Fans react to the ’Fifty Shades of Grey’ casting

Yesterday, Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James announced to the world that the two main roles had been officially cast in the film adaption of the first of her best-selling book trilogy. Tortured millionaire Christian Grey will be portrayed by Sons of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam, while his seemingly innocent companion Anastasia Steele will be played by Dakota Johnson, the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith.

Now that fans, and those sitting on the fence of fandom, have had an opportunity to take everything in, we are starting to see the fan reactions pour in, and from what I have read, a number of them are less than positive.

Now, not everyone is disappointed by the casting decisions. In fact, there are some people that are downright happy with the decisions, at least the casting of Charlie Hunnam as the title character.

However, a great number of fans feel as if The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder or White Collar‘s Matt Bomer were the sure fire choices for the role.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge Sons of Anarchy fan, and I love Charlie Hunnam as much as the next person, but I can’t tell you with a straight look on my face that he is who I pictured as Christian Grey. At the same time, Dakota Johnson is not exactly who I pictured as the seemingly mild mannered Anastasia.

As the old saying goes, you can’t make everyone happy 100% of the time.

E.L. James seems to be taking the whole thing in stride. Shortly after the casting choices were announced, she posted this to her Twitter account.

Personally, I am glad that she is taking everything for what it is, the opinions of a rabidly dedicated fanbase.

My only question is this; With the opinions of fans and those new to the book series alike, will these casting choices positively or negatively impact the overall box office performance of the racy franchise? What do you think?

Fifty Shades of Grey is schedule to hit theaters on August 1st, 2014.