film that she had done. Okay. But so this is like definitely her first big leading. Yeah, she's still like relatively unknown. Yeah. Okay. And casting Chris, so casting Anastasia seemed to, was much easier than casting Christian,

which was challenging because actors just flat out just didn't want to take the role for a couple of reasons. One, the amount of nudity in sexual situations. And two, just many couldn't connect with the character or the material. So want to take a wild guess on. on who EL James' top pick was for Christian? Is it Alexander Scars Guard? Because that probably would have been mine. No.

No. I mean, he was in consideration, so you're not wrong. Am I guessing who I'd want to have flog me? Or am I guessing, like, what are we going with here? I would say, remember when you guess Christian Stewart? Oh, really? Robert Pattinson? Yep. No.

Interesting. I mean, it's a similar character to who he plays in Megalopolis. It was just not, I mean, like, he was, like, right off of Twilight, so it was never really going to work. And I think, like, in the end of the day, like, they wanted to cast unknown, relatively unknown actors in both of these roles. But the other actors under consideration were Ryan Gosling, which is what Universal wanted, but he was not interested in the role. Theo James, Garrett Headland, but he could not connect with a character. And Charlie Hunnam, who starred in Sons of Anarchy at the time. and initially turned down the role for the same reason

that he couldn't connect with the character, but was convinced in a meeting with Taylor Johnson and the producers to reconsider the offer. And they did a chemistry test with Hunnam and Dakota Johnson, and he decided to take the role immediately after reading with her. And this was also the point where Sam Taylor Johnson brought on Patrick Marber to rework parts of the script and incorporate Hanam's ideas for the character of Christian,

because otherwise he wasn't going to do it without that rewriting. I don't think. I'm not going to lie. I kind of want to see that version of this movie. No. Lizzie, the best version of this movie, absolutely,

Ryan Gosling would be awesome. Sure, but like... Sense of humor and really weird. I like Charlie Hunnam. Like, I... That's true. Would be great. They would all be very good, obviously.

I just like, the Ryan Gosling against type, it's like what he did for drive, basically instead. Like, that would have been... That would have been great. I think I'm still team Charlie Hunnam. There's something about him that's scary, which I feel like you get in Sons of Anarchy,

and that's something that I do think you need in this, which love Jamie Dornan. It's not there. Like, there's sort of, there's a lack of edge to him, which is weird in this part. You've seen Only God forgives? Ryan Gosling's crazy in that movie. All right, Chris loves Ryan Gosling. I think he's great. And you like him to flog him.

That's what I've learned. I'm going with Charlie Hunnam. All right. Let's keep going. Yeah, and so Charlie Hunnam was cast and fans were pissed. What? Have they seen his butt? It's great.

Because he didn't physically resemble the Christian they knew in the books. Very hot. It's the Daniel Craig James Bond thing over again, right? Yeah. He's blonde. Oh, my God. And, and yeah, he just, I don't think he looks like a leading man. in the same way that, say, like, Jamie Dornan does.

Disagree. Or like that, like, Ryan Gosling does. And Hannaam was apparently, like, really overwhelmed with the amount of attention he was receiving after being cast and started to get cold feet about carrying such a high-profile project. And Universal was even forced to hire bodyguards to accompany him at Premiers just because 50 Shades was just, like, dominating the red carpet for him. And he didn't have any reservations about the role of Christian, but.

the media and fan frenzy just like freaked him out a bit is what it seems like and he ended up leaving the project three weeks before production was set to begin. Wow. Yep. So

you know, production had to pivot really quickly. That's crazy quickly. That's nuts. Crazy quickly. They turned it around immediately and they did more chemistry weeds with actors that had been considered for Christian including Alexander Scaris Guard Lizzie.

