Was directing Fifty Shades of Grey as punishing as the things done to Dakota Johnson’s backside? The answer is questionably yes if we’re going off of Sam Taylor-Johnson‘s experience. The Fifty Shades helmer shared her recollection of events in an interview with The Sunday Times where she also gets remarkably candid on subjects like alcoholism and cancer. It’s worth a read.
The presence of series author E.L. James in the filmmaking process was cited as a particularly frustrating creative issue she had making Fifty Shades of Grey. The S&M blockbuster would not be something Taylor-Johnson would ever want to revisit. Heck, she wouldn’t even say yes to the movie knowing what she knows now.
“With the benefit of hindsight would I go through it again? Of course I wouldn’t. I’d be mad,” explained the Nowhere Boy filmmaker. “It was a struggle and there were lots of onset tête-à-têtes, with me trying to bat it into the [right] place. I like everyone — and I get really confused when they don’t like me. I was so confused by E.L. James. I don’t understand when I can’t navigate a person, when there’s no synergy.”
Taylor-Johnson also addressed the issue when speaking with The Hollywood Reporter. She says it was a battle trying to get the movie made while pushing back against the author’s approach.
“Two different creative visions,” recalls Taylor-Johnson. “Her vision versus mine, and they were polar opposite. Every scene was fought over. It was tough. It was like wading uphill through sticky tar. Her thing was, ‘This is what the fans expect.’ I’d be like, ‘Well, let’s try and hit those marks but create a new universe at the same time.'”
The reviews for Fifty Shades of Grey weren’t exactly glowing, but Taylor-Johnson was praised in most circles for what she contributed to the motion picture. It’d be nice to see what her version of the movie would look like somehow. Sort it out before the Fifty Shades trilogy hits the Criterion Collection, buds.
(Via The Times, ScreenRant & The Hollywood Reporter)
