One of the biggest movies of next year is going to be Fifty Shades of Grey, Universal’s adaptation of the runaway bestseller by E.L. James, and now the first trailer for the R-rated romance has arrived, providing an exciting and surprisingly engrossing first look at the film.
Set to a stripped-down rendition of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love,” the trailer opens with timid college student Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) meeting mysterious business magnate Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) for the first time. Immediately, she’s intimidated by him but also intrigued. As their relationship continues and turns romantic, she soon finds herself exploring forbidden, passionate territory with the emotionally aloof Christian.
Though this trailer stays relatively tame as far as the kinkier aspects of their sex life goes, fans of James’ book (which has been criticized by some as “mommy porn” for its explicit content) know full well what to expect when the movie opens next February. And the trailer baits them, providing glimpses of the BDSM room in Christian’s home in which Anastasia and her lover end up spending an awful amount of time.
All eyes are on Johnson and Dornan right now to see how they’ll step into the lead roles of Anastasia and Christian, respectively. Luckily, this first trailer makes both appear well-cast. Fifty Shades of Grey also looks visually impressive, thanks to director Sam Taylor-Johnson. Whether the helmer and screenwriter Kelly Marcel have come up with an effective way to transfer James’ steamy premise to the big screen, however, remains to be seen.
In addition to Johnson as Anastasia and Dornan as Christian, Fifty Shades of Grey stars Luke Grimes as Elliot, Christian’s brother; Victor Rasuk as José, Anastasia’s close friend; Eloise Mumford as Kate, Anastasia’s best friend and roommate; Marcia Gay Harden as Dr. Grace Trevelyan Grey, Christian’s mother; Rita Ora as Mia, Christian’s sister; Max Martini as Taylor, Christian’s bodyguard; Callum Keith Rennie as Ray, Anastasia’s stepfather; Jennifer Ehle as Carla, Anastasia’s mother; and Dylan Neal as Bob, Carla’s husband.
Fifty Shades of Grey opens February 13th, 2015.