05 Sep 2013 04:20:10
British author EL James, whose infamous knee-trembler has sold more than 70m copies worldwide, revealed the news on Twitter. She wrote: "I am delighted to let you know that the lovely Dakota Johnson has agreed to be our Anastasia in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey." A few minutes later, the novelist added: "The gorgeous and talented Charlie Hunnam will be Christian Grey in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey."
Speculation over the identity of the main cast members for Taylor-Johnson's film has been at peak intensity since March 2012, when the project was first announced. Dakota Johnson, who is the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, as well as the granddaughter of Hitchcock star Tippi Hedren, was tipped for the role of Anastasia by Entertainment Weekly last month. The US magazine also predicted that Britain's Hunnam might take the role of kinky billionaire business magnate Christian Grey, though the Sons of Anarchy star later denied the rumour.
Johnson is best known for small roles in the Oscar-winning The Social Network and comedy The Five Year Engagement, in which she portrays an energetic young woman with a high sex drive. Hunnam, who made his name in the cult US TV show Sons of Anarchy (and long prior to that, the British children's series Byker Grove), is riding high after strong reviews and decent global box office returns for Guillermo Del Toro's sci-fi action movie Pacific Rim.
Fifty Shades centres on Grey's recruitment of a young virgin, Anastasia Steele, to be his well-remunerated sex slave. It is expected to be the first of a trilogy based on James' triptych of novels, which began life as fan fiction for the hugely successful supernatural romance saga Twilight but have gone on to compete with their source material in terms of popularity.
Taylor-Johnson was revealed as the surprise director of the film version in June. The artist turned film-maker, whose only feature film to date is the acclaimed 2009 John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, reportedly beat out luminaries of the calibre of Joe Wright, Bennett Miller and Gus van Sant.
