The Word’s picks for ‘50 Shades’ stars
E L James knows who she wants in the film adaptation of her bonkers-popular “50 Shades” trilogy but she’s still not telling.
On Monday’s “Katie,” James told Katie Couric she’s narrowed it down to seven actors to fill the roles of Ana Steele and Christian Grey but no contracts are signed — yet.
“It’s a sort of collaborative effort. There’s a studio. There’s a production company. There’s two producers and at some point there’s going to be a director, so I’m sure everyone will have an input into that. I have three people who could play Christian,” she told Couric. “And I think four who could play Ana, and I’m not going to tell you any of them.”
So who should star in the sure-to-be blockbuster film? We have a few suggestions:
Anastasia Steele
Emma Watson
Watson’s name pops up again and again for the role of the shy Ana and for good reason: She can already carry a huge franchise and she needs to tackle more “adult” characters. And what’s more grown-up than being tied up in “the red room of pain”?
Betty White
Deep down you know White is no stranger to S&M material.
Anna Kendrick
Kendrick plays young and vulnerable extremely well. And she could (possibly!) make lines like, “You are the state lottery, the cure for cancer, and the three wishes from Aladdin’s lamp all rolled into one,” sound, well, non-laughable.
Christian Grey
Alexander Skarsgård
Eric the vampire gets my vote to play the billionaire playboy but will he accept it? The role would make Skarsgård a household name but might be too low-brow for the actor who seems to be trying to establish a serious film career. That said, he has no qualms about appearing shirtless covered in blood in the increasingly campy “True Blood,” so who knows?
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Wildcard!
Ian Somerhalder
Somerhalder’s name has been thrown around more than most others. That, or else his publicists are really good at making it seem like he is a frontrunner.
