"Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed," the last two film adaptations of EL James' hit book series, will be filmed back-to-back following pre-production delays.
According to The Wrap, James Foley, who took on the director's role after Sam Taylor-Johnson bowed out from production, will direct both films. Production of the last two parts of the "Fifty Shades" film series is set to begin early 2016.
Joining Foley as a newbie to the production team is Niall Leonard, husband of EL James, as the new screenwriter. "Fifty Shades of Grey" scriptwriter Kelly Marcel turned down writing the next two sequels after she got disappointed with how the first film turned out so different from how she had written it, The Guardian reported.
Marcel revealed that she felt dejected when the author of the "Fifty Shades" book series wanted all the dialogues from the books to be retained in the movie. This led to speculations that this is one reason why the second film is having too many delays during its pre-production stage. The first director and scriptwriter left and Universal had to find replacements.
With the onslaught of pre-production delays for "Fifty Shades Darker," filming the two remaining sequels nonstop could be the producers' way to make up for lost time. Universal Pictures will release both films while Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti are still producing, alongside author James.
Anastasia Steele will still be played by Dakota Johnson and Christian Grey by Jamie Dornan. In recent weeks the actor became the subject of rumors and was said to have contributed to pre-production delays as well.
"Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" still have characters without cast actors yet. The people behind the production already said that the final cast for the film will be revealed right before production starts in 2016.
If things go as planned, "Fifty Shades Darker" will be shown in cinemas on Feb. 10, 2017 and "Fifty Shades Freed" will be released on Feb. 9, 2018.
