Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades of What?), the breakaway erotic literary hit of the year is being circled by pretty much all of Hollywood’s major motion picture studios as rumours of a bidding war for the adaptation rights to the book escalate, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sources say studio execs, producers and directors from Paramount, Universal, Fox 2000 and Warner Bros. – amongst others – have met with the book’s London-based agent, Valerie Hoskins to discuss an adaptation of the viral ‘mummy porn’ novel, which recently sold for a six-figure sum to Random House imprint Vintage. Rumour also has it that the rights for the film could sell for a considerable seven-figure sum.
Not bad for a bit of soft-porn chick-lit from a London-based mother of two, E.L. James, later developed into a trilogy with the help of Australian ’boutique’ publishing house The Writers’ Coffee Shop, based in Hornsby, Sydney. The New York Times bestseller has reportedly sold more than 250,000 copies – primarily in eBook format – soon to be adapted for a 750,000 paperback print run.
The book’s BDSM content might prove something of an obstacle though. Here’s a censored excerpt. Pretty sure they’ve already got an entire industry devoted to visualising these kinds of projects. You decide:
“Christian is standing over me grasping a plaited, leather riding crop. He’s wearing old, faded, ripped Levis and that’s all. He flicks the crop slowly into his palm as he gazes down at me. He’s smiling, triumphant. I cannot move. I am ____ and ____, ____ on a large four-poster bed. Reaching forward, he trails the tip of the crop from my forehead down the length of my nose, so I can smell leather, and over my ____, ____ lips. He pushes the ____, ____ ____, ____, ____…”
You get the point (of the leather riding crop). If it reads like porn, chances are it’s going to look a lot like porn. At least we know Sasha Grey is free now that Entourage is over.
Sasha Grey. Shades of Grey. I just got it. Paramount, call me.
