Those who followed the production of Fifty Shades of Grey know that things got a little tense on set. Not only did stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson fail to get along, but director Sam Taylor-Johnson often squabbled with author E.L. James about every aspect of the film. Johnson hasn't sounded too keen on coming back, especially with James pushing aggressively to handle the sequel's script herself. So it's perhaps not shocking to learn that neither Johnson or writer Kelly Marcel will return for Fifty Shades Darker.
The Wrap confirms the news of Johnson and Marcel's departure, but that's hardly going to slow down Focus Features and Universal who want to capitalize on the first film's $550M haul. Director and author fought over the film's tone with the latter wanting it to more closely resemble the eroticism of her novel. An unrated Blu-Ray version due out in May could be a means of keeping James happy, but she really wants to take over scripting Fifty Shades Darker herself.
So where does this leave things? Dornan and Johnson are under contract to return, so they'll be back whether they get a pay raise or not. What it boils down to is that a new director needs to be found at the very least, which means it could be awhile before anybody re-enters the Red Room of Pain.