And Jamie and Jamie Dornan, who, as we know, is an actor from Northern Ireland and was relatively unknown in the States but was gaining traction after a BAFTA nomination for his role as a serial killer in the BBC drama, The Fall. And Dornan O'Swee, got the role. And Dornan said in an interview recently,

Charlie Hennam got it and I was relieved. I was like, fuck, that's great. What a fucking nightmare for that. guy because he's going to have all this scrutiny. And before anyone's heard him do anything, he's going to be really hated and so many people were rage against the casting of it alone. But then Charlie Hennam dropped out and Jamie Dornan filled in and also felt the wrath of all of that hatred. He is extremely, he's very funny and very charming in person. He's one of the actors that when I was working for IMDB, he came into our studio one of the years at the Toronto Film Festival. And usually

the experience I had was, to be honest, underwhelming, seeing people in person and sort of seeing them interact unedited, not the case with him. He was so funny, so smart, so quick, honestly, significantly more charming in person than he is on screen, I would say. I also just love watching interviews with him

and Dakota Johnson. They're both so dry and so funny. Yeah. So filming was originally set to begin it in Vancouver 5th, 2013, but due to the exit of their first lead actor, they pushed to November 13th, but then was again delayed and principal photography didn't begin

until December 1st. And they had an intended release date of August 2014, and at that point, they were about a month behind schedule. So they pushed the release to February 13th, 2015, in time for Valentine's Day. So the set was tightly under wraps and essentially on lockdown. They change street names to they match street names in Seattle,

which is also not uncommon if you're filming in Vancouver. And the film was shot under the working title, The Adventures of Max and Banks for some reason. Okay. And there were some members on the production that said they had never worked on a film under so much secrecy. It sounds like after their month delay, production was running on time and aspects of the film itself

were running pretty smoothly, but there was one major problem. and it's that EL James came to set every day and had the final say on everything. And this caused tension between her and Sam Taylor Johnson, and they were just in near constant conflict over the direction of the film and my new decisions on set.

And like Marcel, Taylor Johnson was hired because of her vision of the film, but she was met with constant resistance from James. It's interesting because this does feel like two movies. Like there's the dialogue, which is so rough in many places and does match the book exactly. And then there are some scenes, like I was talking to Chris about this earlier, there are some scenes that are genuinely funny.

And there's a totally different vibe to them. And there's like weird Danny Alfman music who did score this, but all of a sudden it kind of gets a little Tim Burtony in places. And it feels like you can see the fight. Like you can see the fight between the director and EL James. And there are moments that, like, I love when he pulls her pants down and you can see that she has, like, hair on her legs, like, that's backlit. And you can see that sort of stuff that feels very real and sort of soft and, like, not polished. And then there's so many other moments that are, like, the polar opposite of that.

It's really weird. And just to emphasize how unusual this is, so there have been many stories on this podcast about embattled directors dealing with studio notes. Blade Runner comes to mind because we recently covered it. This, though, at least if you get a note from a studio, at least at the end of the day you can tell yourself whether you hate it or not, well, they're paying for it or

and or, well, maybe they have a point because they've made a lot of movies or this executive producer, this producer's done this before. But to get those notes, sorry, from the very successful

but probably hack author who has written these books, who has not made a movie before, and who's not a successful fine art photographer or indie filmmaker, that must have just, I mean, honestly, I think I would have quit. Like, I would have walked right behind Charlie Hunnam. Yeah. A lot of people, like, asked Sam Taylor Johnson, like, why she didn't quit? And she's like, I wasn't going to leave.

That's great. Good for her. Yeah, good for her. And she was able, they were still, like, able to, you know, resolve. enough. And luckily, you know, Donna Langley, who's the chairwoman at Universal, another older British woman, did her best to really help Sam Taylor Johnson and was like the only person that had weight with E.L. James and able to influence her on decisions. So that was really helpful to have her on that side. But the production team like basically like had two masters and it was

