Considering the noxious amount of rumors surrounding the upcoming adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, we’ve done our best to steer clear of all of the unfounded coverage, but a new, legitimate update has our attention. While we imagined this series would more or less fall into the trappings of the material its loosely based on, Twilight, The Wrap reports on a top-notch filmmaker that’s interested in the gig.
According to the trade, Gus Van Sant recently shot a test scene for the film, without Universal’s approval. With Magic Mike‘s Alex Pettyfer playing the male lead of Christian Grey and an unnamed actress as female Anastasia Steele, the scene was reportedly when the former character take the latter character’s virginity — riveting, highbrow stuff.
While neither Sant or Pettyfer are formally attached in anyway to the project, it seems like a gig that the director clearly wants and he’s leaving his schedule open to do so following last year’s Promised Land. Universal and Focus Features are hoping to to get an adaptation of EL James‘ novel into theaters by next summer, so we could expect news on a formal attachment soon, as soon as Kelly Marcel finishes the script. As of now, we’d be intrigued to see if Sant can elevate this source material and as he usually does in his career, it would be another unexpected turn.
Do you want to see Sant and Pettyfer team for Fifty Shades of Grey?