Jamie Dornan joins Fifty Shades of Grey

After Charlie Hunnam dropped out of the project, we have our new Christian Grey.

Jamie Dornan, best known these days for his role in Once Upon a Time, has been cast as the young billionaire in Fifty Shades of Grey. The 31-year old Irish actor replaces Charlie Hunnam and puts to rest once again the fangirls calling for Matt Bomer. You also may have seen Dornan in the BBC series, The Fall.
He joins Dakota Johnson, who will play Anastasia Steele, in the adaptation of the first installment in the popular book trilogy. The story follows a young college student as she enters a controlling relationship with a troubled, BDSM obsessed billionaire. Dornan was brought in for a screen test on Friday of last week and beat out Billy Magnussen (As the World Turns) for the role.
Now Universal can focus on casting the other supporting characters, such as Anastasia's roommate Kate, which was apparently underway when Hunnam unexpectedly dropped out. Rumor has it that Juno Temple and Frank Grillo have passed on offers to join the project.


Judging from what I see, I think Dornan is a much better choice for Christian Grey. He is more attractive, in my opinion, and fits the character description a lot better. I also think he looks a lot like Henry Cavill who was rumored to have been considered at one time. We will see if Dornan remains attached, though. If the script was really the reason Hunnam dropped out we could potentially see Dornan leave too. We won't know until production starts.

Charlie Hunnam cites creative differences for 50 Shades departure

Previously when it was announced that Charlie Hunnam had dropped out of Fifty Shades of Grey it was due to scheduling difficulties citing that he would not have proper time to juggle Sons of Anarchy with prepping for the film. It seems that the scheduling conflicts were just some of the problem because now the story has changed.

Hunnam now cites creative differences as reasoning for suddenly dropping out of the film after being cast for less than a month. These differences caused him to turn down $125,000 payday, so they must have been pretty strong. It also appears that Hunnam was submitting his own script notes and demanding more script control after his notes were not taken and/or approved.
His departure has created a lot of problems with the filming schedule. The studio is frantically trying to find a new Christian Grey so they can make the November 1st start to principle photography and still release the film on August 1, 2014. It is notable to mention that Dakota Johnson is still set to play Anastasia Steele and the current frontrunners for Christian Grey are Jamie Dorner, Christian Cooke, and Alexander Skarsgard. The studio is confident they can still make the release date, but they may be forced to delay production a week or so while the casting search continues.
Whoever is cast must prepare for the sudden fandom. It is also suspected that the fandom added to Hunnam's decision to leave the project. He already had to hire extra security for his Sons of Anarchy appearances and has had to cancel appearances already. Allow me to repeat that he had only been cast less than a month and already that was happening.

If all goes according to plan, Fifty Shades of Grey will be released on August 1, 2014. It is to be directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson.

Replacements for Charlie Hunnam rumored for Fifty Shades of Grey

Since news broke of Charlie Hunnam dropping out of Fifty Shades of Grey the internet has been buzzing about who will replace him. And of course the calls and demands for Matt Bomer have come back in full force.
We now have new rumors that Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) and Jamie Dornan (The Fall). The studio is also exploring former options such as Theo James (Divergent) and Christian Cooke (Magic City). Previously rumored was Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy), but he is officially out of the running due to scheduling conflicts.

In addition to the casting crunch, director Sam Taylor-Johnson has hired Patrick Marber to do a final rewrite of the script. It is guessed that this rewrite will occur to polish the script to whoever is re-cast as Christian Grey.

Either way a replacement for Hunnam needs to be locked down fast or else the release date may not happen. The current release date for Fifty Shades of Grey is August 1, 2014. Production was supposed to start later this month so we will see how this one goes. My guess is they are going to have to push this one back a couple months so they can find a replacement and allow them to fully prepare for everything. Out of the above choices I think I would pick Alexander Skarsgard due to his overall physical appearance, but at the same time I don't want it because he has a promising career. Whoever is cast in this movie will see their career get flushed down the toilet.