Author / producer E.L. James was too difficult to work with

Mar 26, 2015 11:08 GMT  ·  By
E.L. James and Sam Taylor-Johnson on the set of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” back when they were still on good terms
   E.L. James and Sam Taylor-Johnson on the set of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” back when they were still on good terms

As rumored since before the theatrical release of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” director Sam Taylor-Johnson has confirmed that she will not return to helm the other 2 (or maybe 3) sequels in the franchise. The job is up for grabs right now.

Sam made no secret of the difficult working relationship she had with E.L. James, who penned the trilogy of novels used by Universal to launch a new franchise. As part of the deal for the movie rights, James got a producing credit in the film, so she tried her best to keep the big screen adaptation as faithful as possible to the books. Even when that clashed with the director’s vision.

Sam Taylor-Johnson is out, elegantly so

Of course, whenever she would hint at creative differences, Sam made sure not to cross the line and outright bad-mouth James. She is too much of a professional to do that, but she said enough to enable her fans to read between the lines.

That and the reports from on-set sources painted a clear picture: E.L. James was too difficult to work with because she vetoed anything else she might have had to say about the direction of the film, just so she could make sure it became a moving version of her book.

And all readers of the book know how bad it is.

Sam Taylor-Johnson remains as professional as ever in her parting statement, issued to Us Weekly.

“Directing Fifty Shades of Grey has been an intense and incredible journey for which I am hugely grateful,” she says. “I have Universal to thank for that. I forged close and lasting relationships with the cast, producers and crew and most especially, with Dakota [Johnson] and Jamie [Dornan]. While I will not be returning to direct the sequels, I wish nothing but success to whosoever takes on the exciting challenges of films two and three.”

She’s not exaggerating about the close bonds forged on set: as you can see from the two Instagram posts below, she and leading man Jamie, who plays Christian Grey in the film, are actually good friends and spend a lot of time together.

Sam Taylor-Johnson was the best thing about “Fifty Shades of Grey”

The “Fifty Shades” trilogy barely qualifies as literature, as we’re sure you can find countless reviews online to tell you. The only reason these novels are such a hit is that they’re adult content wrapped in a package of glossy romance - and that too barely qualifies as such.

Bringing “Fifty Shades of Grey” to the big screen was a huge task, one that few other filmmakers could have accomplished as well as Taylor-Johnson. She compensated for the ridiculous plot and poor script with shots of technical perfection, thus managing to deliver a beautiful-looking movie that was a pleasure to watch. If you didn’t think too much of the story, that is.

Still, she was the best thing about the film, with the OST coming in a close second. If she’s out, that probably means that James will get even more responsibilities in the making of the sequel, probably even getting to choose a new director.

This will translate in an even bigger delay in production and release, but also in higher odds of being trashed by critics.  

Today with Jamie. #jamiedornan A photo posted by Director FSOG (@samtaylorjohnson) on Mar 25, 2015 at 6:43pm PDT

Beautiful men @aarontaylorjohnson @jamiedornan @eltonjohn #saviors A photo posted by Director FSOG (@samtaylorjohnson) on Mar 25, 2015 at 11:30pm PDT