Sam Taylor Johnson and E.L. James. And James just had her fingers in every pot she could. And, you know, she demanded that, like, you know, some of Anna's dresses remain the same colors as they are in the books, like the gray chiffon dress and in the graduation scene and that tight-fitting wine-colored dress in the negotiation scene because E.L. James just loves wine. Okay. I got news for E.L. James. Some of those dress choices are very questionable. Dakota Johnson is so beautiful. And some of the of the clothes they put her in. Like when the driver buys her clothes and she's like, he has good taste. No, he doesn't. No, he does not. It looks like he got it at Dillards. Like some of that stuff is rough as hell and you know it was expensive. And I know it was you, E.L. James. Yep. And she would also send

the costume designer a detailed email regarding like the color and fit of the jeans Christian wears in the playroom, which I know. Which are so embarrassing. Lizzie has very strong opinions about these jeans. They're so bad, dude. They're so bad. And I know that like it's exactly as they're written in the book. So like they did that. But I don't need to see this grown man in like low rise ripped jeans. It's bad. It's so bad. It's so bad. And you know, and the designer and Sam Taylor Johnson had this like great. conceived idea for Christians clothes to change throughout the film, kind of like tracking the way he becomes more open and like loving towards Anastasia. And it was going to go from like a double-breasted

suit in one scene and like the first scene you see him and then like peeling away and softening textures as the story goes on. But EL James just came down and said double-breasted suits weren't sexy, so they had to scrap it. You know, the designers have said that like they respected E.L. James's opinion and took her suggestions and, like, you know, took them seriously because she is the author of the books and, like, this does have a strong fan base, but they also, like, discussed her notes with Sam Taylor Johnson before putting them into the film, too. So they were, I think, did a really good job of marrying both of their inputs. And also, even though E.L. James had no design experience, she also drew up designs for Christian's playroom. Also was, like, referred to as the

Red Room, which she gave to the production designers, as well as a detailed floor plan of Christian's home so that every detail remained as true to the books as possible. Okay, I'm going to surprise myself here for a second and come to EL James' defense just for a hot second. People did not love these books because they were well written. They're horribly written. Like, we know that. I think EL James probably knows that. So what you said, earlier in terms of like she is trying to protect the fan experience. I can, I, I, I don't think she's a total monster. Like, she knows that what she wrote was very successful for a reason and that aesthetics were a big part of that as embarrassing as they are. And I don't know that this, I mean,

I'm sure part of this could be a power trip, but I would like to give her some benefit of the doubt in thinking that she is trying to as closely replicate the fan experience as she can. Yeah. Yeah. And I agree with that, Lizzie. I really do. I don't. I think that's dumb. Sorry. I mean, it doesn't. I mean, it didn't help it make a good film, but I think that I don't. Exactly. At the end of the day, the book is the book and it's not a visual medium. And so- I don't know if that's true for this fan base. I honestly don't. I don't care about the fan base. I'm just saying personally. I know. I care if the movie's good. Because I'm not the fan base.

I'm just the other viewer that they're trying to capture. Yeah, but you didn't buy a ticket. My point is this. You need a balance of both. And the problem is if she has carte blanche, then all you're doing is catering to the existing audience. And I think that is not the smart thing to do. I also just care about Sam.

I care about the director. I care about Taylor Johnson. I don't care about YL James. I think she's wrong. I think her a bad person for defending her, Lizzie. Whatever. I mean, she's not a good writer. So when it came to the playroom slash red room, which is like the most important setting in the film, I would say, because it visually had to drive the story forward the minute they stepped inside.

But it doesn't. It's not even scary. She walks in and it's just like a couple of handcuffs and then some like cleaning product. I don't even know what they are. The floggers? Like what is that? It's a bed. No, that's what you flog people with. I know, but it just looks like rags. Like it's not, there's nothing like spiky. I don't see any butt plugs. Like, I don't, you know, he has all this contractual, first of all, so much paperwork in this movie. It is so much. All paperwork. Well, so little, they talk about it a lot. They don't see a lot.

90% of this movie is talking about that contract and her signing non-disclosure agreements. They're talking about genital clamps, butt plugs, like, fisting. Let me see the genital clamps. Open a drawer of the clamps and the plug. Speaking of drawers. The issue that E.L. James had with the Red Room was that they walk in and everything is on display, but in the books, everything is in drawers. And Anastasia opens all of the drawers and discovers all of the toys and the whips and the floggers. And luckily, this was a battle that Sam Taylor Johnson and the designers won because can you imagine how goddamn boring that scene would have been? Also, how long it would take to shoot? Okay, let's set up for the next insert. shot of a drawer. It just holds it open. Great. This is what, oh, it's a flogger. That being said.

