The literary sensation Fifty Shades of Grey is to be made into a film and the film studio responsible is hiring the Oscar winning producers of The Social Network for the project. In an attempt to bring the story to the audiences on the big screen, Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti are in the driving seat on this one.
The duo, best known for their work on David Fincher's tale about the Facebook founding fathers for which Aaron Sorkin won the best adapted screenplay Academy award last year.
The fact that Universal has brought them on board shows their faith in the project and it is reported that they bought the rights to the story for a hefty $5m in March.
Both producers are widely known for their work projects adapted from literary sources: The Social Network was based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, while De Luca produced Moneyball, the baseball-themed drama. The film was adapted from the book entitled Moneyball: The Art of Winning, which detailed Oakland Athletics manager Billy Beane's revolutionary system which helped transform the team from also-rans to consistent performers and ultimately, world beaters.
Studio executive Donna Langley had this to say: "At its core, Fifty Shades of Grey is a complex love story, requiring a delicate and sophisticated hand to bring it to the big screen,"
"Mike and Dana's credits more than exemplify what we need in creative partners, and we're glad to have them as part of our team."
So high praise then for the duo, no director or cast has been announced yet for the film version of Fifty Shades of Grey, it has been mooted however that though the novelist/ screenwriter Brett Easton Ellis has touted himself as the man to write it. "I think David Cronenberg is a great idea for directing Fifty Shades of Grey and we worked together on [my novel] American Psycho in its initial phase," he revealed on Twitter "I'm putting myself out there to write the movie adaptation … This is not a joke. Christian Grey and Ana: potentially great cinematic characters."
The book, which in many quarters has been derided as "mommy porn" by critics, focuses on a successful businessman, Christian, who invites a young virgin, Ana, to become his sex slave. The tale has become the fastest-selling novel of the year. Universal plans a trilogy based on the story.
