Has it lived up to your expectations so far? I don’t know, I was expecting Christian to be, you know, a bit bigger.

By now everyone and their mother has seen the first official photos of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan posing as their characters in Fifty Shades of Grey (click here for my review of this literary masterpiece). Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey are pictured with the tie and biting their lip in various poses. He broods. She is wide eyed and innocent. He is suited up. She wears Baby Gap circa 2004. Perfect.

Charlie Hunnam made a hasty exit not too long after he was announced as the movie’s leading man, and the studio had to scramble for a replacement. Dornan is obviously not Hunnam. Dornan has a gorgeous face but he’s not nearly as muscular. I always imagined Christian as being physically intimidating. Dornan is lean and model-y. He told Entertainment Weekly, “I’ve never felt that Christian needs to be some kind of monster, but I think it’s very clear how he conditions himself and looks after himself. I take decent enough care of myself anyway, so obviously I’m gonna up it slightly with training, but we don’t have any intention to really bulk up. I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

Whatever. But let’s keep in mind that the novel began as Twilight fan fiction. So the author, E.L. James was probably imagining Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart as Christian and Anastasia. Dornan (who’s also British) definitely looks more similar to Pattinson. Funny enough, when the two leads were first announced, some fans were petitioning for Alexis Bledel to replace Johnson. With the dark hair and blue eyes, Johnson looks a lot like Bledel on EW’s cover.

Production has begun, and Johnson and Dornan seem like a good combination. But will they live up to the amazing chemistry Hunnam was raving about in his press conference? Based on blurry pictures of the café scene so far, the two look like a good enough match. Here’s hoping for an official clip at Comic Con this summer.

The release date has been bumped back to Valentine’s Day 2015 since Hunnam dropped out. February is a dead month to release movies. But Focus Features can bank on a cult following and branch out the franchise into sex toys. Most recently, James has helped design a line of lingerie, which is sold exclusively in Sweden. Screw you, Sweden.

#fiftyshadesofgrey #novel #book #bestseller #christiangrey #anasteele #character #adaptation #movie #film #critic #review #trailer #teaser #promo #nude #naked #sm #sadomasochism #whips #chains #sex #sexy #sexscene #hot #actor #actress #jamiedornan #calvinklein #dakotajohnson #entertainmentweekly #official #exclusive #gossip #magazine #photoshoot #interview