It's another flogger. I do want a drawer full of plugs. Yeah. The pacing is already an issue in the film, I think. And it just, we got to them having sex. And I was like, that must be the midpoint. And I clicked and I was like, oh, my God, I have an hour and a half left. Oh, yeah. It's not done. So a substantial creative clash that Sam Taylor Johnson and E.L. James had was over the sex scenes. and the sex scenes in the film comprise a fifth of the film. From a runtime perspective. From a, yeah, from a runtime perspective. Wow.

And do you know if that's comparable to the book? Like, Lizzie, is that roughly how much the book is in terms of sex scenes? I think there's more in the book. Yeah, they cut a lot of sex scenes. Got it. The book is graphic. Like, she's not dancing around this stuff. It is pretty graphic.

Yeah. And, like, fans apparently were, like, pissed that they, like, cut out certain scenes. And James thought that the sex scenes should be more pronounced and explicit. And Taylor Johnson wanted to take a more subtle approach. And, you know, she had watched films like nine and a half weeks and blue is the warmest color for inspiration. And she knew for a studio film that the sex couldn't be as graphic as blue is the warmest

color, but she still felt that like the sex didn't need to be graphic. and that, you know, for her, the most erotic part is the buildup to that. So that's where most of her focus was. And I think they, I think she was able to accomplish that. I think it was kind of a marriage of both. But I think that the way that the sex scenes were shot, I mean. I think you have to go one way or the other. Yeah.

And because they kind of split the difference, it's a bit strange. Like, honestly, because the writing is so not good that by the time you get to the first sex scene, and I was like, show me everything I'm in for, like, however Ronji this is going to get. And then it's, they're shot very, like, high art. And I was like, ah, listen, it almost makes me, like, more uncomfortable. It was, yeah, I thought they were done very artistically. Yeah, they're super well shot. They showed actually a good amount of sensitivity to the actors.

And it's interesting because it's in stark contrast to blue is the warmest color, which my understanding is that director, those actresses, were deeply uncomfortable with that experience. And that director didn't really show any remorse for the methods that he used and how exposed that they felt in making it. That being said, the on-screen result, like, blue is the warmest color. That film, you kind of feel, I would argue, like love and desire between the two characters very strongly.

Whereas I just didn't in this movie at all. It felt, and that's also maybe part of the issue with, DDSM, it's about control and it's not prone to displays of passion, right? It's control and pain, et cetera. Anybody should do whatever they want as long as it's safe and consensual. But anyway, it didn't, it just kind of left me cold, I guess. Yeah, I agree. It just didn't quite click.

I mean, I feel like if they had gone in the direction that Sam Taylor Johnson was trying to take the rest of the movie, those might have worked in context. they don't quite work the way that it is now. And also I think part of it too is like they, this is before the time that intimacy coordinators were on set too. I was going to ask. And I can't, I just can't imagine. It's like watching this in 2022,

I can't fathom that they made this film and all three films about intimacy coordinators. No, likes. But, you know, I think in terms of like the actor's safety, I think like they did handle it as best as they could, which to give them credit, and, like, they discussed everything in great detail beforehand. They worked with a BDSM advisor to make sure the sex scenes in the playroom were done safely, even though apparently Jamie Dornan was, like, very bad with the whip and, like, not very good at it.

They also had a, you know, they had a closed set for all the sex scenes, and the cinematographer, and this is part of the reason why the sex scenes seem like they're done in this, like, very artful manner and kind of, like, removed in a way. And it's because the cinematographer set the cameras far away to give the actors, space to avoid having a hairy camera guy standing over them and zoomed in for the shots. And they used two cameras so the actors didn't have to do a ton of takes. So they were like as respectful as I think they could have been at the time. And Jamie Dornan was also very protective of Dakota Johnson and, you know, was the first person to throw a blanket over her, like untie her between takes. And the actors also wore modesty coverings. Was there a Merkin involved in this?

