There are myriad opinions out there about the Fifty Shades franchise. The films based on E.L. James' books have quite the devoted following, while critics have been a lot more lukewarm to the movies themselves. And if you ask director Sam Taylor-Johnson how she feels about directing the first movie Fifty Shades of Grey, she'd tell you it was not the highlight of her career. In fact, she bluntly said things were so bad that she wouldn't do the movie again.
With the benefit of hindsight would I go through it again? Of course I wouldn't. I'd be mad. It was a struggle and there were lots of onset tête-à-têtes, with me trying to bat it into the [right] place. I like everyone -- and I get really confused when they don't like me. I was so confused by E.L. James. I don't understand when I can't navigate a person, when there's no synergy.
If you've been keeping tabs on Fifty Shades at all, you may have already known that Sam Taylor-Johnson and E.L. James did not get along, at all. James actually had quite a bit of control over the movies based on her books, thanks to the deal she was able to make due to their popularity, and this led to the writer and the director clashing quite a bit on set. But while Taylor-Johnson has formerly said the fights were "creative fights," she now seems to feel a whole lot more comfortable talking about how bad the experience on Fifty Shades of Grey was.
After making the first movie, Sam Taylor-Johnson promptly quit the franchise, and she just told The Sunday Times that she's so disenchanted with the movies she has no plans to ever watch the two follow-ups Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.
I'm not going to ever watch them. I have literally zero interest.
I personally think that Sam Taylor-Johnson added a little flair to novels that were often rough for me personally to get through. The "eat me, drink me" nod to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other moments added some flair to the movie that I liked. Regardless, clearly the director is so pained about the whole experience that she doesn't even want to go back and watch her own work, much less whatever E.L. James and the director of the sequels James Foley are up to. If things were as out-of-control as Taylor-Johnson seems to be indicating, I can't blame her. Although maybe working on a book made into a movie really isn't a best fit for the director, either.
Following the release of Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed is already schedule for a 2018 release. To find out what is headed into theaters sooner, take a look at our full movies schedule.
