Gus Van Sant Wanted to Direct 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' Reveals His Version of What Happened Which Author E.L. James Is Disputing

Gus Van Sant, who has directed numerous hits over the years including 1997′s Good Will Hunting and 2008′s Milk, is revealing that he wanted to direct the 2015 film Fifty Shades of Grey.

He explained that he produced a short clip that starred actor Alex Pettyfer in the starring role of Christian Grey to try and land him the directing gig.

However, apparently, he has a differing version of events from author E.L. James.

Keep reading to find out more…

“It did not fit into her idea of what she wanted to do. It’s a complete sex novel, but
the author had this intention of not having a lot of sex in it. She wanted a movie that was a lot more chaste than the novel,” Gus told Variety.

However, E.L. James’ spokesperson told the publication that they “dispute” this claim “that she wanted the movie to have less sex than the books.” Sam Taylor-Johnson ended up directing the first film.

The film went on to star Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele. Find out who originally was signed on to portray Christian Grey before dropping out of the movie.

He also shared he turned down directing 2011′s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.