No. We're going to get to that. So there's no Merkin involved, but they have modesty coverings, and Jamie Dorden referred to his as his like penis covering as a wee bag. Oh. Which he got to select from like a few options that they like the wardrobe gave him. And he opted for the one he liked, then noticed. I think like after he'd worn it that on the inside it read inmate number three, meaning that he was not the first person to wear that we bag. And Dakota Johnson had like a patch that went over her pubic area. and like around her whole body.

So this meant that the coverings had to be hidden and more natural bodily details had to be added back in while editing those scenes. So what do you think that means, friends? Does that mean it's a digital Merkin? Yes. What?

Yeah, the pubic hair was added in post. Interesting. And what? Yeah. The cinematographer who has been Oscar nominated because he was the cinematographer for Atonement and Anna Karenina said, I wouldn't say it was one of the highlights of my career, but it certainly was one of the most surreal scenarios.

Wow. That is wild. For anyone that doesn't know what a Merkin is... A Merkin is a wig for your private parts. That's crazy. I think that's our first CGI Merkin on what went wrong. Yeah. First that you know of.

First that we know of, but there it is, friends. The cinematographer is also responsible for having to cast a non-tattooed butt double for Dakota Johnson for one of the close-up shots, too, because she has a tattoo in her ass. So they were like, well, CGI in the Merkin, but we're not going to see G.I out the butt tattoo? Exactly. It made no sense. Okay. It's like, we're your priorities. And then perhaps the biggest clash between E.L. James and Sam Taylor Johnson had to do with a very pivotal moment

at the end of the film. And it's the scene that takes place after the final red room scene where Anastasia asked Christian to punish her to see how bad it can be. And he whips her six times the belt and she recoils and leaves. And in this last moment,

Taylor Johnson wanted to end with Anastasia saying the safe word, red instead of James' more obvious line, stop, as was, I think, written in the book. Yeah, they established the safe words and then they never paid off. Yeah. Right.

And James adamantly refused and Taylor Johnson's maybe smarter ending did not make the final cut. Do you guys think that it would have made a difference to the end, like a significant difference had it been the other line? Yes, because at least it implies that she's playing by the rules of the game. Yes, if you're still engaged with the movie at that point. So I would argue like, yes. I actually think it would be better if you were into, you know, if you're trying to show a, BDSM in the right light. That's what I mean.

I will say I would not have noticed by that point in watching the movie. But I think that Sam Taylor Johnson absolutely has the right perspective. And as a director, she's like, this is consistent with the character. And it's more interesting for the story. And that's the right decision. I completely agree with her. In some ways to me, that implies the possibility of a continuation more than stop does. Yeah, stop.

If anything says, like, the game's over. That's what I mean. That's what I mean. She's exiting the game versus red. She's still within the rules. And even though you're ending the movie in a weird place where she's leaving, if she had said red, I do think there's a difference there. So back to the onset tension and the script, Dakota Johnson has finally been speaking candidly for the first time about her experience onset in this Vanity Fair article. And she said that she and Sam Taylor Johnson and Dornan, Jamie Dornan, had tried to salvage some of, Patrick Marber's script during filming and that they would do takes of the movie that Erica wanted to make, meaning E.L. James. And then we would do the takes of the movie that we wanted to make.

And she said, like, the night before, she would rewrite scenes with the old dialogue so she could add in a line here and there. And it was like mayhem all the time. And there is one Patrick Marber scene that made it into the film. Any guess which one it is? Is it the contract? Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's because that scene is funny. It's the best in the film. Yes, it is. It's great. Hand down.

When they're sitting down with the wine at the table going over the contract, it's a totally different movie. And it's the movie I would watch 100%. Yeah, it's funny. The pacing is great. It clips along. Well, it also feels like she has a personality for the first time, other than like,

are you going to make love to me now? But, like, she's very assertive. She's funny. She knows what she wants, which doesn't want. Like, it's a little quippy between the two of them. It actually seems like Jamie Dorn. having a good time for the first time in the whole movie. The only time.

