If your computer screen hasn’t defogged since watching the 50 Shades of Grey trailer this morning, you aren’t alone. Fans of E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Grey series could be heard round the world cheering for the sneak peek at the upcoming movie adaptation of the steamy first novel. The movie is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as the lovelorn main characters. At first the trailer reveals a story that is more sweet than steamy, with the “…polite, intense, smart…really intimidating” Christian Grey (Dornan) sweeping mousy and shy Anastasia Steel (Johnson) off her feet with his charm, wit and influence. It isn’t until the end of the trailer when a haunting version of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” is piped in the background and Grey reveals his collection of S&M toys to a timid Steele that things get more intense.
The trailer, which hit the Internet this morning, has already been dropped from Universal because it has been deemed “too hot for TV” regardless of its green-band, general audience approval rating. As perhaps is appropriate for the subject matter, the stars of the movie as well as the musical talent, namely Beyonce, have been dropping little teasing previews of the full trailer for the past few weeks and now that it is here, the Internet is reacting in kind. #fiftyshadesofgrey has been the top trending item on Facebook and Twitter since 8am this morning and shows no signs of slowing down. The immensely popular series is essentially a bondage-centric bit of Twilight fan fiction that became a publishing sensation and indirectly coined the rather offensive term “mommy porn.” Near the middle of the trailer you can hear Christian Grey say, “I exercise control in all things, Ms. Steele.” And Anastasia Steele responds, “Then you must be really boring.” Needless to say, Steele is proved wrong by the end of the trailer.
