E.L. James is trying to take control of the Fifty Shades of Grey sequels, petitioning to write the screenplay for Fifty Shades Darker.
The reported reason they haven’t started filming the sequel yet is because of James’ negotiations with Universal Pictures to take the reigns from screenwriter Kelly Marcel.
According to Variety, the negotiations are leaning towards pushing director Sam Taylor-Johnson and Marcel out, so that James, the author of the best-selling trilogy, can take over.
Taylor-Johnson has publicly admitted to clashing with James over the film’s sex scenes, telling Porter magazine working with her “was difficult, I’m not going to lie.”
“We definitely fought, but they were creative fights, and we would resolve them,” she said. “We would have proper on-set ‘barneys,’ and I’m not confrontational, but it was about finding a way between the two of us, satisfying her vision of what she’d written as well as my need to visualize this person on-screen, but, you know, we got there.”
James clearly fought for the vision she had in mind when she wrote the books and it worked. The film made history with the biggest February opening in box office history.
At any rate, the film’s stars, Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, re contractually obligated to return for the two sequels even if there’s a behind-the-camera shake-up.
image courtesy of Famous/ACE/INFphoto.com