When he's, you know, are you sure, are you really sure about that? Like, you know, that stuff is, yeah, I agree. And Sam Taylor Johnson has been, you know, pretty candid about her experience on set from the beginning too. And she said, it was difficult. I'm not going to lie. We definitely fought that they were creative fights and we would resolve them. We would have proper on-set Barneys, as she called them. And that she's not confrontational, but it was about finding a way between.

me and the two of them satisfying her vision of what she'd written as well as Taylor Johnson's need to visualize the person on screen, but they finally got there in the end. And sources on set also said that, you know, E.L. James is just not experienced. And like, Chris, like, what you were saying, like, she was given a lot of power but had never been through a movie shoot and just, like, did not, she never grasped that in all adaptations, some things need to change. And you just can't put the book on screen. But she just thought every way to do that. We're at the end. We're at the end. end of the shoot and principal photography ended on February 21st, 2014, and they had reshoots in mid-October 2014. So that's really, that's a wrap on the, on the filming of it. And I think for Sam Taylor Johnson,

I think, like, she worked really well with the actors. I think that's really important. She worked well with the actors. She worked well with the crew. And they just made the film that they did not It was not the film that they intended to make because of EL James, which I think is really unfortunate. But it's a very competently made film. You know, I think she did the best she could. Yeah. No, I think everyone did. Like, in Twilight's, I think a little like this, too.

I know Twilight's very maligned in this movie as well. But again, I think the writing on both movies is weak. But the craftsmanship is really strong. Like, Twilight looks great. It's no surprise that all four of these actors, Kristen Bell, Robert Pattinson, Dakota Johnson, and Jamie Dornan have gone on to have wonderfully interesting careers. Chris, you've got to retake it.

You've got to retake it because that one reviewer or commenter is going to be mad that you just said Kristen Bell and not Kristen Stewart. No, I said Kristen Bell for a reason. Yeah, Kristen Stewart, keep it in. Yes, Kristen Stewart, obviously. Sorry. My night is ruined. So, getting to the premiere.

and the box office and the critical reception, the film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Okay. Surprise, surprise. I don't think anyone was expecting it to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, but it did. So it premiered on February 11, 2015, with a theatrical release on February 13th, 2015.

And it was put together on a budget of $40 million, and it opened to $85 million on Valentine's Day weekend. Holy shit. There you go. Yep. Fifth largest ever for an R-rated fifth. film and it did three times as much business overseas. And despite being, this is like despite being not being released in China and banned in

several countries. Wow. Wow. So what do you guys think the total box office was? It did. 300 million? Was 85 million domestic the first weekend? 85 million, I think, was domestic.

And the first weekend. I'm going up. I'm going 500 million worldwide. I don't know. 550, 550, 600. Very close. Yeah. It was 571 million worldwide. Wow. Wow. And it became the third highest grossing film directed by a woman and the highest grossing opening weekend for a female director, which was later surpassed by Patty Jenkins for Wonder Woman. Despite being critically panned with one reviewer saying 50 Shades of Gray, the movie for the record, is not quite as bad as 50 Shades of Gray the book, but that's not saying much. And the first film earning a rotten tomato score of 24%. and the sequels even lower at 11%

the entire franchise earned over a billion dollars. Wow. And it even received an Academy Award nomination. Original song? For best original, yep, for best original song. That's the category. That's the category that you got to go for. Which earned it by the weekend.

Oh, the weekend. That's right. That was for this. Wow. That's crazy. And as it rated our film, that means it's like the highest grossing. our films are like The Exorcists, Ted, weirdly, that comedy.

So anyway, my point is it's, there are very few rated R movies that goes that much money. Yeah, damn. You just can't do it. That's an insane accomplishment. Good job, everybody. Wild. Good job. Well, I really hope that Sam Taylor Johnson got points on the back end.

Yeah, seriously. That made enough money that maybe she could have gotten paid out a little bit. Oh, no. Did she not? Well, not sure about that, but Sam Taylor Johnson and Kelly Marcel, despite the success, the box office success of the first film, were not brought back for the remaining two films in their respective positions. Didn't that happen to Catherine Hardwick on silent as well?

Sure, it did. There's another. And like Catherine Hardwick, also, both of them were replaced by men. So James Foley directed the final two films. He directed House of Cards. for Netflix, and El James' husband, Neil Leonard, wrote the screenplays. Wow. Yeah.

