Two producers win '50 Shades of Grey' film bidding war
Everyone's been reading it and pretty soon we are all going to be watching it: The '50 Shades of Grey' film adaptation has made a major step forward, after two producers won a bidding way to make the film.
Mike De Luca and Dana Brunetti will take on the hugely successful erotic fiction bestseller (20 million copies and counting making it the fastest selling paperback of all time) for its big screen debut.
'American Psycho' author Bret Easton Ellis expressed an interest in writing the script a few months ago.
"I think David Cronenberg is a great idea for directing Fifty Shades of Grey and we worked together on American Psycho in its initial phase," he tweeted. "I'm putting myself out there to write the movie adaptation … This is not a joke. Christian Grey and Ana: potentially great cinematic characters."
Now with some producers on board decisions like that can be fully addressed.
The producing team had a hand in producing Best Picture Oscar nominee 'The Social Network', giving the project a touch of class.
Author EL James sold the rights to Focus Features and Universal back in March for an undisclosed (but probably incredible) sum. James, like JK Rowling did with 'Harry Potter', will be involved in cast and crew choices.
The plot revolves around a naive college student who falls for a handsome billionaire who just happens to be into BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism), giving the relationship a dangerous slant that threatens to consume them both.
The novel, first published online, was followed up with '50 Shades Darker' and '50 Shades Freed', although the film contract is just (initially) for the first film.
Other film news
Oscar winning film Ang Lee has just backed out from directing his first television show - a TV pilot for the FX network called 'Tyrant'.
The stars were shining a little dimmer at this year's Cannes Film Festival after a massive jewellery theft robbed the celebs of their jewels.
Britain's premiere film lot Pinewood Studios, the home to James Bond and Harry Potter, has lost a £200m planning permission bid for a Hollywood-style expansion across 100 acres of green belt land.
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Oscar winning actress Angelina Jolie has undergone a double mastectomy after genetic tests revealed that she held a high risk of developing breast cancer.
'TV Burp' star Harry Hill's film debut has started shooting with himself in the lead and Matt Lucas as his twin brother alongside Sheridan Smith, 'Inbetweeners' star Simon Bird and Oscar winners Jim Broadbent and veteran actress Julie Walters.
'Jurassic Park 4' was due to begin production on June 24th for a release date almost exactly a year later, but studio Universal has pushed it back.
When it comes to optical effects in the movies, few have had a career as iconic as Ray Harryhausen, the special effects pioneer who recently died at 92.
The bank holiday weekend saw not one but two tentpole franchises get the sequel green lights from their studios: 'Men in Black 4' and 'Mission Impossible 5' are on the cards at Sony and Paramount.
In somewhat unexpected casting news, TV star Kelsey Grammer (best known as classy radio psychologist Dr Frasier Crane from 'Frasier' and 'Cheers'), has been cast as the lead villain in 'Transformers 4'.
First came the news that Michael Fassbender was onboard, and now it's been confirmed that Oscar winner Natalie Portman will be joining him for a new film version of 'MacBeth'.
Marvel/Disney knew they were on to a winner with the third film in the 'Iron Man' franchise but the Robert Downey Jr headliner has exceeded numerous box office estimates by beating 'Avengers Assemble' in its opening weekend figures.
20th Century Fox has finally secured the film rights to the Frank Loesser musical 'Guys and Dolls' after years in legal hell, and now the studio are hoping to bag Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the lead roles.
Cult sports comedy 'Dodgeball' is getting the sequel treatment, with original star Ben Stiller's production company onboard alongside distributor 20th Century Fox.
Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon and her husband Jim Toth were arrested and jailed in the early hours of Friday morning, it was confirmed recently.
The official list of nominations for the 2013 Cannes Film Festival have been revealed with a complete lack of British filmmakers/films in the running for the major awards of The Grand Prize and Un Certain Regard honours.
When Disney attended CinemaCon, the news that all the fans and industry types wanted to know about was what was happening with their newly acquired LucasFilm properties - namely the 'Star Wars' franchise.
Bestselling author Stephen King has stated that heâd be "happy" if Warner's planned film prequel to his 1977 horror novel 'The Shining' "didnât happen".
Check out the full list of winners from the 2013 MTV Movie Awards here:
Christopher Nolan's latest film 'Interstellar' has already confirmed that Matthew McCOnaughey will take the male lead and now it looks like 'The Dark Knight Rises' actress Anne Hathaway will reunite with Nolan as well.