E.L. James Had A Miserable Time Filming Fifty Shades Of Grey, Which Led To Christian’s Book

E.L. James Had A Miserable Time Filming Fifty Shades Of Grey, Which Led To Christian’s Book

E.L. James is an author who is happy to talk about the process of writing. We know, for example that her Fifty Shades books started as Twilight fan fiction and that her new book The Mister started coming together even before Fifty Shades of Grey. Recently, the author also revealed that her work on the Fifty Shades of Grey movie is what caused the Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian to come together.

So, how did this come about? Apparently, E.L. James’ stress on the set of Fifty Shades of Grey led to her writing the chapter from Christian's point of view that would go into Fifty Shades Freed. That led to a more extensive writing project, and the rest is history. Per the author,

In the back of the book of Fifty Shades Freed, when that came out, I actually put the first chapter of Fifty Shades of Grey in Christian’s point of view, just as a sort of bonus for readers, and people started asking me, ‘Oh, can you write this, can you write this, can you write this?’ And I didn’t have time and I didn’t expect to do it, but I had such a miserable time making the Fifty Shades of Grey movie that when I finished that I sat down and wrote that novel, and it was a really cathartic experience for me. I didn’t realize it would be quite as popular as it was.

The fact that director Sam Taylor-Johnson and E.L. James did not have the best relationship has been known for a while. Taylor-Johnson previously talked about how she and the author were not on the same wavelength, noting,

I like everyone, and I get really confused when they don't like me. I was so confused by EL James. I don't understand when I can't navigate a person, when there's no synergy.

However, E.L. James has been less blunt about her experience during the first movie in the trilogy, at least until now. In her interview with AZ Central, she touches on how unhappiness led to a fruitful writing breakthrough, but she still doesn’t get particularly gossipy about the experience.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall on that set to see how the two interacted, however.

Ultimately, what E.L. James feels was kind of a rough situation turned out pretty happily. In general, fans seem to love the Fifty Shades of Grey movie, although Sam Taylor-Johnson did not return to the franchise.

In addition, Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian was given 1.25 million printings just for its initial run and the book sold over a million copies during its first week of release.

As has been common with the story of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, critics have been less nice about the series, but fans have totally devoured it.

We’ll have to wait and see if a fourth Fifty Shades series book ever comes to fruition. However, you can catch the full trilogy of movies on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital now, or grab your own copy of new book The Mister.

So Christopher Nolan's Next Movie Won't Really Be Like North By Northwest Meets Inception?

So Christopher Nolan's Next Movie Won't Really Be Like North By Northwest Meets Inception?

It's been about a year and a half since the release of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, and the acclaimed director's next film is still shrouded in mystery. Well, at least it was until new reports claimed that it was a romantic thriller that was a cross between North by Northwest and Inception. It was a concept that intrigued film fans, but it sounds like it's back to the guessing games because a new report claims that the last rumor is false.

Christopher Nolan is one of the most prestigious directors working today. He's the mind behind excellent movies like The Prestige and Memento, and gained mainstream popularity for his work on The Dark Knight Trilogy. He was finally nominated for an Oscar on his last film, 2017's Dunkirk, and since then movie fans have been eagerly awaiting to find out more details about his next project.

It seemed like those details had finally come when a report from Production Weekly claimed that Christopher Nolan's new film was described "as a romantic thriller, North by Northwest in tone meets Inception." Inception blew people's minds back in 2010, and North by Northwest is said to be one of the greatest films ever made, so it's a pretty cool mashup on paper.

However, it sounds like the update was off-base. A source told IGN the information provided by Production Weekly was inaccurate. No further elaboration was given, so it sounds like we are all back in the dark on this one.

On one hand, this can be seen as good news. Christopher Nolan has many strengths, but I don't know that I would say that romance is one of them. His films usually come off as being a bit colder and focused primarily on the drama or psychosis of his main character. That's not to say he does't have a great romantic thriller in him, but it's a bit of uncharted territory for Nolan.

For those who may not know, North by Northwest is a 1959 thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. It followed Cary Grant as a man with mistaken identity who winds up running across the country as he's swept up into a conspiracy. Even if you've never seen the film, you've probably seen the above image of Cary Grant running from an airplane recreated a dozen different times in pop culture.

Inception is one of Christopher Nolan's most well-known films, and it starred Leonardo DiCaprio as a thief who steals information by entering people's dreams.

At least we know one thing about Christopher Nolan's next movie: the release date. The movie is currently slated to arrive in theaters on July 17, 2020. There are lot of movies to look forward to until then, so be sure to learn about them all in our handy 2019 movie release guide.

