Imagine the excitement you'd feel being hired as a screenwriter and given the task of breathing life into Fifty Shades of Grey. Now imagine your dreams and hopes being crushed by author EL James' pointiest stilettos — that's exactly what screenwriter Kelly Marcel claims happened to her— and now she says she can't even bring herself to watch the final version of the film because the experience of working on it was too painful.
If you remember, Marcel — along with director Sam Taylor-Johnson — was rumored to have bumped heads with James several times throughout the process of making 50 Shades. The way the screenwriter tells it, the final product, which tells Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele's story in a linear fashion, similar to the book, was not at all the way Marcel had imagined it. She calls the manuscript she originally submitted "crazy and artistic" and says instead of taking a literal approach to the novel, her plan was to "begin at the end of the film," with a spanking, and then include a lot of flashbacks.
Marcel also wanted to do away with Ana's inner monologue and a great deal of dialogue, saying she felt the film would have been sexier without so much talking. In other words: she wanted to show, not tell — I have to say, I agree with Marcel and like her concept a lot better than the one that made it to the big screen.
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But, alas, James had a lot more control over the film than Marcel originally realized. In the end, her ideas won out and all of the dialogue stayed put. In James' defense, she says she honestly felt a straight-forward, linear approach was more true to her story and what she felt fans wanted to see. And, judging by global box office numbers ($569.6m), you can make a pretty solid argument that she knew what she was talking about.
Marcel says she can't bring herself to watch 'Fifty Shades' now because her "heart was broken" by the process of working on the movie. Holy moly, strong words. I can't fault her for feeling this way, though. A screenwriter's work deserves the same respect as that of an author and it doesn't sound like her time and effort working on the movie was given the respect it deserved.
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I guess James learned from this painful experience as well because her plans for Fifty Shades Darker involve working with a screenwriter who is less likely to deviate from her vision: husband Niall Leonard.
What do you think about '50 Shades' screenwriter Kelly Marcel's refusal to watch the film?
Image via fiftyshadesmovie/Instagram