Like it or not, the 50 Shades of Grey movie is slowly but surely coming together. Society as a whole may collectively groan and bang its head against a table, but a sexually-charged film geared towards a female audience is rare enough that people will stampede over each other to see it (see also: Magic Mike). And now we’ve got our stars. Dakota Johnson and Charlie Hunnam will be playing Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, the couple that will be committing so many semi-obscured sex acts on film next summer.
Johnson is a fashion-model turned actress who’s had brief roles on The Office, The Social Network, and 21 Jump Street, and starred in last fall’s quickly-cancelled sitcom Ben & Kate. Her acting abilities may be more or less untested, but worry not. She’ll be starring in the video-game-to-movie adaptation Need for Speed alongside Aaron Paul (poor, poor Aaron Paul) a few months before 50 Shades comes out. That should prove once and for all that Johnson is, in fact, an actress, and that her image can be recorded on film (which is about all she’ll need for 50 Shades).
Hunnam is a far more accomplished actor, but with Sons of Anarchy edging closer to the finish line (and Pacific Rim failing to vault him into true stardom), he may be looking for the next rung on the ladder. And 50 Shades of Grey is certain to get his name out there. Hopefully, for his sake, the old adage “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” really is true.
50 Shades of Grey will be in theaters on August 1, 2014. [via The Playlist and Deadline]