Looks Like Netflix Won't Be At Cannes Again This Year

Looks Like Netflix Won't Be At Cannes Again This Year

The friction between Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival came to a head last year when the streaming service skipped out on the festival entirely because Netflix movies are ineligible to compete for the Palme d’Or. That meant that acclaimed films from big name filmmakers like Roma and The Other Side of the Wind did not premiere at the illustrious festival where so many beloved films got their start. Now, a year later, it again looks like Netflix will be skipping Cannes.

According to Variety, Netflix will be absent from the French festival for the second year in a row, with no new movie premieres either in or out of competition. This is a result of the existing issues between the two parties, which have yet to be sorted out. And, even if Netflix and Cannes had come up with an agreeable solution, the movies that Netflix would theoretically premiere at Cannes simply aren’t ready yet.

At one point, it was expected that Netflix’s most prestigious original 2019 movie, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman would be ready for, and an ideal participant in, the May festival, but the arduous task of digitally de-aging the cast for half of the film will require more time. So The Irishman wouldn’t be ready for Cannes, regardless, and will likely premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September instead.

Another possible candidate for Cannes was The Laundromat, Steven Soderbergh’s new film about the Panama Papers starring Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman. David Michôd’s The King starring Timothée Chalamet would have also been an obvious choice for Netflix to enter in the festival. Alas, the issues aren’t sorted and these movies aren’t quite ready, either.

The issues between Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival first came to the fore in 2017 when Netflix movies Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories were accepted into the festival in the competition lineup. This resulted in backlash from French theater owners, because in France there is a 36-month minimum window between a film’s theatrical release and when it can show up on a streaming platform.

Cannes gave in and required that movies could not compete unless they would eventually be released in French theaters. So Netflix pulled out of the festival last year. In the time since, Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival have been quietly negotiating in friendly talks to try to work out their differences and find a way for the streaming service’s films to come back to the festival, but as of yet those issues are still unresolved.

Although Netflix will not be premiering any of its big 2019 movies at Cannes, it does still plan to send an acquisition team to France, so the streaming service may be opening its wallet even if it isn’t bringing anything to show itself.

Even without Netflix bringing its heavy-hitters to Cannes, there are still plenty of reasons to pay attention to May’s festival. Among them are James Gray’s Ad Astra and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which are both expected to be in competition.

We’ll keep you updated on all the latest as the industry’s various elements continue to try and adapt to the elephant in the room known as Netflix. For all of this year’s biggest theatrical releases, check out our 2019 premiere guide.

Looks Like Godzilla Vs. Kong Has Wrapped Filming

Looks Like Godzilla Vs. Kong Has Wrapped Filming

We're still over a month away from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but that movie is only a stop along the road to the main event. Godzilla is getting ready to go head to head with King Kong, and that battle is now one step closer to the big screen as filming has apparently wrapped on what is currently set to be the finale of the giant monster smashing cinematic universe.

Adam Wingard, director of Godzilla vs. Kong announced at the end of the last week on Instagram (via EW) that the production had hit the "final slate" meaning that the last piece of filming for the project was now done. Now the move goes into post-production for the creation of what will certainly be a large number of digital effects.

The announcement comes two weeks after Wingard announced the end of production in Australia. It wasn't clear at that point if wrapping in Australia meant the end of principal photography. We know now there was a bit more work to do, but now the movie is ready.

The new western version of Godzilla was introduced in the 2014 movie named after the creature, which was then followed by Kong: Skull Island in 2017. Godzilla: King of the Monsters will arrive in May, which will likely help set up Godzilla vs. Kong which is set to come out next year.

There clearly was confidence that this franchise would work. No secret was made of the fact that Godzilla vs. Kong was the goal when both creatures were announced to be getting new reboots, and the fact that almost as soon as Godzilla: King of the Monsters finished filming, Godzilla vs. Kong got started, shows that the studio was quite sure the project was a sure bet.

Based on the fact that 2014's Godzilla saw a domestic opening weekend of just short of $100 million on its way to a half billion dollar global box office, it almost certainly seemed to be the case. Kong: Skull Island didn't do quite as well domestically, but actually outperformed Godzilla internationally, making it another significant hit.

Currently, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is looking at a domestic opening closer to that of Kong: Skull Island, which might mean it won't be quite the massive hit that the first Godzilla was, but it will almost certainly still bring in strong international numbers and be a financially successful movie.

By the same token, Godzilla vs. Kong seems destined to be a success. It's one of the most epic battles in cinematic history and it's one that audiences haven't seen in decades.

The films have been so successful that it seems highly unlikely that we've seen the end of them. While we have no idea what is planned after Godzilla vs. Kong, there's a good chance we will see something. We haven't even seen Mechagodzilla yet.

How Many Dune Movies Could Denis Villeneuve Potentially Make?

How Many Dune Movies Could Denis Villeneuve Potentially Make?