And E.L. James... I take it all back, by the way. Yeah. Rotten Tomatoes score. I take my defense of E.L. James back, and I'll do a slow clap for Sam Taylor Johnson. Yeah, you're going to take this back even more, Lizzie, after I say what E.L. James said of the experience. And she said, 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.

Which is a low, low, low, low. Because if there was anything that Sam Taylor Johnson lacked, it was not vision. No. Also, I've seen the other ones. They are unbelievably boring and bad,

like unwatchable. Unwatchable. This movie is at least watchable. The second one was unwatchable, but somehow I saw it. Yes. So while E.L. James was able to return and enjoy the creative process,

Taylor Johnson was back to right where she started before she took this film, and she didn't get any offers after directing a massive box office success. And she's been really outspoken about her situation and, you know, saying that in a recent interview, she's like, I've done a short film, I've done an indie, I've done a blockbuster, I've done a TV show. I've just now done an extreme small budget. I'm experienced across the board. I've shown I'm capable, but I'm still far down the list. And she hasn't seen the remaining two films, but she doesn't.

doesn't regret making the first, saying at the end of the day, she was proud of what they made, which they've all said that, but she would also be mad forever wanting to do it again. Wow. Yeah. And for Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, you know, we spoke about this already, but like the franchise really could have made or broken their careers. And luckily, it made their careers and they're able to make the films they want to make because they carried such a massive franchise.

And they've both been pretty open about their experiences now. and Dakota Johnson refers to the franchise as those big naked movies. And when she was asked if she regret to making the film, she said, no, I don't think it's a matter of regret. If I had known at the time, that's what it was going to be like. I don't think anyone would have done it. It would have been like, oh, this is psychotic. But no, I don't regret it. Of course not.

Like, I get it. I get why you would sign up for this 100%. As an actor, as a director, like everybody that came on board, it makes sense. Like, whether it was someone like Patrick Marber who saw an opportunity here to, you know, potentially make something more artful out of something, some not so artful source material, or these young actors who were, this is an incredible platform. Like, there's, there's, I get it. I get why they all said yes.

There's no shame in taking this part. Yeah, there's no shame in it. And Jamie, and Jamie Dornan went into the franchise knowing that the films were going to be critically panned because the book was critically panned. Yeah. And, but as opposed to Dakota Johnson, whose performance was praised, at least in the first film, and came out, like, relatively unscathed. His performance didn't fare as well with critics.

And he's, you know, still, to this day, having to prove himself. And, you know, there's always, like, lines of the press saying, like, it's the best thing he's done since 50 Shades. And he has, I think, like, a good mentality about it because it lights a fire under him. If it means people saying, oh, he's actually not that bad, well, so be it. So it's unfair, too, because I agree Dakota Johnson is great in this. but he is given nothing. Yeah. Like she at least has a character to start with.

Yes. I still don't understand. I don't know what his business is. I don't know what he does all day. I don't understand anything about his character. He is given absurd lines that at points he's delivering to an unconscious body when he just decides to tell her that his mother was a prostitute and a crack addict. And then she's just like, hmm.

And I'm like, oh my God, she's been asleep this whole time. what it's happening. Again, I I don't, I think so everyone would flounder in that role. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. I don't know what you do. I actually think that's kind of why Ryan Gosling would be good for it. Because if you look at something like Drive or Only God forgives,

the Wending Ref in movies he's done, he does, he has no character. Like everyone's like, I'm, that drive goes like, that's such an interesting character. That character thinks nothing throughout that whole movie. movie, but he makes it interesting, because he's an interesting-looking person. But it requires some clout to, like, have the confidence to do that, and there's no reason Jamie Dornan would have come into this with that. But he is a great actor.

Because, like, I feel like so many guys are going to be insecure and hate him for, you know, being the sex symbol when he's, you know, it's hard to accept that male sex symbol, I think, for a lot of straight fans of, you know, movies and whatnot. And then I'm sure a lot of the establishment folks are not going to like him because he's this unproven guy coming in. And I don't know, it's hard to animate that type of dialogue in any sort of way. Yeah, it's really challenging. And he had a lot writing on it taking that role. And he knew that he did.

