If you’ve turned on the news, checked out at a grocery store, or been on Facebook this week you’ve probably at least caught a glimpse of the recently cast leads for the movie adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. And if you lingered for more than a glimpse (or if you’re a fan of the series yourself) you probably know that fans are SUPER PISSED. And I don’t mean drunk with excitement a la British slang, I mean really angry.
And I get it, there are more important issues to discuss right now, so the fact that I’m blogging about this is ironic because I really am disgusted by how intense this debate has gotten, but sometimes it’s nice to forget things like missile strikes and talk about book characters.
So back to fantasy. Why are people? Well, apparently Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson don’t fit peoples’ ideas of who Christian Grey and Ana Steele should be. Is it a brunette versus blond thing? Do you think people are that worked up for one minor detail so the movie stays true to the book?
Who fans want:
Matt Bomer and Alexis Bledel.
Who fans are getting:
Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson.
Honestly none of them are bad looking. I mean, seriously. It’s disgusting how attractive all four of them are. So the “eye candy” part of this is really splitting hairs regarding personal preference. And as far as acting chops go, yes, Bomer and Bledel have had the more recognizable roles, but it goes beyond that. People have “seen” Bomer and Bledel as Christian and Ana for some time. Check out this fake magazine cover from celebrity groupie and blogger Perez Hilton:
But I really don’t want to debate whether or not the casting is appropriate, I want to talk about how connected people can become to characters. I mean, it’s every author’s dream, to have your characters come to life for readers, for them to be seen as real people. Isn’t that the greatest compliment a fiction author could get? Fanatical obsession with your page to screen casting?! And come on, you know I can’t not mention that this hype is occurring despite the fact that Fifty Shades was a literary disaster in regards to writing quality, and fifty steps backward for the feminist movement. Yet we have people starting petitions to get the casting changed.
At least this leaves Bomer open to play Mac!