Fifty Shades of Grey screenwriter can’t bring herself to watch the film

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY has made over $500 million worldwide which obviously adds up to a lot of eyeballs that have viewed the erotic thriller; however one pair is missing, those of screenwriter Kelly Marcel. The writer joined Bret Easton Ellis on his podcast earlier this week where she revealed that she has yet to have watched her own movie.

Much of the news which has trickled out from the production of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY seems to lead to one conclusion: that "Fifty Shades of Grey" author E.L. James is a bit of a nightmare to work with. The author, who was given an unbelievable amount of control on the film, caused tensions with many members of the production including Kelly Marcel and director Sam Taylor-Johnson. Those tensions led to both parties opting out of returning for the sequels, FIFTY SHADES DARKER and FIFTY SHADES FREED, and Kelly Marcel refusing to see the finished film.

My heart really was broken by that process, I really mean it. I don't see it out of any kind of bitterness or anger or anything like that. I just don't feel like I can watch it without feeling some pain about how different it is to what I initially wrote.

The writer told Bret Easton Ellis that she originally wanted to do something very different with the screenplay:

I didn't want the story to be linear; I wanted it to begin at the end of the film, and for us to meet in the middle. So you start with the spanking, and you have these sort of flashes that go throughout the film. … I wanted to take the inner goddess out, and all of Ana's inner monologue. … I wanted to remove a lot of the dialogue. I felt it could be a really sexy film if there wasn't so much talking in it.

Once Kelly Marcel delivered this vastly different take on E.L. James' novel she unfortunately realized that despite the studio's initial desire for her to get "crazy and artistic" with it, what they actually wanted was something far more straightforward.

When I delivered that script was when I realized that all of them saying, Yeah, absolutely this is what we want!, and, You can write anything you like and get crazy and artistic with it — that was utter, utter bullshit. Rightly so. Erika [E.L. James] was like, This isn't what I want it to be, and I don't think this is the film the fans are looking for.

E.L. James then came to Kelly Marcel's house where they worked on the script side-by-side for a week. The draft they ended up with was a halfway compromise, and while Marcel mentions that E.L. James let her argue and fight for the things that she felt passionate about, in the end…James had all of the control. No pun intended.

FIFTY SHADES DARKER is set for a February 10, 2017 release while FIFTY SHADES FREED will follow on February 9, 2018.