'Fifty Shades': What Changed From Book to Screen?
By Kerrie Mitchell and Breanne L. Heldman
Reviews of the S&M drama Fifty Shades of Grey suggest that the many lustful fans of E.L. James’ novel will be pleased with the adaptation. The romance between charismatic yet controlling billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and naive recent college grad Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) stays pretty faithful to the book’s plot — or at least, what little plot exists in a story that’s largely about whether or not a girl will sign some salacious paperwork. But there were some key changes made in the lascivious leap to the big-screen. Here are some of the more noticeable ones — and a warning: Spoilers definitely to follow.
Related: Fifty Thoughts We Had While Watching 'Fifty Shades of Grey'
Sexy Times
Dedicated fans are already aware that some infamous scenes from the novel aren’t in the R-rated movie, including that gynecologically frank tampon removal. Overall, the sex scenes in the movie are less frequent and less explicit: Christian and Anastasia don’t retire to his hotel room in Savannah in the movie as they do in the book, they don’t have sex in his parent’s boat house, and we don’t see some of the more exotic toys in Christian’s playroom. Also, the on-screen nudity was obviously meticulously choreographed to secure that R rating: Dakota Johnson is frequently topless, but carefully posed. And for someone playing such a dedicated sex god, Jamie Dornan sure keeps his pants on a lot; audiences get only the briefest flash of Jamie’s jewels.
Anastasia’s Employment
In the book, readers get an introduction to Anastasia’s new job at an independent publishing house run by her new boss, Jack Hyde. Hyde figures much more heavily in the two Fifty Shades sequels, but suffice it to say, Ana’s initial vibes about the dude are not good. In the movie, we get no Hyde, and no hint of Ana’s employment goals. Then again, Christian also seems disinterested in his own job — which is odd, considering how frequently we’re reminded of his business prowess.
Watch Sam Taylor-Johnson and E.L. James talk about the changes in the movie:
Food Fights
In the book, the subject of Ana’s appetite becomes a frequent sticking point between her and Christian: He’s fixated on her food intake, and she’s frequently not hungry. (Though she still makes a romantic breakfast on the morning after!) The movie dispenses with a lot of that, perhaps because it makes Christian’s controlling tendencies seem more than a little off-kilter. The movie also takes two key scenes from the book out of restaurants: When Christian’s driving Anastasia back to Vancouver, they stop for a walk in the woods, while in the book they stop at a French restaurant for a dinner that she clearly doesn’t want.
In an even bigger switch, the movie combines all of the novel’s dom-sub contract negotiations into one sit-down meeting, eliminating one important scene that James set at a fancy restaurant where Christian introduces Anastasia to oysters, and where she suggestively sucks on an asparagus stalk. (blessedly, audiences are spared that in the film). Instead, we get one of the movie’s most delightful creations: The sly, funny and ultimately chaste scene in Christian’s boardroom as Anastasia strikes point after point from the agreement before leaving a hot-and-bothered Christian behind with a peck on the cheek.
Watch the team talk about their favorite days on set:
The Inner Goddess is Dead
All those repetitious comments Anastasia makes in her head in the book — from references to her “inner goddess” dancing like a cheerleader to exclamations like “argh!” and “oh my!” — are gone, gone, gone. We might write director Sam Taylor-Johnson a thank-you note.
That Ending
The ending of the movie is mostly faithful to the book: Anastasia asks for the worst of Christian’s punishment, is horrified by the whipping she receives, and promptly breaks up with him. The novel, for the record, goes on a little longer than the movie and follows Anastasia back to her place, while the film ends at his apartment’s elevator door, offering a neat visual symmetry with their first meeting in his office.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that E.L. James nixed a moment when Ana would’ve stopped Christian as he pursued her to the elevator with “Red!”, their S&M safe word. It certainly would’ve provided a flash of wit in the final seconds. In the movie, she merely says “Stop!”, which even the most vanilla viewers will know is a pretty boring safe word.
Image credit: AP Photo/Universal Pictures and Focus Features
