In addition to his latest work, Back to Black , a biopic of the late jazz singer Amy Winehouse (released in theaters next May), director Sam Taylor-Johnson recently shared his past experiences with the first part of Fifty Shades of Grey.
Taylor-Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter that taking the helm of the film in 2015 forced her to take a four-year break from work to regain her composure and reflect on the process. The director admitted that she and novelist EL James had "completely opposite perspectives" on adapting the work. The film was a critical failure but a box office success, helping to catapult stars like Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan to stardom, leading to two sequels.
Sam Taylor-Johnson on the set of 50 Shades of Grey
Taylor-Johnson shared about James: "It was her book and she had a very specific vision of how it would be adapted. But I saw it completely the opposite. It ended up being successful, which was great, but the experience I had was also difficult."
She added: "It took me about four years to regain my spirit and confidence. I will return to being an independent director, where I can make my own decisions, answer my own questions and introduce to the world what I create myself."
Years ago, EL James's apparent meddling in the film adaptation made headlines. The script for Fifty Shades of Grey was constantly changing during production, with James insisting that the entire novel be portrayed exactly as it was on screen. At the time, lead actress Dakota Johnson told Vanity Fair that James had "almost militaristic creative control on a daily basis" on set.
"There are parts of the book that wouldn't work in the film, like the internal monologues, which are sometimes extremely cheesy," Johnson said. "But James wouldn't agree to cut that. It was always a battle. If I rewrote scenes the night before that had inappropriate dialogue, I'm sure the next day there would be immediate arguments."
Latest images from Taylor-Johnson's Amy Winehouse film Back to Black
In 2018, Taylor-Johnson told IndieWire that her follow-up to Fifty Shades — another adaptation of the controversial memoir A Million Little Pieces — almost never came to fruition because she wasn't a household name, despite the film grossing more than $500 million at the box office.
“I’m literally still struggling in the same place I was before,” Taylor-Johnson says. “I’ve done a short film, an indie, a blockbuster, a TV show on a very small budget. I’ve had experience in a lot of genres, I’ve proven myself, but I’m still not appreciated in the industry.”
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