Director Sam Taylor-Johnson reveals her own battle to bring EL James' erotic book to the silver screen

IT'S one of the most anticipated movies of the year, but Sam Taylor-Johnson readily admits directing Fifty Shades of Grey has been “truly, truly challenging”.

She reveals everything, from the editing process to the intense secrecy, has taken its toll.

“I’m literally going out of my mind. I have seen this film more than a thousand times and I’m now in a blancmange. But the nuances within – the tiniest shift, look, blink of an eye – can make all the difference and flip it into the wrong territory. It’s like walking a knife edge.

"The moment I stepped out of the meeting, it (felt like) I stepped onto one of those bullet trains. The doors closed and I couldn’t get off. The speed, the velocity, was unbelievable. I need to get off and breathe and think about something else.”

Taylor-Johnson admits she’s had to fight hard to retain her creative control. “I want to protect my vision and that’s the hardest thing. There are so many voices. You have to try and keep all those people at bay. You think, 'You hired me because I’m a creative artist with a vision. Don’t try and knock it out of me'.”

Fans of the erotic fiction can rest assured Taylor-Johnson has stayed true to the novel.

“I’ve practically eaten it. I have read it over and over,” she says.

“Jamie (Dornan, who plays Christian Grey) and I had to sit and meet various dominants and dominatrix, just to make sure we understood that world; so that we in no way portrayed it incorrectly.’

“Jamie’s funny because he doesn’t seem to feel any of the pressure. Or show he feels it. Everything washes over him and he’s constantly happy. He’s such a sweet and lovely man."

Such is the secrecy about this movie, which is released on the eve of Valentine’s Day, even her husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who has a cameo role, hasn’t even been allowed to see an early cut.

Of the comments she still receives on the 23-year age gap between her and Aaron, she says, "Tell them to **** off. If you love someone, you love someone. It doesn’t matter; age, colour, c’mon!"

What’s next for the acclaimed director? “I don’t want to do anything,” she says. “I feel wrung dry and I need to find some building bricks again. I don’t think I could even compose a picture right now. My creative brain has to shut down for a second. I need to be at home, put my feet up, feel calmer, eat well and hang out with the kids.”

  • Fifty Shades of Grey has a screenplay by Kelly Marcel, based on EL James' best-selling novel of the same name which has a plot of Anastasia "Ana" Steele (Dakota Johnson), a literature student, going to interview wealthy Christian Grey, as a favour to her roommate Kate Kavanagh (Eloise Mumford), and falls under the spell of a handsome, brilliant and controlling man
  • The full interview appears in the March issue of Red, on sale today.