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'50 Shades Of Grey' To Be Directed By Sam Taylor-Johnson
Sam Taylor-Johnson and husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Featureflash / Shutterstock.com)
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A director has finally been picked to helm "50 Shades of Grey," and as more information comes out about her, it looks like she's a total badass.
Deadline broke the news that Sam Taylor-Johnson, the woman behind 2009's "Nowhere Boy," will take the reigns for bringing EL James' best-selling erotica novel to the big screen. The story, in case you have been living under a rock, tells of the kinky, S&M-ish relationship between a 27-year-old billionaire and a college student.
According to Deadline, Taylor-Johnson is a curious pick in part because she doesn't have a whole lot of experience under her belt:
...Taylor-Johnson is a surprise choice. In addition to Nowhere Boy, which garnered her a pair of BAFTA nominations and an eventual husband in that film’s star Aaron Taylor-Johnson (of Kick-Ass fame), she had only directed the short film Love You More which was in Cannes in 2008.
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But part of what's compelling about her, it seems, is her personal life. Prior to becoming a director, reports The Daily Beast, she worked as a visual artist, and the topics she focused on were of the deeply human, complicated, and sensual variety:
Much of her early video artwork tackled madness, death, power, and sexuality. There’s Brontosaurus, where a naked man flails his body about like he’s possessed to a classical score; Knackered, where a naked woman acts out opera scenes; and Pieta, where Taylor-Wood cradles Robert Downey Jr. in her arms.
And then, there's her husband. The Daily Beast notes that she met Aaron Taylor-Johnson on the set of a movie when she was 42 and he was just 18.
That might be part of the reason that producer Michael De Luca liked her, given the material she'll be dealing with.
“Sam’s unique ability to gracefully showcase complex relationships dealing with love, emotion and sexual chemistry make her the ideal director to bring Christian and Anastasia’s relationship to life,” De Luca told Deadline. “EL James’ characters and vivid storytelling require a director who is willing to take risks and push the envelope where needed, and Sam is a natural fit.”
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