With Fifty Shades Of Grey out now, let’s take a look at 25 things you probably didn’t
know about the big-screen version of E.L.
James’s erotic novel!
In order to keep the Fifty Shades Of Grey script top-secret, during early auditions,
actors were asked to prepare a scene from another film.
Jamie Dornan, who plays Christian Grey, chose a scene from the 90s movie True Romance, which
was written by Quentin Tarantino.
For her Fifty Shades audition, Dakota Johnson read a four-page monologue from the 60s psychological
drama Persona, which was written and directed by Ingmar Bergman.
Johnson’s performance of this particular piece allowed the filmmakers to see she was
capable of bringing to life Ana’s emotional journey in Fifty Shades Of Grey.
Jamie Dornan has said the scene he most enjoyed filming was the first time that Christian
and Ana meet, which the filmmakers shot over two days.
To help them develop a believable mother-daughter bond, Dakota Johnson, who plays Ana, and Jennifer
Ehle, who plays Ana’s mother, would chat on the phone while Johnson was on set and
Ehle was at home.
The actresses found this particularly helpful as most of Ana and her mother’s communication
takes place over the phone.
Fifty Shades Of Grey was shot in the Canadian city of Vancouver, which doubled for the book’s
setting in the US cities of Seattle and Vancouver in Washington State, and Portland, Oregon.
And although the story is set in summer, filming actually took place in winter.
The filmmakers kept the details of what they were filming and where as quiet as possible.
They did this to avoid roads and streets becoming crowded with onlookers which could have led
to expensive delays to their tight production schedule.
Use of the title Fifty Shades Of Grey was banned on set and in any correspondence or
printed materials connected with the film.
Instead, the crew used the fake name The Adventure Of Max And Banks.
Max is the name of EL James’s dog, and Banks is the name of screenwriter Kelly Marcel’s
puppy.
There were 55 locations in the movie’s final shooting schedule.
The Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver, Canada, doubled for the Heathman Hotel in Portland, Oregon,
while the University of British Columbia stood in for Washington State University.
Ana and Christian’s first date at a coffee shop was filmed in the Gastown district of
Vancouver, Canada, which doubled for Portland.
Ladner Village Hardware, which is located in a small town about 45 minutes from Vancouver,
was chosen to represent Clayton’s Hardware Store, where Ana works while in college.
When production designer David Wasco first met with director Sam Taylor-Johnson, the
pair discovered they’d each, independently, chosen the same photograph as a reference
shot for the tone and look of Fifty Shades Of Grey.
The photograph was by fashion photographer Helmut Newton, from his book White Women.
Author E.L.
James drew a floor plan of Christian’s penthouse to help production designer David Wasco get
to grips with the layout of Christian’s home in the Fifty Shades trilogy.
Two Vancouver houses built a quarter of a mile apart for entrepreneurial brothers in
the 1920s feature in the film.
To make sure they gave the homes the right look for the story’s setting, the movie’s
design team researched upper-end Seattle homes.
One of the Vancouver homes was used for the exterior of Christian’s family residence,
as well as its foyer and dining room.
While the second home was used for its glass-enclosed swimming pool, which appears instead of the
book’s boathouse.
Sets were built for Christian’s penthouse including the living room, kitchen, dining
room, his bedroom, Ana’s bedroom, and, of course, the Red Room.
They concealed the sets by building them on stages so preventing people from seeing them.
The whole build covered three stages.
To create the look of Christian’s penthouse, the filmmakers used as a point of reference
the work of architects including Norman Foster, John Parson, and Hugh Newell Jacobsen.
Thanks to her background as an artist, director Sam Taylor-Johnson was able to secure paintings
by artists including Ed Ruscha and John Baldessari to display in the offices of Christian Grey.
The work of many other artists also appears in the film, as does one of the director’s
own pieces.
The most challenging and revealing scenes between Christian and Ana were kept till the
end of the shoot.
So, the scenes in Christian’s infamous Red Room were shot during the last two weeks of
filming.
Dakota Johnson wanted her reaction to the Red Room to be as genuine as possible, so
the very first time she saw it was when her character Ana sees it for the first time in
the movie.
To heighten the impact of the Red Room, the filmmakers limited the use of red and black
in the movie, except for graduation gowns at Washington State University’s graduation
ceremony.
To make sure they got the look of the Red Room just right, production designer and set
decorator David and Sandy Wasco consulted the experts, in other words, dominatrices
with Christian Grey-type clients.
One of the things they discovered was that leather is the best floor covering because
of all the kneeling people do.
Author E.L.
James was quite specific about the room’s layout and director Sam Taylor-Johnson was
quite particular about its appearance.
For example, Taylor-Johnson wanted the room to reference high-end stables, so the design
team went for brown leather and wood equipment as opposed to the black often favoured in
such rooms.
Much of the furniture and equipment seen in the Red Room was custom-made in England.
To research his character Christian Grey, Jamie Dornan visited a sex-dungeon to watch
a session between a dominant and a submissive.
A great deal of care was taken over the design of Christian Grey’s clothes.
The filmmakers discussed issues such as the type of cuffs, collars and lapels, the weight
of the fabric, and the amount of patterning.
All but one of the suits worn by Jamie Dornan were handmade, and all his shirts were also
custom-made.
And if there’d been enough time, his footwear would also have been bespoke, but all his
shoes were still top-of-the-line.
Costume designer Mark Bridges was very specific about Christian’s ties, their thickness,
their sturdiness and, of course, how grey they were!
All of Christian’s infamous silver ties were specifically designed and painstakingly
handmade.
Costume designer Mark Bridges designed a peach silk and chiffon dress for Ana which echoes
an iconic dress worn by Faye Dunaway in the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair.
Author E.L.
James set a challenge for the movie’s property master Dan Sissons for the scene where Christian
and Ana share champagne after her graduation.
James showed Sissons a photo of a pair of antique teacups she owns and asked him if
he could find them or something similar for the scene.
The cups are actually over one hundred years old and the company that made them no longer
exists, but Sissons managed to track down six identical cups, which arrived on set just
48 hours after his conversation with James!
Christian Grey has Audi’s latest fleet of cars at his disposal including the R8 sports
car, the S8 sedan cruiser, and the brand new A3, which he gives Ana as a gift.
Although the latest model A3 wasn’t available to buy until after filming ended, the filmmakers
managed to secure it for their shoot.
Christian’s EC130 helicopter, Charlie Tango, is the largest helicopter that may be privately
owned and costs around $2 million!
For the movie, the art department fully customised the EC130 including its graphics so they fit
the designs found elsewhere in Christian’s professional world.
Sam Taylor-Johnson directed the music video for “Earned It”, by Canadian singer-songwriter
The Weeknd, which features in Fifty Shades Of Grey.
The music video features Dakota Johnson and the work of Fifty Shades Of Grey cinematographer
Seamus McGarvey.
Well there you have it, 25 things you probably didn't know about Fifty Shades Of Grey!
Now, tell me, what’s your favourite big-screen adaptation?
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