And I think he did the best he could with the material. Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. And he also was a new father. He was, he, his wife gave birth to their first child two days before they started filming. So he was also doing this major film and also had a newborn. He deserves an Academy Award for this movie because honestly, we just had a baby a year ago. And the last things I feel right now are sexy and capable of pulling off an accent.

And so, uh, all the credit in the world to Jamie Jordan. Truly. Oh. So I think this brings us to our what went right, guys. I mean, I guess. I'll say Dakota Johnson. I've already said it. I think she's really great. I think she brings some levity to this movie that is completely devoid from the book. There is like, the character in the book is so boring and the whole thing is so boring. You're really just skipping through to the next sex scene,

which is probably why it's 80% sex scenes. But yeah, she's great. She's funny. She's sweet. She's believable in a story that's completely unbelievable. I really like her. And, And I would like to see her doing more and more interesting stuff. So I will say Dakota Johnson and body hair. I appreciated that there was some body hair in this. Even though she may have been making the right decisions for the ultimate financial success of the movie, because the movie was financially successful and I can't argue with that. And I've never made anything financially successful.

But I will say everything went right except for E.L. James on this movie. Yeah. The movie looks great. It sounds great. The actors do. overall a really great job. Because you mentioned that the contract scene, Jamie Dornan's great in that scene.

So when he has the right material, like he can be great, the direction is great and none of it makes sense. And that ultimately comes down to the script. And that's not a slight at the screenwriters that were hired. I am specifically calling out the nonsensical nature of this story written by Yale James. And again,

she very well may be right that the financial success of the movie hinged on those decisions. I can't argue with that. But for me watching it, I was surprised while I watched it, I was like, everyone here is doing such a good job. It was almost like watching a weird like SNL parody where they, you know what I mean, like took the ultimate production value to like the terrible idea, that sort of thing. So kudos to everyone for getting through it and doing a great job. And it didn't feel like anyone was phoning it in either. And that's very impressive.

Naomi? Yeah, I think my went right would be Dakota Johnson and. Sam Tyler Johnson. I think they made a great team. They flushed out Anastasia's character to have a backbone and be sassy and have some control and be autonomous. And I think sometimes that like fought with the script that EL James wanted. And I think like there's some there are some things where I was like, oh, this is kind of fighting the text. But I like a lot of the choices that she is made with the character. So I think that Sam Taylor Johnson saved the film, even though she wasn't able to make the film she wanted to make. And Dakota Johnson, like, this gave us Dakota Johnson. Yeah. And I think she's great.

So more work for Sam Taylor Johnson. Hire her. Hire her. She's great. Actors love her. Everyone crew loves her. Everyone loves working with Sam Taylor Johnson. Please give her more jobs.

I sat next to her once at a restaurant. She was very nice. See? And she's a nice restaurant patron. And her husband's very handsome, who is also there. Aaron Taylor Johnson. I was like, you, sir, look great. I'm going to scoosh in the other direction, so we're not in the same frame.

Well, thank you, Naomi. This was an excellent deep dive into 50 Shades of Gray. I never want to hear about it or watch it again. Neither do I. Very much appreciated. And again, Naomi is an actor and producer, and you'll be able to check out her short film epinephrine soon. Is that right? Yeah, we'll be shooting hopefully in March of 2023. Oh. Just very exciting. Amazing. And guys, as always, please leave us a rating and review.

Tell your friends about us. Tell your family about us. Tell strangers about us. If you're making out with a billionaire in an elevator and some businessmen awkwardly come after you, tell them really quickly. A couple reviews I wanted to call out. Baby, Condor. When Wrong went right. I love this podcast so much. It got me and my husband through the pandemic. Saving marriages. Wow. One marriage at a time. Keep them coming. Guys, please leave us a rating and review and tell everyone about us. Thank you. That's it. Until next time. Bye. Bye. Thanks for having me.

What Went Wrong is a Sad Boom podcast presented by Lizzie Bassett and Chris Winterbauer. Editing music by David Bowman. with cover art from Euthonioos.