Tag Archives: Dana Brunetti

Cinematic Language Doesn’t Have To Be Explicit

  By admin | Fifty Shades of Grey Movie, Producer
Leave a comment
Michael_De_Luca

Michael De Luca

At CinemaCon in Las Vegas Universal’s Chairman Adam Fogelson discussed the model of movies and DVD’s.  The article in The Hollywood Reporter is interesting if you’re interested in the industry.

What I found more interesting was the comment by Michael De Luca:

On the subject of adult movies, panelist Michael De Luca addressed his planned film based on E.L. James’ best-seller Fifty Shades of Grey. Reminding the crowd “that the movie will be different from the book,” the producer said, “The book is literal by design. … The cinematic language doesn’t have to be explicit.”

So, what does this mean? We’ll have to wait another year or so to find out, but I’ll speculate.

Yes, there will be sex in the film.  Will you see anything close to what’s in porn?  NO, you’ll see sex more like you see sex in other main stream films.  Key body parts covered, side angles, close ups of faces, hands, etc.  We might get some partial nudity, but not nudity for the sake of nudity.

The challenge is in showing the Playroom in a non-threatening way.  Or seeing it through Ana’s eyes.  Spanish Inquisition to Thomas Tallis to the belt at the end.  There’s a lot more to the Red Room of Pain then some sex toys. The room itself and what goes on inside will be a challenge at times.

I think this is also an indication that the producers are trying to step up the game of the romance movie.  Take it to a new level, without it being just about sex or just about the romance.  A better blending of the two then you’ve seen in the past.  Feeling the sexual tension instead of just watching it unfold.

In a book the author can tell you what you need to know, a great author makes you feel it.  A good movie shows you the sex.  In Fifty Shades of Grey I think we’ll feel the sex.

This is, I think the point and the goal with this movie.  From what I’ve seen of the films that Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti have made, they like to make really good movies, not cookie cutter movies.  They like to work outside the box and this film will force them to continue to do that.

Crissy

 

What is E L James up to in LA?

  By admin | Casting, Director, E L James, E L James Events, E L James Interview, Producer, Screenwriter, Team 50
1 Comment

With E L James in Los Angeles since this weekend there has been a lot of buzz about what she’s been doing. Most of it is speculation regarding what she’s been tweeting.  Here is a review:

Erika came in to LA on Friday and didn’t waste any time seeing Kelly Marcel (screenwriter) and perhaps picking up some interesting reading material.  She’s also been out with the producers Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, even got to ride is Dana’s Tesla!

Screen Shot 2013-02-27 at 3.12.55 AM

 

Screen Shot 2013-02-27 at 3.14.09 AM

Screen Shot 2013-02-27 at 3.14.44 AM

 

So, the band is back together, what fabulous news.  But the question is what are they discussing.  The only thing tweeted about her seeing Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca has been regarding social events.  While I’m sure Fifty probably came up, I doubt they were discussing the script, actors or directors in public.  Dana Brunetti also flew out of LA over the weekend and hasn’t said he’s back.  But he did tweet about meeting Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.  Hmm, maybe he’s working on the soundtrack.  JOKING!

Back to EL James, on Tuesday she spent he day with Kelly Marcel and burned the evidence.

Screen Shot 2013-02-27 at 3.16.48 AM

I guess the script isn’t done yet, but it’s getting there… While the timing of this trip may have been about the Oscars, this is definitely a working trip too.

As for the Oscars, apparently Erika was chatty at the Vanity Faire party.  As Mags mentioned on Tuesday, she said her next book will be less raunchy and she’ll be using a pseudonym.  WHAT? That’s just crazy!  But she also said that she has a few actors in mind (old news) and that she thinks we’ll be surprised by her choices.

Hmmm, does that mean we should give up on Matt Bomer, Ian Somerhalder or whoever the “favorite” is each day?  I’m not going that far, but I’m sticking with my idea of not getting too attached to anyone.  But several months ago I did predict that Ryan Gosling would get the role and his name has not come up as a “favorite” in a while…  As for Ana, I think it will be a relatively unknown.  Now that would be a surprise name to everyone.

Now that I’ve laid my predictions regarding Christian and Ana onto the internet, we still need the director to be named before we find out who will play Christian and Ana.  We know that Universal/Team50 has been talking with some directors, so it’s likely we’re not looking at a long list anymore, but how short is the list?  At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if they announced the director as E L James gets on a plane back home.  But I think another month or two is more realistic.

