Twilight Fanfic Becomes Best Selling Book Becomes… Movie Trilogy?

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Brendon Connelly

Agents for “mommy porn” phenomenon EL James have apparently scheduled a number of appointments between the author and movie studios and directors as various Hollywood bodies compete to nab the adaptation rights to her “erotic” novel Fifty Shades of Grey and its increasingly badly-named sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.

The best bit of this story, I think, is that the books began life as a piece of Twilight-fuelled fanfic called Master of the Universe. Sadly, that original posting from ff.net appears to have been deleted, but I bet somebody has it stashed somewhere. I’d love to read an excerpt. Use the contact page linked at the top of the site.

Or perhaps a simple find and replace on the Grey text would put Edward and Bella back in the picture.

The books have gone from eBook viral hits to actual, physical bestsellers from Random House so, let’s be honest, some Little Bleeder or another is bound to have read at least one of them. If that person is you, do tell me: can you see the Twilight origins? And are their supernatural elements in these stories?

The Hollywood Reporter say that Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros. and Fox have all taken the bait and want to sit down with James. Here’s how their article sets the books up.

Fifty Shades of Grey follows the story of 27-year-old billionaire Christian Grey and 22-year-old virgin college student Anastasia Steele, who develop a relationship steeped in bondage, S&M, domination and submission. The sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed continue their story. The erotically-charged novels have been referred to as “mommy porn” in The New York Times.

I do tend to read books that catch fire with the zeitgeist, often to try and sniff out what the appeal is. I don’t think I’ll have to go digging in this case – it’s all right there. I think I’ll be able to pass on these ones quite happily.

Now, whereas studio movies tend to keep their sex scenes to a relatively low count, I understand that the books do actually feature an awful lot of vividly described rumpy pumpy. Therefore, I expect, there’s only space for rather slight plots. Perhaps all three books might make for a single movie, with the proportions of zug-zugging to forelock tugging a bit more in keeping with the Hollywood norm?
Further Reading: