While we are still about 11 months away from the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s adaptation of E.L. James’ best-selling book, today we got an early look at what we can expect from the kinky romance movie. During a presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this morning, Universal Pictures debuted the first ever footage from the highly anticipated film, showing off multiple memorable scenes from the original text. Want to know about Ana’s arrival at Christian’s building, their first meeting, the male lead’s "singular" tastes and even some bedroom details? Read our play-by-play coverage below!
Cut like a trailer instead of a collection of various sequences, the Fifty Shades of Grey footage began with an aerial look at the city of Vancouver, Washington followed by a shot of Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) craning her neck up at a tall skyscraper where she is about to meet Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) for the first time. Meeting in his office, the two leads seem to share an immediate spark, and we hear a voice-over of Ana describing the man as smart and intense.
Ana is then shown talking to her mother, Carla (Jennifer Ehle), on the phone, and Carla is immediately aware that her daughter has found someone. From there we see a montage of scenes that include Ana bumping into Christian at a hardware store, a photo shoot, the couple taking a helicopter ride, and sharing a kiss on an elevator.
Things seem very light and romantic, but the tone starts to shift as Ana’s friend Kate (Eloise Mumford) issues a warning about Christian, and in voice-over we hear the romantic interest talking about how his "tastes are very singular." Ana expresses concern that she can’t be with him the way he wants her to be, and we see a shot of Christian unlocking a door. The footage ends with some dialogue, Ana asking her beau why he is trying to change her, and he replies, "You are the one who is changing me.
If you’re looking for me to give you some intimate details about kinky sex and BDSM between the male and female leads shown in the Fifty Shades of Grey footage, then I’m afraid you’re going to be a little bit disappointed. While the movie promises to be filled with all kinds of taboo carnal relations, what was shown in the clips was very PG-rated (they didn’t even mention the word "sex.") Of course, there was plenty of innuendo and suggestion of Christian Grey’s habits behind locked doors, but none of it was explicitly shown. The closest it came to showing anything even remotely R-rated was Ana tied to a bed with a blindfold on, but even that shot lasted only about half a second.
Because of the way the footage was cut, I find myself wondering if what we got to see was actually a prototype green band trailer. The film won’t be out in theaters until Valentine’s Day next year, but given that we already have a teaser poster for the movie it’s pretty clear that the studio is looking to get the word out about Fifty Shades of Grey months in advance. Of course, this is only a theory, but stay tuned in the coming months and for more about the movie be sure to check out our What We Know So Far guide!
