How much sex can 50 Shades of Grey movie get away with?

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s adaptation of the ‘50 Shades of Grey’ trilogy of erotic novels will have an incredibly delicate balancing act to perform when it is released in 2015. The books are filled with kinky sex, ‘vanilla’ sex and graphic detail of orgasms, spanking and experimentation with all manner of sex toys. It has been declared that the film’s producers will be aiming for an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

This means that children under the age of 17 will be required to be accompanied by an adult if they wish to see the film. The only higher rating is the NC-17 which states that no one under 17 will be admitted, much like our BBFC 18 rating over here. It is often considered a box office kiss of death but perhaps ‘50 Shades of Grey’ should only be viewed by adults and not anyone below the age of 17 anyway. I wonder how they will handle the book’s many sex scenes on film.

Target audience

My first question is who the producers of the film version are targeting with their adaptation. Obviously they will want to attract everyone who has read the books and hopefully many more to come and see the film in cinemas. This will likely be mostly women and particularly, I hope, women who are old enough to know a thing or two about sex and healthy relationships before they get bowled over by Mr Christian Grey and his dominating ways. As a man who has read the books, it would worry me that young girls would be reading or watching a story about a man who is very controlling, sexually deviant but also then in many other ways, the definition of a perfect man.

The release date

The ‘50 Shades of Grey’ movie is slated for February 13 release date in 2015 and this canny distribution technique will ensure that ladies are dragging along their significant others to the cinema as a romantic Valentines evening. What I wonder is how women are going to find all the nudity and sex on screen. I hope it is not sexist to say that I suspect that men are far more likely to have seen hours and hours (or at least minutes and minutes) of porn during their lives but women are probably less likely to be used to seeing such brazen amounts of sex on the big screen. If the film is as detailed as the book, then there is no way they will get away with an R rating and if it is not, will it be a disappointment to male and female fans of the book?

Nudity

I guess the recently confirmed stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson know exactly what they are getting into and will have scoured their contracts for the fine details of what will be expected of them. While Jamie Dornan is no stranger to prancing around in pants for Calvin Klein, Dakota Johnson seems to be a bit more new to the nudity in public game. Perhaps this will add to that innocent air of her character Anastasia and perhaps it is instead a sign that the sex scenes in the ‘50 Shades’ movie will be disappointingly coy.

How far do you want them to go with the sex scenes in the ‘50 Shades’ movies?

Pete is an avid reader but had never wallowed in the kinds of filth he found in ‘50 Shades of Grey’ before. He cannot wait to see how Hollywood handles the sex scenes in the movie versions of the trilogy. Follow Pete on Twitter or check out his film and TV blog: I Love That Film.