Fans of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy are getting a first look at the film adaptation of the best-selling books.
The first trailer for 50 Shades of Grey was released Thursday morning and quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.
The two-and-a-half minute clip hints at the intensity of the erotic drama. The trailer shows main character Anastasia Steele (played by Dakota Johnson) meeting her love interest Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) for the first time.
“To what do you owe your success?” Anastasia asks the broody billionaire, Christian.
“I exercise control in all things,” he replies, hinting at the unconventional, sadomasochistic relationship the pair develop.
The trailer ends with glimpse of Christian’s sex chamber, with Anastasia’s face covered by a blindfold.
The 50 Shades trailer was supposed to air full-length trailer on Thursday’s Today Show , but the network pulled it, judging it to be too racy. Instead, “a sanitized for network television version debuted… followed by an interview with the cast and a clip from the film”, reported Forbes .
Forbes’ writer Scott Mendelson also offers some insight into 50 Shades’ planned release date:
[50 Shades of Grey] was actually supposed to come out next week, where it would have competed directly with Walt Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy. But it was moved back to February 13th, 2015. So yes, Universal is either betting that women will drag their significant others to this erotic drama as something of a Valentine’s Day date movie… Of course, the big question is whether or not adult moviegoers, female or male, will venture out to a theater and watch what is basically…pornography amid other moviegoers.
So far, fans’ reaction to the trailer has been mixed.
well the 50 shades trailer is um nice one more reason to look forward to valentines day
— Payton (@PayPayPapale) July 24, 2014
The new 50 Shades trailer makes me really psyched for my mom and her gal pals.
— Lauren Vino (@LaurenVino) July 24, 2014
https://twitter.com/JarretSproull/status/492331554702512128
Last week, Beyonce leaked a short excerpt from the trailer on her Instagram profile. A slowed-down version of her song Crazy in Love , serves as the soundtrack to the trailer.
The casting of the main characters in 50 Shades is still a heated topic. As the project was developed, many high profile actors and actresses were gunning for the roles of Anastasia and Christian.
Krysten Ritter , Emma Watson, Mila Kunis and Alexis Bledel were reportedly in talks for the role of naive Anastasia.
Who would be cast as Christian became an even more contentious topic among fans. Everyone from Ian Somerhalder, to Ryan Gosling and Jake Gyllenhaal was reportedly considered for the film adaptation of 50 Shades . Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam was originally cast as Christian, but dropped the 50 Shades project due to scheduling conflicts.