Finally Erika ended her day with some Twilight:

Screen Shot 2013-02-27 at 7.21.41 AM

Crissy

Dana Brunetti and Moneyball

  By admin | Producer
Leave a comment

I’m a sucker for an inspirational sports movie, I’ve been known to cry at the end of them.  Miracle is my favorite.  It’s a wonder it took me so long to watch Moneyball.  Not only is it a highly talked about movie, and well regarded film.  It is also produced by Dana Brunetti.  For those of you who might be behind on the news, Dana Brunetti and Michael DeLuca are producing Fifty Shades of Grey.

I guess the first question I should be answering is, what exactly is a film producer?  From Wikipedia, “A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to the film studio or other financing entity, while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film.”  Basically, they are responsible for the film and can farm out as much or as little of the work as they would like.  They create the concept of the film, and choose the screenwriters, directors, actors, etc for the film that they think will make that concept come to life.

I thought Moneyball was well produced.  I’ll admit, I didn’t read the book.  I like a sports movie, but I enjoy a romance novel.  But I did a little research and yes, they did deviate from the actual events when making the movie.  For example, Billy Bean and Art Howe didn’t have the best relationship; but, it did not revolve around the roster.  And well Pena, was already playing minor league ball when he was traded.  But, if you’ve seen the movie, you can see that those adaptations were made to increase the tension of the movie.

One thing that irritates when movies are produced from books or real life is when things are changed unnecessarily.  I’m sure, the writer or producer had a reason, but if it’s not obvious to the viewer then it didn’t work.  There’s plenty of times I’ve watched movies and said, hey, that’s not how it happened, and then realized that the change made the film cinematic.  And after my few minutes of whining to myself I can move on.  Anyway, I’m ok with the changes made even though they’ll annoy a sports fan.

I liked the choice of actors, all the big actors did a convincing job.  I’m kinda used to Brad Pitt as the strong male lead, with a beautiful female lead to challenge him.  This was a change of pace for him, and he worked it.  Jonah Hill as Peter Brand had the right touch of confident but also worried that he was in over his head.

I liked the pace of the movie and although the deleted scenes were interesting, they would have bogged the movie down for the wrong reasons.

It’s an art to pull together a movie that people are going to compare to a book or a real life situation.  Focusing on the goal of the movie, and letting that guide you from scene to scene to create a final product, instead of making everyone happy with every scene is what a producer needs to do. I think in this case Dana Brunetti did an excellent job.

Crissy

NC-17 vs R Rating

  By admin | Fifty Shades of Grey Movie, Producer, Screenwriter, Team 50
1 Comment

This morning Mags and I got into a discussion about what the rating of the Fifty Shades of Grey film will be.   It was prompted by all this talk that Kelly Marcel said (and she denies saying) that the film will be NC-17.

Back in May when Mags and I did our first interview with MTV the topic of the film rating came up.  NC-17 or R.  At the time I commented that the film would likely be rated R, but that the DVD would have some great deleted scenes.

The Dana Brunetti and Kelly Marcel have said that the MPAA chooses the film ratings, not them.  That’s partly true.  Yes, the MPAA does watch the movie and decide on the rating; but, Team50 will be writing, directing and creating the film they want and they know what is likely to make it as an R rating and what will not.  Also, if the MPAA came back with an NC-17 rating then the film could still be adjusted to make it rated R, if they want. Here’s a list of films that were rated NC-17, many were edited to R ratings.

As for our theories.  Mags is pretty confident it will be rated R, the loss of money from the NC-17 rating she thinks is too big a gamble.

I think the film will be written without too much stress on the rating. Filming and editing will be done with the aim being for an R rating.  If the MPAA comes back with NC-17 and and the only way to get it an R rating is to pull out a scene that is integral to the story, then I think they will go with the NC-17.  I think R is the goal, but NC-17 isn’t off the table either.

Mags and I both agree that there will be DVD options of the R rated theater version and an unrated version.

What do you think they will make and which would you rather see?