Warning: The following contains some SPOILERS for Frank Herbert’s Dune novels!

With fingers tightly crossed that there won’t be any delays, next year will see the release of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. The Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and Sicario filmmaker has become one of the industry’s most exciting directors, telling bold and visually striking stories each time out, and he has put together an incredible cast to bring Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 sci-fi novel to the big screen for the first time since David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation.

A talented, Oscar-nominated filmmaker working with a talented cast to bring a beloved story to life is exciting in its own right, but there may be a lot more reason to get invested in Dune beyond merely next year’s movie. Dune could be the start of something that extends well past 2020.

That’s because Dune is not intended as just a one-off in the way other modern science fiction movies like Arrival, Interstellar or Looper were. Dune is meant to be the beginning of at least a 2-part series based on the property, which has an abundance of expansive source material. Which raises the question, how many Dune movies could Denis Villeneuve potentially make?

For a while now it has been said that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is being envisioned as a 2-parter. The first movie will cover approximately the first half of Frank Herbert’s novel with the second movie covering the second half. It's a 2-movie model akin to the cinematic adaptations of other beloved novels like The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and IT.

This approach makes sense so as to not shortchange the story. Dune is an expansive novel, and while David Lynch’s film covers the whole book, it is not an especially faithful adaptation. In contrast, the Dune mini-series on the then-Sci-fi Channel was a 3 episode, 4 hour and 25 minute telling of the story. Frank Herbert’s novel is extremely complex with tons of characters and moving pieces, not unlike Game of Thrones. So it is advantageous from a storytelling perspective to give the novel two films to tell the story of Paul Atreides.

However, unlike something like The Lord of the Rings, Dune parts one and two are not filming back to back. They will shoot individually, and presumably the second one getting made will hinge on the success of the first one. I’ve already written about what a financial gamble Dune might be so it’s not impossible that we only get one Denis Villeneuve Dune movie. But let’s air on the side of optimism and assume that Dune is great and a hit, what then? Denis Villeneuve has said that his goal is to make two films, maybe more.

That ‘maybe more’ coda opens up a whole range of possibilities where two films could give way to an entire series and franchise. Dune can be like Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope in terms of franchise potential; only here the story for more films already exists. Frank Herbert wrote six mainline Dune books before his death in 1986: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune.

What starts as a hero’s journey to avenge his family, free his people and overthrow an evil empire morphs over time into a metaphysical family saga, rife with political intrigue and religious elements that is interstellar in scope, taking place over literally thousands of years. If Dune is Robert’s Rebellion against the Mad King, the rest of the series is A Song of Ice and Fire, what comes after happily ever after. And things get weird too; we’re talking half-human, half giant sandworm weird.

The series is considered to waver in quality from title to title, and there is a major question of ‘filmability’ with parts of the Dune saga and how well this challenging material will land with mass audiences, but based on the sheer amount of story from Frank Herbert’s six novels alone, Denis Villeneuve could do at least a few more movies after the Dune two-parter.

The most obvious way for this series to be adapted would be to only focus on the first three novels, Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Those three novels take place in the same basic time period and follow many of the same characters. After that, there are massive time jumps. If that approach were taken, the series would theoretically require at least four movies, two for the first book and one each for the other two, unless somehow Messiah and Children were combined into one to form a tidy trilogy.

Only after those would it make sense to dig into the other novels. If it's successful, the mythology is dense enough to extend out even beyond Frank Herbert’s books. The author died after Chapterhouse: Dune and that novel ended with a cliffhanger, leaving some of the series’ story arcs unresolved. So years later, his son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson used Frank Herbert’s notes to complete the saga with Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. If Dune became a full-fledged cinematic series going that far into the story, the films would have to incorporate some elements from these later books, if not adapt them outright to complete the story in a satisfying manner.

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson also wrote several trilogies in the Dune universe with events that take place before Frank Herbert’s work or fit into the timeline of that 6-book narrative. The events of these books could serve as either a prequel series or they could be cherry-picked and elements from them could be added to the main series of films.

Legendary also has the TV rights to Dune, so maybe it could take some of the stories, either by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson or Frank Herbert himself, and put those into television series, to complement the films, similar to what was supposed to happen with The Dark Tower and what is happening with The Kingkiller Chronicle.

A successful franchise is what every company in Hollywood wants, and Dune could be one for Legendary and Warner Bros. Essentially, if the success is there, Denis Villeneuve could basically live in the Dune universe for as long as he wants, becoming for this property what David Yates is for Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts.

That said, how many Dune movies there will be and how many Denis Villeneuve will make may be two separate questions. If Denis Villeneuve makes two films and they are successful, maybe he decides to leave it at that, but Legendary keeps the franchise going with a new director or directors.

