Director Joe Wright Drops Out Of ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Race

Director Joe Wright has decided to end his bid to direct the erotica adaptation Fifty Shades of Grey. Looks like this production is having an incredibly fast turnover rate. Last week it was reported that Gus Van Sant was reportedly out, which was odd considering he was the front runner and then Joe Wright emerged out of nowhere.

Van Sant has gone as far as shooting a test with actor Alex Pettyfer but it was reported the studio passed and Wright was looking more like the guy each day. According to Deadline, those reports might have been a little too premature. Although Wright, who is best known for his film Atonement, was in the mix to direct, it wasn’t a lock like everyone expected. The director had to bow out due to scheduling.

There’s no word on whether Gus Van Sant is truly out of the race to direct, but directors Bennett Miller (Moneyball) and TV director Patty Jenkins (Entourage) are certainly in the mix.

So far the only two things that are set in stone is that Kelly Marcel is penning the script, and Universal and Focus Features are both heading up the project.

As far as actors who are currently in the lead to portray the ultra cool BDSM-loving Christian Grey and innocent sex slave Anastasia Steele, there’s no one that seems to be impressing any casting directors yet. However things still seem to be incredibly early for this project and there’s no official word if anyone has been seen for either role. The only glimpse we have into casting is that Pettyfer has tested, but it’s not known what the studio thinks of him or Gus Van Sant’s direction of the tape.

The last bit of development we had was the announcement back in October that Kelly Marcel has been chosen to adapt the book. Perhaps now that Universal has wrapped up their lawsuit with a porn production that was set to rip off the film, we’ll get somewhere with this film?