Crissy

Fifty Shades of Grey in the Media – YEA for EL James Edition

  By admin | 2012 Awards & Recognition, E L James, Producer, Screenwriter, Team 50
Leave a comment

As I’ve returned from vacation and am recovering from a nasty cold and I thought I would do a round up of the news, they’ll be more to come as I continue to catch up.

Publisher’s Weekly has named E L James their person of the year.  Here’s what they had to say about choosing her, “The level of the success of the 50 Shades trilogy, the speed with which it achieved that success, and the fact that it was launched in an untraditional manner, led us to select its author as the most significant player on the publishing stage this year.”

Dana Brunetti tweeted a picture of Kelly Marcel’s copy of Fifty Shades of Grey – it looks like she’s doing her research.

Goodreads has announced it’s winners for it’s Goodreads Choice Awards.  Congratulations to Erika and Fifty Shades Freed for winning in the romance category!

Crissy

Find us on Twitter: @50Latersbaby

Who is Kelly Marcel?

  By admin | E L James, Fifty Shades of Grey Movie, Screenwriter, Team 50
Leave a comment

Kelly Marcel was chosen at the screenwriter for Fifty Shades of Grey earlier this week.  This sent me on a hunt to learn a bit more about the woman who has a light resume on IMDB.

Kelly is a British born writer who is currently splitting her time between LA and London.  She started out her career with a bit of acting in the 1990′s before giving it up to be a writer.  Since then she has split her time between theater, TV and movies in the roles of writer and executive producer.

One of the more interesting things she’s worked on was Debbie Does Dallas The Musical as the book and lyric writer.  She also started a theater company with Tom Hardy.  Some are speculating that it might fast track Tom Hardy to the role of Christian Grey.  In my uneducated opinion, I would guess this would only be good enough to get him an audition, if he’s even interested.

Kelly wrote the pilot and sold the TV show Terra Nova to Steven Spielberg.  Her biggest name project so far though is the film Saving Mr. Banks. This film is about Walt Disney’s 20 year pursuit of making Mary Poppins into a film, it stars Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and Colin Farrell.  Judging from the accolades of the script and the level of stars in it, this could very well be a big film in 2013.  Sadly, we’ll have to wait until then to find out how well this script was written as it’s only filming right now.  From what I’ve read about the film, it sounds like it has some complex characters dealing with some complex issues.

According to Indiwire, Kelly Marcel has a lot more work going on that’s not included on IMDB: Westerbridge, for Showtime it’s a death row drama.
Trans Alice and Amazing Grace for Channel 4
Valerio is about a legendary Italian Bank Robber
She’s executive producing an HBO show, The Madonnas of Echo Park
She’s writing a secret script of a dark comedy for Ben Stiller

While at first glance Kelly Marcel’s experience seems a bit limited, the more you look the more there is to her.  While we don’t have much to go on, in terms of products that are out for our viewing right now, there is a good mix of work she is involved in.  She’s also been identified as having talent by some big name studios, directors and producers.  A script can make or break a film, right now I have no reason to doubt that Kelly has the ability to do a great job with it, especially with the support of E L James, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca.

Crissy

Find us on Twitter: @50Latersbaby

Screenwriter Kelly Marcel

  By admin | Casting, E L James, Media Articles, Screenwriter, Team 50
Leave a comment

Today, Universal and Focus Features announced the screenwriter for Fifty Shades of Grey movie!  Kelly Marcel:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/fifty-shades-of-grey-the-movie/kelly-marcel-to-write-the-screenplay-to-film-adaptation-of-fifty-shades-of-grey/279946478788697

From the Press Release:

Marcel wrote the 2011 Black List script, Saving Mr. Banks, the story of Walt Disney’s twenty-year pursuit of the film rights to author P.L. Travers’ novel, “Mary Poppins,” and the rocky relationship that formed between the two.  The film is currently in production at Walt Disney Studios starring Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and Colin Farrell with John Lee Hancock directing.  Marcel served as the co-creator and executive producer of the Amblin/FOX-TV series Terra Nova, for which she wrote the series’ pilot episode.  She will also produce The Madonnas Of Echo Park for HBO.

“Kelly’s work demonstrates her flawless structural technique and passionate commitment to emotion, humor and depth of character which is particularly visible in the celebrated screenplay for the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks,” said De Luca.  “We were all taken with the depth and passion of Kelley’s engagement with the characters and world E L James has created and we knew she was the right person to augment our Fifty Shades family,” added Brunetti.
We’ll be working on this in the coming days and see if we can find out a bit more about Kelly Marcel and the type of work she had done, but so far we know she’s worked on Terra Nova.

