14 DAY TRIAL // With “only” 11 months to go until the theatrical release of one of the most hyped movies of our times, the big screen adaptation of E.L. James’ first installment in the “Fifty Shades” trilogy of novels, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” a handful of lucky fans and movie critics have already had their chance to see the first teaser trailer for it.
It premiered at CinemaCon 2014 in Las Vegas hours ago and, from what we’re hearing online, it was absolutely amazing. Totally PG-13, but absolutely amazing nonetheless.
James wrote her best-selling novels inspired by the love story in “Twilight” but she gave her own a very saucy spin, in that her leading man Christian Gray is into S&M and is what you might call a broken soul, while the woman he falls in love with, Anastasia Steele, is the very definition of an ingénue – and a virgin to boot.
The film stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as the leading couple and is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson. One of the most burning questions with fans of the book (and there are millions of them, just in case you were wondering) is how all those X-rated scenes from the book will translate to the big screen.
According to Yahoo! Movies, whichever way this will happen wasn’t even as much as hinted at in the first footage, which was heavy on the romance and mystery and completely free of any R- or NC-17-rated scenes.
Scenes included showed Christian and Anastasia’s first meeting in his office, glimpses of them grabbing coffee, kissing and holding hands and being all lovey-dovey, and one particular scene in which Anastasia talks to her best friend Kate of her first impressions about Grey.
Oh and there is also just one, very short glimpse of a red room, whose door Christian opens to welcome Anastasia in.
The trailer opens with a piano version of Beyonce’s “Haunted,” which should mean a lot to those who have read the books.
“You can feel the intensity building, enhanced by the very colorful landscape director Sam Taylor-Johnson has created. The footage feels lush, elegant, and clean, but with an element of restraint and danger,” Yahoo! Movies says of the feel of the first teaser.
Dornan moves with grace and ease into every scene, and it looks like casting him after Charlie Hunnamn backed out was a very good idea, various reports online say. Meanwhile, Johnson is “the perfect ingénue,” so she too was a good casting call.
The short trailer ends with an exchange between the two heralding things to come: “Why are you trying to change me?” Anastasia asks Christian, looking at him very worried. “I'm not. It's you that's changing me,” he replies.
No word yet on when the trailer will be released to the general public as well, but it probably won’t be that long now. “Fifty Shades of Grey” will be out in theaters next year, precisely on Valentine’s Day.