A lot is riding, on the success of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, perhaps an entire franchise. So how many Dune movies could Denis Villeneuve potentially make? At least 1, maybe 2 and hopefully a lot more.

Dune opens on November 20, 2020. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the movies heading to theaters this year.

ReelBlend #69: Rocketman Reactions And Our Game Of Thrones Finale Talk

ReelBlend #69: Rocketman Reactions And Our Game Of Thrones Finale Talk

The ReelBlend boys don’t get to record in person all that often. But when we do get together, it’s usually a passionate, energetic – and in this case, expletive-laden – episode of our regular movie-loving podcast.

ReelBlend #69 was recorded earlier this week while Sean, Jake and Kevin were together in London covering Dark Phoenix and Rocketman. Press play above and enjoy one of our liveliest episodes to date.

The episode starts with reviews, and we had two this week, from far corners of the globe. We LOVE hearing from listeners, and encourage anyone to drop us a review at ReelBlend@CinemaBlend.com. Gabe will make sure that we read them on the show.

The latest trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood dropped right before the guys started recording, so that became a hot topic of conversation.

But the biggest conversation this week was reserved for the Game of Thrones finale, which Kevin and Jake watched at 2 am London time in a bar/theater filled with GOT fans. They share that story, then the three guys get into an analysis of the finale, of the show in general, and how it stands up as one of the greatest TV shows of all time.

We know this is a movie podcast, so the guys eventually get around to reviewing Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart, and sharing stories from the Rocketman and Dark Phoenix junkets. Also, Jake says that Avengers: Endgame won’t make his year-end Top 10, and that breaks Sean’s brain.

ReelBlend is a weekly podcast that we do on CinemaBlend. You can download the latest episode (and all of our past episodes) for FREE on our iTunes page! Visit. Subscribe. Like and comment. Review! Apple loves when you have star ratings and reviews, so if you listened, and you liked it (or even if you didn't), let us know. We also are on Spotify. And Google Play. And basically everywhere that you download podcasts. So download us.

Meanwhile, follow the guys on Social Media! We have an official Twitter feed for the show, so follow @ReelBlend. In addition, follow the guys at @Sean_OConnell, @JakesTakesand @KevinMcCarthyTV.

Zachary Levi Feels Like He Needs To Apologize For All The Shazam! Advertising

Zachary Levi Feels Like He Needs To Apologize For All The Shazam! Advertising

Zachary Levi is everywhere right now, and he's sorry. Kinda. The Shazam! star is clearly thrilled, but also humbled and a bit embarrassed at the massive marketing campaign for his DC movie. He is the face of the movie, and that face has been on billboards all over the place. Levi joked that it's a bit much, even to him:

It's a little abrasive, actually. I'm so unbelievably impressed by Warner Bros.' and New Line's promotional campaign. Like, I am everywhere, to the point where I feel like I have to apologize to people. Now I'm sorry. It was one thing when I was in a lot of places, and now it's like people can't go by a bus stop without being like, 'There's Zach, chewing bubblegum again.' So I apologize to anyone this is becoming ridiculous to.

No apology necessary. Shazam! seems to have a lot of supporters out there, and Zachary Levi's enthusiasm is infectious. He shared his advertising apology with ET on the red carpet of his movie's big Hollywood premiere.

Just last week, Zachary Levi pointed to himself in a gigantic ad in New York City. He seemed pretty happy about that, feeling like he finally made it.

He shared more of his gratitude and humility on Instagram, sharing photos from the Shazam! premiere.

As he wrote in part of that very candid post:

Truth is, I nearly gave up on the whole damn thing. Because of some bad programming I received as a kid, and despite the incredible jobs that I had been a part of, I still felt like a failure. That I had not, and would not, accomplish what I always thought I could or would or should. And then, perhaps in my darkest dark, I was able to save my own life thru the love and support and my friends and family, and the help of incredible professionals who took my hand and gently walked me back to understanding and loving myself, perhaps for the first time in my entire life. There is not a doubt in my mind that I was only standing on that red carpet last night BECAUSE I first learned to love myself while standing OFF of it.

Wow. Good for him. This has to be such an exciting time for Zachary Levi, and the whole cast and crew.

Shazam! officially opens next Friday, April 5, but it already screened for critics and some lucky fans at preview screenings. Those early screenings actually made more money than the previews for DC's Aquaman. Critics have raved about the movie, which currently has a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

So far, the ride seems to be pretty smooth for Zachary Levi and Warner Bros./DC in the wake of Aquaman's $1 billion hit -- and also in the sandwich between Marvel's Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame. There doesn't seem to be much pressure on Shazam! to do anything more than it's already doing. However, the whole team would clearly love to come back and do this again in Shazam! 2, and that's going to take a strong box office showing. We'll see. Here's what else is headed to theaters as busy 2019 continues.