Yea!

Crissy

Find us on Twitter: @50Latersbaby

Ian Somerhalder headed to LA?

  By admin | Casting, Producer
15 Comments

Thank you to @icebrat515 and @Erikamd81 who last night tweeted that Ian Somerhalder announced at The Vampire Diaries Convention that he will be going to LA next week to meet with the people making the Fifty Shades of Grey movie.  Here is the video on YouTube, just be careful of your ears there may have been a few woman screaming in the audience.

This weekend I started watching The Vampire Diaries and after just 2 episodes I can see why so many people want him.  I’m not quite converted yet, but I’m getting there.

Update:  Today via Twitter Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca are denying meeting with Ian Somerhalder next week.  This means that either Ian was saying it to get the crowd excited.  Or he’s not meeting with Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca but perhaps someone else (someone at Focus Features or maybe just an agent), then everyone is still telling the truth, I am an optimist.

I do believe that Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca are concentrating on a writer and director for the movie, but I don’t think that means they’re not thinking about casting too.  Either way, I don’t think Dana, Michael or EL James are going to comment on casting until someone has actually been cast.  I just hope Ian making those comments don’t hurt his chances of being cast in the film.  With how tight lipped everyone is, I suspect they are looking for people who are going to be equally tight lipped when they are cast.   The good news is that EL James will be back in the US in September, hopefully we’ll hear something before or after her book tour about a writer and director.  I think it will probably be another month or two after that before we hear anything confirmed about casting.

Crissy

Find us on Twitter: @50Latersbaby

A Word From The Producers Of Fifty Shades of Grey

  By admin | Interviews, Producer
6 Comments

Yesterday Dana Brunetti and Michael DeLuca were on CNBC’s Squak Box speaking about the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, you can see the full video over at CNBC.

I’ll let them speak for themselves on this story, but here are some of the highlights:
The film will be rated R and it will be a challenge to make into a movie, just as it was for every other book, play or real story that they have adapted to film.  They called it a beautiful love story, and they indicate that they will emphasize that element of the story.  They also said that they do not have actors lined up and that they are concentrating on getting a writing and directing team together.

Most of that is not new information.  Although we love Christian’s kinky fuckery, I think most people would agree that what we really love about the story is the love story.  I’m reassured by this interview that they will be concentrating on that.  I think going that route it will also have a wider audience, people who are on the fence, or thought the writing was too bad might embrace the story in movie format.  Or maybe I’m just and eternal optimist.

So what do you think about what they had to say?  And what would you like to see in the movies?

Crissy

Find us on Twitter: @50Latersbaby

Fifty Shades of Grey Movie News

  By admin | Media Articles, Screenwriter
8 Comments

If you’re not following Brett Easton Ellis on Twitter, you should.  He’s started asking a lot of questions about what fans would like and not like to see in the movie.  Looks like he’s prepping for a proposal to write the screenplay.  While I was initially a little freaked out by this, I have read the book American Psycho and it makes the movie look like a children’s story, but the more I think about it the more the idea is growing on me.

Just a caution: Dana Brunetti did Tweet that the rumors are just rumors and they’re looking for a writer and director first.

Now on to the latest casting rumors:

There is talk of Emma Watson taking on the role of Ana.  I love Emma, think she’s a great actress, but this is one of those choices that I’m struggling with.  I think she could do it, but it just feels weird to me.
Mark Wright has expressed interest in the role of Christian.  Nope, even after reading who he is I still don’t know who he is.  Ok, he’s a British Reality TV star.  But bottom line he doesn’t have quite the right look to me.Astrochick has a fun article, I guess about what the stars are saying, about who will be cast in the movie. They are saying Ryan Gosling and Katie Cassidy.

Celebuzz reports William Levy is intersted in the role of Christian.

How about Sasha Grey from Entourage?

Gather has a story about Emilia Clark (and anyone else you can think of) playing Ana.

The Examiner has a nice mock up of an Entertainment Weekly magazine with Matt Bomer as Christian Grey.  It looks pretty!

Crissy

Find us on Twitter: @50Latersbaby