Fifty Shades of Grey movie cast: Meet Anastasia and Christian

After more than a year of speculation, the actors cast in the lead roles for the Fifty Shades of Grey movie were finally announced yesterday. Were they the names people had expected?

Well, not really.

Social media has been going crazy with various campaigns for well-known actors to land the role of Christian Grey. There was Ryan Gosling, Ian Somerhalder, Alexander Skarsgård, Henry Cavill and, my personal favourite, Matt Bomer. Remember this image I posted a few months ago?

  

Yeah, turns out that was a little fake! But not that we hadn't realised at the time.

There was less speculation about Anastasia Steele but, nevertheless, people still had their favourites. I would love to have seen Alexis Bledel in the role, or perhaps even Emmy Rossum. Again, I wasn't the only one:

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So who are the strangers actually starring in the roles? Even though they're not immediately recognisable, they're not exactly newcomers either.

The first to be announced was Anastasia, who'll be played by Dakota Johnson. She's the daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, and has previously starred in films such as 21 Jump Street and The Social Network. Personally, I like her – she's got an understated beauty that Anastasia is said to have, and her voice has a delicacy which will suit the role. 

Here's an interview she did for Nylon TV:

Then, shortly afterwards, it was revealed that Charlie Hunnam will be playing Christian. Charlie is a Brit who is best known for his roles in Pacific Rim and Sons of Anarchy. I must admit that I hadn't heard of him before the announcement, and I was a little dubious at first, but he is starting to grow on me. He looks a bit like a cross between Heath Ledger and Daniel Craig, don't you think?

And here's Charlie in a clip from Pacific Rim. Love those arms!


What are your thoughts on the casting? Are you disappointed by the choices, or are you excited to see how the characters will be interpreted? Who do you think will be cast next?

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ETA – 20/11/2013

Well, that didn't last long...

Charlie Hunnam is out, and Jamie Dornam is in as Christian Grey!

Here are Jamie and Dakota on the cover of Entertainment Weekly (yup, it's real this time.). Personally, I think he might be a better choice. But how good of an actor is he? I guess we'll find out sometime around Valentine's Day 2015...

Watch me & other bloggers interview E.L. James!

Yesterday I had the honour of interviewing E.L. James, author of the Fifty Shades trilogy, alongside a few other UK based bloggers during a Google+ Hangout. Watch the interview below!

Oh, and please excuse my sunglasses... you don't want to know why I had to wear them! Heh.

Review: The Fifty Shades Trilogy by E.L. James

When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time. The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms. Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny. Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds? Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever. (via Goodreads)

I originally planned to review each book in its own blog post, but little did I know just how infactuated I would become with the Fifty Shades world! I managed to finish the entire trilogy in about four or five days – I've never read any series that fast before! So, you can gather that I very much enjoyed myself.

I'd first heard about Fifty Shades of Grey on another blog last summer and thought that it sounded interesting, but because I'm not usually a fan of erotic fiction (and didn't own an ereader at the time), I gave it a miss. Then, I started to hear more and more about it, so when I finally bought a Kindle a couple of weeks ago it seemed about the right time to delve in.

But, oh dear Lord, I had no idea what I was letting myself in for! In retrospect, it was a stupid idea of mine to have started reading the first book, Fifty Shades of Grey, less than a week before my exam. I became so entangled with the love affair between Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey that I could hardly get any work done! Both the characters and their passionate story are truly addictive, especially Mr. Christian Grey who must be one of the most deliciously complicated and ludicrously sexy leading men out there. Edward Cullen has absolutely nothing on him!

Matt Bomer would make the
perfect Christian Grey!

Speaking of Cullen, this brings us to the origin of this book. James originally began writing Fifty Shades as a work of Twilight fanfiction, so particularly at the beginning of the first book you might notice some rather Twilight-vamp-esque qualities to Christian: Ana, who narrates all three of the books, notes his intense eyes, striking appearance, magnetic grace and the tendency to hypnotise women with his looks.

Ana also seems a bit like Bella Swan at first: she's quiet and studious, innocent, unassuming and subtly beautiful, but unlike Bella she's much more assertive and driven by her own ambition. In fact, Ana very much inspires me.

The books evolve into their own, with Ana proving herself to be a source of strength for her man. The very human Christian, while gorgeously sensual, is a highly complex character and struggles to battle the many demons housed within his soul.

There's just so much more to this book than erotica. Behind it is a beautiful love story with plenty of endearment and suspense woven between. I don't think I have ever read a book that's made me smile so much, or provoked so much emotion in me (book three nearly had me in floods of tears!)

Honestly, I can't gush enough about these; they're just so intense and surprisingly classy. If you can handle the naughty bits (ahem), then don't miss out on Fifty Shades! They are very high on my favourites list now.

Rating: 5 / 5

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Like what you've heard? Visit The Book Depository to get your copy.